apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Is the essential oil listed as "tear tree" really "tea tree" ?

I use Mr. Clean Magic Eraser on my bathtub and I'm SHOCKED at how gorgeous it is! And non-toxic as well! And it's great on everything else, like cleaning those weird grooves on some refrigerators.

The Pedant: No, thank you for catching that typo...a bad on my part. Will correct.

If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser has formaldehyde as an ingredient (or at least it does in Canada), which is a known carcinogen. I have a box of the stuff and was shocked when I actually read the ingredients after seeing a CBC-TV documentary about common household cleaners containing carcinogens. I thought you'd probably want to be alerted to the fact, this being a post about non-toxic cleaners.

you can make a foaming scrub by substituting vinegar for castile soap. not sure whether tea tree would throw it off, though.

mo: thanks for the trying to look out for your fellow ATers. But according to Snopes, this is an urban myth born out of a misunderstanding the listed ingredients:

"Formaldehyde is not and has never been an ingredient in Magic Eraser. One ingredient in Magic Eraser (formaldehyde-melamine-sodium bisulfite copolymer) contains the word "formaldehyde" in its chemical name. However, this ingredient is not formaldehyde and poses no health or safety risks. (Think of this name like "sodium chloride", which is table salt. Sodium by itself can be dangerous, but sodium chloride - salt - is safe.)."

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/eraser.asp

I wonder if the knockoff brands I use from the 99 Cents Only Stores abide by this.

Just a warning: I used to use baking soda and vinegar to clean my tub and the tile surround until I started working for a tile company and learned that the vinegar can etch the tiles and erode grout.

yeah the mr. clean magic eraser is a wonder. it removes scuff marks from my walls. i don't know how it works, but it's really great.
OH, and it also keeps my iBook looking great! I've been using an eraser to remove semi dark spots that have formed where i usually rest my hands, but it would always be such a mess, with the eraser dust and all getting into the keyboard. not to mention it didn't really make it look clean because it's hard to cover all the areas eu=qually with a pencil eraser. then i decided to try the magic eraser on it. and it removed the dark spots so easily!

well, i feel like this about it: if it's safe enough for my digestive system, it's safe enough for my tiles.

I've read that the Magic Eraser is chock full of chemicals. I still use it when need be (since repainting walls is also toxic), but it's not non-toxic.

And I don't exactly trust debunking done by the manufacturers. Sorry. If you read what they said, it's VERY carefully phrased.

Everything is chock full of chemicals.

Baking soda - sodium bicarbonate

Soap - usually a sodium or potassium salt
Soap often includes glycerin as well, aka propane-1,2,3-triol

Essential oils - If the idea of "chemicals" is disturbing, you don't want to know about the huge variety of chemicals that make up essential oils. "Volatile organic compounds" should scare you enough.

Point being that "chemical" is not a dirty word.

a slight clarification -- my earlier comment was a response to Wendy.

as to 'chemical' as a dirty word, yes that's true. but there are harmful chemicals and safe chemicals. baking soda and castile soap are everyday, easily understandable products which have been used for centuries. same goes for vinegar, lemon juice, honey, and other common ingredients of 'green' household cleansers.

also, there are a lot of reasons for using homemade products besides fears of toxicity. i do it more because it's cheap and i feel like a marketing dupe buying all the latest cleaning shwag.

because i am getting a dog, i've been reading michele welton's wonderful ebooks. the dog books introduced me to gse (grapefruit seed exctract). it can replace all of your household cleaning products and can also be used for some health problems as well. it is especially important to replace all antibacterial products with this, as it kills all the germs in a way that doesn't make surviving germs reproduce and become stronger. it's worth checking out.

I just thought I'd weigh in on the debate about formaldehyde, since I'm a toxicologist. Formaldehyde is actually very common, and a certain amount of it occurs naturally in most living creatures (humans included) as a byproduct of metabolism -- it also occurs naturally in the atmosphere. It is true that large amounts of inhaled formaldehyde, life will lead to increased cancer, specifically of the noise and throat. But, these studies were done with very high doses, round the clock, for the animal's lifetime. So this is more relevant to people exposed occupationally. The amount you are likely to inhale by using Mr. Clean Magic eraser is probably small enough and brief enough, I wouldn't worry about it, if the product works for you!

Alexandra: How would you like to be our unofficial ATLA toxicologist? ;) I love the expert insight into the debate, hopefully laying to rest the worries about our beloved Mr. Clean Magic erasers.

Yay science!

I'm more worried about those cleaners that include Teflon. Teflon persists in the environment and either doesn't degrade or degrades very slowly. That certainly raises a few red flags, since if the stuff does turn out to be harmful it seems like it would be difficult to rid your body of it.

Borax is a great cleaner, and seems to kill germs and other critters very nicely. After cleaning I used to sponge my mildew-prone ceiling in San Francisco with a solution of Borax and water, and the black ick wouldn't regrow at all for a year or more (as opposed to weeks if left untreated). Even then, it came back slooooowly.

Glycolic acid does a great job removing soap scum, and it's fairly nontoxic (it's used in cosmetics at lower concentrations). CLR is made from glycolic acid I believe.

Vinegar on grout will disolve it eventually--the granite fabricator told me that when we were doing my mom's bathrooms and kitchen remodel. It may be safe to eat, but it can also do bad things to your teeth, too.

My fella has a formaldehyde contact allergy, so we both try to avoid it as much as possible. Of course, it's nearly impossible to avoid! One thing I've read is that formaldehyde can be present in various products (including FOOD) without being included in the ingredients list. From what I understand, it can be a byproduct of a process, and thus not an ingredient, but still present... scary thought......