To most non-scientists, the ingredients listed on the back of non-natural cleaning products or personal products are completely foreign. Wired Magazine's series "What's Inside" deconstructs the ingredients in Palmolive Ultra with some interesting finds.
From Wired Magazine's "What's Inside" series, here's What's Inside Palmolive Ultra Concentrated Antibacterial Dish Liquid (With Orange Extracts).
Triclosan: "Antibacterial soaps kill, well, bacteria — often with this broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent, which inhibits fatty acid synthesis. In higher concentrations, it destabilizes bacterial cell walls."
Ammonium C12-15 Pareth Sulfate: "In solution, this detergent creates negative ions, which cut grease. When mixed with bleach, it releases killer chlorine gas, a chemical weapon used in World War I. Good news: We're still alive, so there's no bleach in here."
Magnesium Isododecyl-Benzene-Sulfonate: "Everything gets nice and foamy because of this surfactant cleaner."
Lauramido-Propylamine Oxide: "This foaming aide keeps those tiny soap bubbles stable throughout the cleanup process. It also thickens the dishwashing liquid, so you'll feel like you're getting your money's worth."
SD Alcohol 3-A: "Alcohol is chemically similar to water, so it can work its way into bacterial cytoplasm, where it makes the proteins fall apart, killing the cell."
Sodium Xylene Sulfonate: "Known to chemists as a hydrotrope, this compound makes it easier for the other molecules in the detergent to dissolve in water. (Hydrotropes also can help to create high-foaming cleansers.)"
Sodium Bisulfite: "This food additive is often used as an anti-fermentation agent to prevent bottled wine from turning into vinegar. In soap, it works as another antiseptic."
DMDM Hydantoin: "A preservative that works by breaking down into, among other things, formaldehyde. Whatever was living on your dishes is now dead."
Pentasodium Pentetate: "A chelating agent that softens hard tap water by binding with dissolved metal ions, preventing them from being deposited as a yucky residue on your nice clean dishes."
(Image: Tim Morris for Wired. Original article by Patrick Di Justo on Wired)
Originally published 2009-06-02 - CB
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It is unethical to use so much of the original article's text without quotes. Until I clicked on the link I assumed that someone on Re-Nest had written/interpreted parts of the article.
Juice, we did use quotation marks above to indicate that we were directly quoting from the article. You can see that every ingredient description has quotation marks around it.
I did not see that. I'm sorry that I falsely accused Re-Nest of not quoting. I guess I'm used to seeing a block quote (with italics).
It's SOAP it's already antibacterial. They only market it as such so they can increase the price.
So, what's a good, less-toxic alternative?
~Q
exactly hishtafel--what's a good alternative?? I don't use Palmolive, but I've looked for an environmentally-friendly dish soap that acutally works for some time now.
i've tried ecover, for instance, and i'm sorry, but as much as i'd love to use it it simply doesn't work... no bubbles, and I always have to squirt on half the bottle to have it do its job.
recs please!
Method dish soap works well for me and smells great.
I too like Method (and am pretty sure that the Ultra Concentrated formula outperformed commercial dish soaps in a Cooks Illustrated test). The only downside? The bottle shape! It is so pointy and slippery when wet that I end up dropping it in the sink at least twice while doing dishes. I guess I can live with that though to avoid formaldehyde in my dishwater!
I'm with everyone else. I don't need all that extra bacterial killing power in my dish soap. It's not like I'm serving MRSA covered porkchops.
I haven't tried Method yet, OregonLady. I think I will try that next. I had the same experience with Ecover that lotusmoss did.
I picked up Seventh Generation's free and clear dishwashing soap because it was on sale awhile back and really like it.
no wonder that stuff makes my hands itch. i got dish soap on sale at my local co-op that's been working great and smells nice. also lasts forever- i handwash all my dishes and i've been on the same bottle for two months, only half way done now. not bad for two bucks. It's called citrus-something? i like method too, great scents and nice 'suds action' but i agree with oregon lady about the impractical shape.
Mrs. Meyers works great for us. We squeeze a little on our dish brush then scrub. Bubbles galore and the lemon verbena scent is like heaven.
to lotusmoss: I use Mrs. Meyers as well, lavender scent. It seems to clean as well as Dawn, Joy and other such brands that I used to use. Regarding bubble count: I think there are slightly less bubbles, though I don't believe the bubbles reflect cleansing power.
I've tried many of the more natural dish soaps and I think I like Myers the best. At first the smell was a bit overwhelming, but it works so well on the dishes. I only need a minimal amount and it seems to cut through the grease the best.
Another vote for method dish soap I love it!! But the shape does make it slippery. Also I wish you could remove the cap and refill it.
Handy tip: Detergent marketed for washing dishes is GREAT for cleaning bathroom surfaces like sinks, tubs, showers and counters. The degreasers cut through soap scum much better than cleaners made specifically to clean bathrooms. You can cut one "specialty cleaner" out of your arsenal whether you use a name brand dishwashing liquid, or something generic or something more green.
I get around the method dish soap bottle problem by pouring some of it in an older Palmolive bottle with a screw top and also diluting it with water. I get lots of bubbles, though. Lasts longer, cleans the same. Use a long-handled scrubbing brush for all dishwashing, though, ALL soaps make my hands itch.
The bubbling effect may be moderated by the type of tap water you get--hard or soft. Try and use a shower filter and see if your skin feels softer after a week; that may tell you the difference.
I swear by Method (everything: dish soap, dishwashing cubes, all-purpose cleaner, laundry detergent, fabric softener sheets that you can use more than once, absolutely fabulous tub-and-tile scrub cleaner, li'l bowl blue their toilet cleaner, everything:)).
I use less and buy $50 worth at once to earn reduced shipping of $7 or so. The lot lasts at least 4 months.
Ecover's laundry/fabric bleach is great, but I didn't like their kitchen products.
No wonder the skin peels off my hands if I touch dish soap. Gloves only slightly help, as suds still get in between uses. Palmolive and Sunlight are the worst and have actually caused my hands to bleed from the amount of skin that peels off.
Natural dish soaps might not clean really dirty dishes as well, but it is worth trying to find a good one. I doubt many people react quite as badly as I do, but imagine what you are absorbing, and what the internal effects might be.
mdorothy - great tip, thanks!
FigurativeSketches, I do the same thing with my soap - diluting with water! Lots of liquid soap products (shampoo, liquid soap, detergent) go a lot farther with a little dilution and still clean as well.
Triclosan was banned by the EPA for use as a pesticide, but the FDA allows it's use as an antibacterial agent.
Triclosan causes blisters on my hands which are painful and then peel, and it's a systemic problem so I also get blisters on the sides of my feet if my hands come into contact with Triclosan, or any plastics called MICROBAN, including grocery shopping cart handles.
Triclosan is also in some toothpastes and deodorants.
I can't use toothpastes with triclosan---it makes the tissues inside my mouth swell. It took me forever to figure out because I was only occasionally using my husband's toothpaste (I use baking soda toothpaste), so I thought it was something I was eating.
If you think this is nasty, wait till you start viewing your shampoo, body wash, toothpaste, lotions, sunscreens/blocks. I swear, you'll start using Olive oil soap before you know it! Try EWG skin deep section to see how your personal care products rate. After reviewing the dangerous materials, and watching Wendy Mesley's investigation into her cancer connection, I threw out almost all of my products that I apply to my skin. Even the one's I thought I washed with that had very little contact time with my skin. It's frightening.
I guess I missed something -- why does that make you want to wear gloves? Looks like there's lots of things in there for killing bacteria, but last time I checked, I'm not a bacterium. (On the other hand, overuse of antibacterial agents can certainly be a problem in terms of causing resistance, but that's another problem entirely.)
I guess I'm the only one who really does not like the Method dish soap. Not only does the nozzle thing get all stopped up, but it doesn't seem to clean the dishes. I found the 7th Generation stuff wasn't strong enough either.. but I do like Clorox's Natural Dishwashing Liquid.
My mom will just sprinkle baking soda on dishes and scrub - and that seems to work great for her. She hasn't given up soap entirely though.
This article lists the purpose of all these ingredients, what they do to aid dish-washing, but what is the negative effect on the environment? Or on me? Maybe I'm dense, but it seems like there is a missing step between "these are chemicals" and "these chemical are bad for you and the earth". Is it just that they're chemicals? Just that they go into the water supply and start disinfecting stuff there?
Great tip MDorothy! thanks!
I saved a foaming dish soap bottle I bought once, and I refill it with 3 or 4 tablespoons of regular dish soap and then fill to the fill line with water. It works just as well, and I swear one little bottle of regular dish detergent lasts about a year.
WHY are people still buying antibacterial soap? Are there still really that many stupid people out there supporting that crap being made and marketed? WOW.
Just a note about Triclosan...
My Orgo teacher in college made a huge deal about the widespread use of this compound in everyday products. Triclosan is extremely stable, and so does not easily break down. Triclosan persists in the environment indefinitely and has been shown to build up in the body.
Moral of the story, I try not to buy anything with triclosan in it. The last thing we need is more antibiotic material building up in our bodies and in our environment. Hot water and soap are more than enough to kill bacteria.
I use Dr. Bronner's and pour it into a foam pump and it works well for dishes and hands. It doesn't foam quite as much but once you get used to that, it's not an issue anymore. If I need extra scrubbing power, I have a parmesan cheese shaker filled with baking soda and I just sprinkle some on the top of the dishes.
"It's SOAP it's already antibacterial. They only market it as such so they can increase the price."
Actually, regular soap is not antibacterial. Nor does it need to be to get your dishes clean.
I've tried quite a few green dish detergents. Yeah, it's a strange hobby but at least my house stays clean :)
Right now I'm using EcoStore. It works well and I like that it doesn't have the overpowering scent of fake flowers. I'm almost done with that bottle and have a bottle of 7th Generation in the pantry ready to go.
I've also used method and Shaklee with good results. Trader Joe's has a plant based dish detergent, which I haven't tried but might in the future.
I like the Mrs. Meyer's in Iowa Pine scent. I actually got it as a Christmas gift. I also like diluting it with water and using it in an empty spray bottle as a shower cleaner! But I usually prefer Dr. Bronner's for that.