Facts About Chlorine

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Facts About Chlorine

Source: www.gaiam.com

 

http://www.bodyfueling.com/ARTICLES/chlorine1.html

 

Residing at number 17 on the Periodic Table of the Elements,

chlorine is a toxic, yellow-green gas that's one of today's most

heavily used chemical agents. Because it occurs in nature only in

the rarest of circumstances, chlorine is manufactured by passing an

electrical current through salt water or melted salt. This

electricity splits the salt molecules apart and creates chlorine.

 

As consumers, we're most familiar with chlorine's role as a

bleaching agent for paper, and as an ingredient in household

cleaners. When immersed in a concentrated bath of chlorine, the

natural colors of things like cotton fibers and wood pulp disappear,

leaving behind a bright white surface on which any dye or ink can be

applied. We see chlorine's ability to bleach out color firsthand in

our washing machines, where we use it to remove stains and dirt in

our laundry, and brighten whites.

 

Sounds Okay to Me... Where's the Problem?

 

Everywhere. The widespread use of chlorine is causing far-flung and

extremely serious risks to our health and the health of the

environment. Unfortunately, this damage isn't easy to see at first

glance. Because the harmful effects of chlorine are hidden from

direct view, we haven't had any reason to stop and think about the

possibility that using it could be dangerous.

 

On October 27, 1993, the American Public Health Association

unanimously passed a resolution urging American industry to stop

using chlorine. The chlorine controversy covers two separate but

related issues. There's the issue concerning the use of chlorine to

bleach paper. And there's the issue that has to do with using

chlorine in household cleaning products. Let's look at paper

bleaching first.

 

What's So Bad About Using Chlorine to Bleach Paper?

 

Chlorine is used by the paper industry for two purposes. The first

has to do with a substance called lignin. Lignin is the natural

material a tree uses to hold its cellulose fibers together.

Cellulose fibers are the raw material for paper. Because chlorine

dissolves lignin, paper mills use it to rinse the lignin out of the

wood pulp they need to make paper.

 

Once the lignin is washed away, and the pulp is ready to be made

into paper, chlorine is used again to make the paper white. If this

were all there was to it, we wouldn't have much to worry about.

Unfortunately, there's more. When wood pulp or recycled paper is

bleached, the reactions that take place between the chlorine, the

lignin, and the cellulose fibers produce the most toxic substances

ever created. The most dangerous of these includes a family of 75

different chemicals known as dioxins, and a host of other chemicals

called organochlorines.

 

How Does Paper Bleaching Affect Me?

 

The wastes that paper mills discharge into the environment after

paper is bleached contain dioxins. And dioxins don't readily break

down, which means that over the years they've been accumulating in

our air, water, and soil. Once they're out there, they enter the

food chain and we're exposed to them through the food we eat.

Dioxins are now so widespread in the environment that virtually

every man, woman, and child in America has them in their bodies. In

fact, each day we ingest 300-600 times more than the EPA's so-

called " safe " dose(1). As they accumulate inside us to critical

levels, the effects begin to show.

 

Dioxins are deadly. In fact, dioxins are believed to be the most

carcinogenic chemicals known to science(2), and the U.S. EPA's

Dioxin Reassessment has found dioxins 300,000 times more potent as a

carcinogen than DDT (the use of which was banned in the U.S. in 1972)

(3).

 

There's no way to sugar-coat the effects dioxins have on people and

the environment. Recent research has conclusively linked dioxins to

cancer, reproductive disorders among adults, deformities and

developmental problems in children, and immune system breakdowns(4).

And dioxins can cause these effects at exposure levels hundreds of

thousands of times lower than most hazardous chemicals.

 

What About Organochlorines?

 

Like dioxins, organochlorines are extremely long-lived, highly

efficient travelers that have spread throughout the global

environment. Every human being on the planet now carries

organochlorines in his or her body. Scientists are concerned about

these chemicals because they believe that when organochlorine

molecules enter the body, they mimic hormones, the natural

substances we produce in minute quantities to regulate our bodies'

many functions Because organochlorine molecules are shaped like

hormone molecules, they can slip into cells in place of our hormones

and cause terrible effects. These may include lower IQ, reduced

fertility, genital deformities, breast cancer, prostate cancer,

testicular cancer, dramatic reductions in human sperm counts, and

abnormalities within the immune system through a process called

endocrine disruption.

 

Should I Worry About Chlorine in Household Cleaners? In a word: Yes.

 

Many household cleaners contain chlorine, though it often

masquerades behind aliases such as " sodium hypochlorite "

or " hypochlorite. " Whether found alone or in a mixture of other

chemicals, household products that contain chlorine pose a number of

serious health risks. Products of special concern include: automatic

dishwashing detergents, chlorine bleach, chlorinated disinfectant

cleaners, mildew removers, and toilet bowl cleaners.

 

Breathing in the fumes of cleaners containing a high concentration

of chlorine can irritate the lungs. This is particularly dangerous

for people suffering from heart conditions or chronic respiratory

problems such as asthma or emphysema. And the risks are compounded

when the cleaners are used in small, poorly ventilated rooms, such

as the bathroom. Chlorine is also a highly corrosive substance,

capable of damaging skin, eyes, and other membranes. Chlorine was

listed as a hazardous air pollutant in the 1990 Clean Air Act, and

exposure to chlorine in the workplace is regulated by federal

standards.

 

Using detergents that contain chlorine in the dishwasher or clothes

washer can pollute the air in your home. The water in the machines,

which contains chlorine from the detergents, transfers the chlorine

to the air through a process called " volatilization. " We then

breathe the contaminated air. Dishwashers are the worst culprits,

releasing chemicals in a steamy mist when the door is opened after

washing. In a clothes washer, chlorine mixes with the dirt in

clothes to generate airborne, toxic chlorinated organic chemicals.

 

Generally, chlorine is a dangerous chemical to keep in your house.

In 1993, 40,000 household exposures to chlorine were reported to

poison control centers, more than any other chemical(10).

Particularly dangerous are fragranced chlorine bleaches and products

made with chlorine bleach plus surfactants. Disguising the odor -

actually making the experience of inhaling chlorine bleach pleasant -

can lead to over-exposure, as we inhale the fumes unchecked.

Another danger lies in mixing household products containing

chlorine, either intentionally or unintentionally. These mixtures

can create chlorine gas and chloramines, both of which are toxic

gases that can injure the deep tissues of the lungs. Although the

number of reported incidents is relatively small, the percentage of

accidents with moderate to serious outcomes is high.

 

Once These Chemicals Are Inside My Body, What Can Happen?

 

Research has now begun to conclusively link dioxin and

organochlorine exposure to birth defects, cancer, and reproductive

and developmental disorders. Many scientists believe that the recent

reports of declining sperm counts among men in industrialized

countries can be traced to organochlorines.

 

Similar problems in wildlife populations have been definitively

traced to this type of pollution. Many biologists now believe

organochlorines are responsible for the strange mutations,

sterility, immune system failures, and local extinctions they've

been noticing for years in animals from the Great Lakes to the North

Sea.

 

What Can I Do to Protect My Family from the Hazards of Chlorine?

 

You can do plenty. One of the most important things you can do is

buy paper products that aren't bleached with chlorine. At Seventh

Generation, we've been making paper towels, napkins, facial tissue,

and bathroom tissue that are bleached without chlorine for years.

Using Seventh Generatio non-chlorine bleached paper products

protects our environment during their manufacture by preventing the

release of dioxins that poison our air and water, and eventually end

up on your dinner plate in the form of contaminated food.

 

Our paper products protect you when you use them at home too. That's

because chlorine bleached paper can contain dioxin and

organochlorine residues that can transfer to any food or person they

come in contact with. For example, the EPA says that using bleached

coffee filters alone can result in a lifetime exposure to dioxin

that " exceeds acceptable levels " .

 

Seventh Generation also sells a full line of cleaning products made

without chlorine. These include laundry products, dish detergents

and other household cleaners.

 

How Does Seventh Generation Get Its Paper White Without Using

Chlorine? We use hydrogen peroxide and sodium hydrosulphite, totally

safe bleaching agents that work just as well as chlorine. The only

byproducts that result when paper is bleached with these chemicals

are oxygen and water.

 

Where Can I Learn More About the Dangers of Chlorine?

 

With the hazards of chlorine now well documented, one thing is

crystal clear: We're all going to have to stop using it for the sake

of ourselves, our children, and the world. Fortunately, there are

many dedicated organizations and individuals working to achieve a

chlorine-free world. And you can help. If you would like to send a

letter to the EPA urging them to release the Dioxin Reassessment

document, detailing the sources and health effects of dioxin

exposure, click here for an easy way to let your voice be heard. In

addition to voting against chlorine use by purchasing products made

without it, we urge you to get in touch with some of the

organizations listed below. They can help you learn more and get

involved in what many have called one of the most pressing

environmental problems of our time.

 

Greenpeace International

1436 U Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009.

(202) 462-1177

http://www.greenpeace.org/toxics.html

 

Reach for Unbleached

Box 39, Waletown, BC, Canada, V0P 1Z0.

(250) 935-6992 email: info

http://www.rfu.org

 

Center for Health, Environment & Justice

P.O. Box 6806, Falls Church, VA 22040.

(703) 237-2249 email: cchw

http://www.essential.org/cchw

 

The Chlorine Free Products Association

102 North Hubbard, Algonquin, IL 60102.

(847) 658-6104

http://www.chlorinefreeproducts.org

 

Chlorine-free Paper Consortium

c/o Northland College, 1411 Ellis Ave., Ashland, WI 54860.

(715) 682-1847 email: mail

http://www.clfree.org

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