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Common, Everyday Products Can Harm. . .Even Kill Your Animals!
We wash them, we comb them and we protect them from insects. . . but who is protecting our four-footed friends from our devotion? Commonly used products – from shampoos and conditioners to fly spray and tick collars used to keep away bugs contain sometimes lethal doses of chemicals that can impair and even kill your animals. There is no watchdog agency regulating the topical products you use on your pets and horses. Seems ironic, but according to the FDA, this effort was ceded back to an industry oversight group in the 1930’s and hasn’t changed since.
Everyday household products can be deadly.
Not long ago, KATU 2 in Portland, Oregon, reported on an accident involving a dog and common detergent. A woman said her dog suffered serious chemical burns from a product most people would consider harmless. The owner didn’t think it was harmful so she didn’t have it locked away.
Now, you wouldn’t think laundry soap could be harmful to your pet just by getting on their skin. But this Basset Hound’s misadventure is a warning to all pet owners. She had a skin reaction all over the bottom of her body according to Veterinarian Chuck Hawkins. A bottle of liquid detergent was on the floor near the cage. Somehow the dog got to it and got the lid off. After perhaps hours of lying in the liquid detergent, the dog was found bleeding and in pain.
The only warning on the label was: ‘keep out of reach of children and to flush with water if it gets in your eyes.’ While neither the veterinarian NOR the pet owner had an ingredient list available, what YOU should know is that many soaps use inexpensive synthetic chemicals to formulate their products and MANY OF THEM COULD BE CONSIDERED HARMFUL to humans as well as animals.
Soaps often include ingredients like Sodium Laurel Sulfate (SLS) – an inexpensive agent that creates the sudsing action in soap. It’s known to interfere with memory and optimal brain functioning. So, if you think your pet is disobedient and seems distracted or distraught after that wonderful suds-filled bath, it may be the soap that you used ALL OVER his body.
Many soaps and air fresheners include synthetic fragrances to mask odors on clothes, in hair and on your pet’s body. Synthetic fragrances are NOT BIODEGRADABLE and they do not have to be listed on a label according to the FDA. Many of these chemicals are carcinogenic or otherwise toxic. They typically float in the air about 12” off the floor – where babies and pets are most likely to spend their days walking or crawling through the toxins.
What should YOU DO to keep your animals safe?
The most important thing we can do is to begin reading labels and selecting ToxicFree® products whenever we can. Remember that the skin is the largest organ in the body. . .and readily absorbs toxins from the air and from topical products we apply. So it’s a priority to choose safe products to put on your pets’ skin since they will absorb ingredients we lather over their entire body.
•Avoid laundry detergent and household cleaning products that have fragrances or scented pet
shampoos. According to the FDA, even “fragrance-free” or “unscented” products often contain
fragrance chemicals.
•Treat household products as dangerous to animals. . .in the house and in the barn. Place
them safely out of reach.
•Avoid laundry products with ‘brighteners’ or ‘foam boosters’. These optical brightening
chemicals are extremely dangerous . . .According to a number of studies, if we were to flush
an untreated laundry tub of water filled with optical brightening soap residue into a stream, it would kill off the fish in the stream.
•Avoid sanitizers or deodorizers with fragrance or triclosan. The EPA registers triclosan as a pesticide and recent reports from the CDC and research universities have voiced concern about Triclosan creating classes of ‘super bugs’. . .bacteria that is immune to current
antibiotics.
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Copyright © Chaé Organics 2007
About the Author:
Linda Chaé is a prominent researcher, formula consultant, educator and consumer advocate. She has met with many Congressional Leaders and Health Committee Members in Washington D.C., fighting for ‘Your Right to Know’ legislation and public protection from unsafe chemicals in products.For organic pet products or more information about pet care – visit http://www.chaeorganics.biz
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Do you Know the Danger to your Pets?
