Maine Sources for Safer Products >>

Chlorine-Free Paper & Dioxin >>
Mercury Products >>
Phthalates and Cosmetics >>
Pressure Treated Wood & Arsenic >>
PVC — the Poison Plastic — Dioxin & Phthalates >>

The decisions we make on a daily basis about the things we buy can have a huge impact on our health, our communities and the planet. The following resources will help you as a consumer make purchasing decisions that protect environmental health.
 

Maine Sources for Safer Products

Brunswick - F.W. Horch Sustainable Goods and Supplies

Belfast and Damariscotta - The Green Store

Also see extensive list of in-state and out-of-state purchasing resources at The Naked Truth Project web site - Click Here

Chlorine-Free Paper and Dioxin

Historically, the use of chlorine for bleaching at kraft pulp and paper mills was a major source of dioxin pollution to rivers around the world. Rather than switching to a totally chlorine free bleaching process, the industry reacted to the dioxin crisis by replacing chlorine with chlorine dioxide as the bleaching agent of choice. The result —dioxin discharges were slashed but not eliminated. Fish downstream of these mills remain unhealthful to eat.

•	Chlorine Free Paper Buying Guide, Natural Resources Council of Maine
•	Chlorine Free Products Association, trade association info

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Mercury Products

From fluorescent lamps, thermostats and thermometers to the switches found in pumps, cars and appliances, mercury products are everywhere. We can't continue to use them without much of that mercury eventually escaping to the environment. Fortunately, safer alternatives are available for almost every use.

•	A Guide to Eliminating Mercury in Maine, Natural Resources Council of Maine
•	Mercury Products, Maine Department of Environmental Protection
•	Fillings: the Choices You Have—Mercury Amalgam and Other Filling Materials, Maine Bureau of Health

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Phthalates and Cosmetics

Many common beauty products contain one or more phthalates, a class of chemicals linked to damage to the developing genitals in male offspring of tested animals. Most of these products are unlabeled. Manufacturers of beauty products also offer similar products without these reproductive toxins. Chemicals linked to birth defects do not belong in products marketed to women.

•	Poisoned Cosmetics, Not Too Pretty, Not Too Pretty
•	Toxic Chemicals in Cosmetics, Environmental Working Group

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Pressure Treated Wood and Arsenic

Kids playing on wood decks or play sets made of pressure treated wood will pick up arsenic on their hands and ingest it through normal hand-to-mouth activity. Cutting, handling or burning pressure treated wood will increase arsenic exposure for everybody.

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PVC—the Poison Plastic—Dioxin & Phthalates

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), also known as vinyl, is the most environmentally harmful plastic on the market. PVC causes toxic hazards throughout its lifecycle. Production of PVC requires cancer-causing organochlorines and produces large amounts of toxic waste including dioxin. PVC contains more toxic additives than any other plastic. These include DEHP and other phthalates that leach out of soft vinyl products, like toys and IV bags, during use. When PVC is burned in fires or incinerated as waste, large amounts of dioxins are formed. PVC accounts for more dioxin-forming chlorine in the solid waste stream than any other material. Fortunately safer alternatives, including cleaner plastics such as polyethylene and polypropylene, are available for virtually every use of PVC.

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