The task of creating a safer
environment for 21st century humans involves education about the issues
involved, but obviously more than that is needed. If two-thirds of us are
concerned about toxins in common products, why do we keep buying them? Lax labeling laws are probably part of the
answer, but the issues are complex, and may involve time constraints,
unfamiliarity with options, peer pressure, and general inertia.
Our product choices affect everyone
around us. Certainly, choosing safer alternatives is the right thing to do, but
this study and others indicate that it's also a practical matter. A 2004
report noted that 13 percent of randomly
selected adults identified themselves as being hypersensitive to common
chemicals. Other studies, including one associated with John Hopkins School of Medicine, have found rates as high as 33%. Businesses and churches who don't
address toxicity issues are potentially
alienating a large number of people.
Replacing synthetically scented products with fragrance-free ones in a church, business or retail establishment really isn't that big of a deal when you realize that the issue matters to a huge number of people you are trying to reach. How hard is it to forgo the use of air fresheners? It's a pretty easy way to make at least 13% of the population more willing to enter your building. How about switching to non-toxic cleaners? Nearly two-thirds of the population would applaud that choice.
We're making progress in the
education arena. Now we need to move from thought to action.
2 comments:
"Lax labeling laws are probably part of the answer, but the issues are complex, and may involve time constraints, unfamiliarity with options, peer pressure, and general inertia."
I think above and beyond it all is marketing pressure. We really have bought the idea of "better living through chemicals." Ack! I know people who just don't feel "totally clean" unless their skin is soap-scented, their clothes are scented, their armpits are scented, etc. They don't believe me when I say they don't need that. They don't trust that I have any expertise. Now, these big companies, well, they know what they're talking about, doncha know. They employ Scientists! Grr.
Wouldn't it be great if one of the purveyors of safer products, say Seventh Generation, had the marketing budget to re-define our society's sense of what it means to be clean (and, hence, fresh)?
You keep talkin. Someone's gotta hear it!
Yes, marketing is a big part of what plays into the peer pressure, I think. We as a culture are told by the advertisers that using all these chemicals is normal and that to break out of that mold is somehow being counter-cultural. Enough people believe it that others are afraid of being thought different or odd if they don't use the same products their friends, family members and neighbors do. We've let Madison Avenue define our norms.
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