DailyDirt: It's The Little Things That Matter...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Thu, Jun 12th 2014 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Adding a little bit of something can make a huge difference. For example, some carbon and a few other trace metals added to iron can make a steel stronger and stainless. Nanotechnology promises to improve a bunch of things with very small changes to the surfaces of common materials. But these small changes could also cause some big problems. Here are just a few links on some small ingredients that might not be so great for the environment.

In case you hadn't heard, Minnesota has passed a law against antibacterial soaps containing triclosan. The law won't go into effect until 2017, so the big soap makers have some time to try to fight the ban or figure out how to sell regular old soap now that they've flooded the market with soaps that tell consumers that old soap formulas are more germy. [url]
Illinois has banned microbeads in soaps and body washes. This law also won't go into effect for a few years, but the tiny plastic beads are already turning up in the Great Lakes and in various waterways. [url]
If you don't like the idea of nano-sized particles of titanium dioxide in food, you should look at your dairy products a bit more closely. The FDA is looking into regulating nano-sized particles, but some commercial products may already contain them. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

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Filed Under: antibacterial, environment, fda, microbeads, nanotechnology, soap, titanium dioxide, triclosan

9 Comments

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Paraquat (profile), 12 Jun 2014 @ 6:29pm

plastic beads in soap
I didn't realize that plastic beads were being put in soap, but that is insane. Certainly, it should be banned worldwide. The supposed benefit of having the beads I would guess is to have them act as an exfoliant. I can't think of any other reason why you'd want it. But there are plenty of other substances that can do the job without screwing up the environment.

For more than a century, there's been a soap on the market called "Lava" which contains pumice, or powdered volcanic rock:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_(soap)

If you want something milder and don't mind rolling your own soap, this site lists all kinds of natural exfoliant materials, such as crushed almonds, coffee grounds, walnut shells, loofah, oatmeal, poppy seeds, jojoba beads, tapioca etc:

http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/tipstricks/a/soapexfoliants.htm
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- vancedecker (profile), 12 Jun 2014 @ 7:33pm
  
  Re: plastic beads in soap
  yes you fool, i do mind 'rolling' my own soap.
  
  this is the real world where people have busy jobs, not everyone can work at the local pot dispensary or crystal chachkas shop.
  
  triclosan kills bacteria, unless these fools have another ingredient which kills bacteria then I'm not interested. I'm also not interested in these recent moronic studies which claim that triclosan doesn't work. They are garbage.
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  - Paul Renault (profile), 13 Jun 2014 @ 5:04am
    
    Re: Re: plastic beads in soap
    Well, you fool, plain ole regular soap also kills bacteria.
    
    But plain soap doesn't have the devastating effects on the environment and on people's health resulting from pervasive presence of tricoslan and micro-beads in everything.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 13 Jun 2014 @ 9:52pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: plastic beads in soap
      Well, like a true conservative, when confronted with facts, he crumbles. Nicely done. Thanks.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 13 Jun 2014 @ 5:09am
    
    Re: Re: plastic beads in soap
    Pour that bacteria killer in your septic tank.
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vancedecker (profile), 12 Jun 2014 @ 7:29pm

Thanks. All You Morons.
The same people who don't bathe, wash their jeans regularly, use cloth diapers, and make suggestions like 'vinegar and lemon juice work just as well to clean' on the comments sections of product web sites are the same nuts who got this passed.

Gross.
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- Anonymous Coward, 13 Jun 2014 @ 5:44am
  
  Re: Thanks. All You Morons.
  And when you get hit by a super bug that your anti-bacterial cannot kill then you will be feeling a lot better than the rest of us whom still have active immune systems.
  
  You may not have noticed because you are just another ignorant twit but if you analyze medical mega trends you will notice that several Americans seem to have medical conditions that correspond to summary judgements in legislation and by the FDA.
  
  Take for example when hydrogenated foods were approved, Heart Disease went on the rise. When fats where vilified, food companies decided and all sorts of shenanigans over sugar were necessary to keep their products tasting... well tasty. Now we have a growing Diabetic population because that shit is in everything now.
  
  And interestingly enough there is research that casts an enormously threatening shadow over the entire low-fat ideology now, not to mention all the negatives from the sugary shit.
  
  Yes, you are indeed a moron.
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- Rekrul, 13 Jun 2014 @ 9:56am
  
  Re: Thanks. All You Morons.
  The same people who don't bathe, wash their jeans regularly, use cloth diapers, and make suggestions like 'vinegar and lemon juice work just as well to clean' on the comments sections of product web sites are the same nuts who got this passed.
  
  While I agree with you that vinegar and lemon juice are lousy cleaners (nothing cuts grease like ammonia), the rising use of anti-bacterial soap is creating real problems. Because it's become so common, germs are developing an immunity to it, which makes them much harder to kill. Those germs are getting passed around, resulting in people getting infections that traditional antibiotics can't cure.
  
  For decades, doctors washed their hands before surgery with just regular soap and it worked very well at getting rid of the bacteria on their hands. If doctors didn't need antibacterial soap, why does the average person need it?
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Michael, 13 Jun 2014 @ 6:27am

The Illinois bill, signed into law Sunday, will ban the manufacture of products with the microbeads by the end of 2018 and the sale of them by the end of 2019. New York and California legislatures have considered similar state bans.

Way to go guys! You have confirmed that you agree that microbeads are ruining the environment and are taking a stand that they will only be added to products in your state for the next 4 1/2 years? Wait? How does that make ANY sense?

Protip: When you find yourself at the bottom of a deep hole, step 1 is STOP DIGGING. Deciding you will stop digging 4 1/2 years from now is pretty silly.
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