A new study thought to be the first of its kind suggests that we’re all walking dust bunnies whose clothes collect toxic-chemical-laden dust and, what’s worse, pollute: Every time we do a load of laundry, some of those toxins eventually wash into Puget Sound.
Dust that hitchhikes on our clothes may constitute a significant source of water pollution, according to the study released Tuesday by two nonprofit groups, Washington Toxics Coalition and People for Puget Sound.
Indeed, 17 percent of a certain class of chemicals entering treatment plants comes from washing machines, the study extrapolated, based on tests of six area homes. The homes tested included those of the Duwamish Tribe’s Longhouse director James Rasmussen in Seattle and college student Tracey Stalaci in Tumwater. Samples of her washing-machine rinse water and floor dust were found to have the study’s highest levels of phthalates (pronounced THAL-ates) -- a chemical that sloughs off or out-gasses from countless household items such as shower curtains and her big kitchen’s vinyl floor.
“I was a little shocked,” Stalaci says. “I mean, I don’t know a ton about phthalates…I didn’t realize they were everywhere. They gave me a list of where you can find phthalates,” including
cosmetics, deodorant, cleaners,
hair products, certain toys. “I had no idea.”
The study comes on the heels of a state report that tried to say Elliott Bay and other urban bays of Puget Sound are getting cleaned up – while in fact, if you read carefully, it turns out that one-third of the total study area remains “chemically contaminated,” meaning the pollution levels are so high they don’t meet the state’s Sediment Quality Standards. One of the most common culprits was the same particular phthalate, nicknamed DEHP, fingered in the dirty-laundry study.
“If we want to clean up Puget Sound, we need to address the toxic chemicals that are in the products that we are bringing into our homes,” said the laundry study’s lead author, Erika Schreder, staff scientist at the Washington Toxics Coalition. “Until we get the toxics out of products, there will continue to be a steady stream of pollution into Puget Sound.”
Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent to clean up polluted sediments in Puget Sound, yet phthalates and some similar chemicals will continue to flow into the waterway and contaminate the cleanup sites unless Gov. Gregoire’s Puget Sound Partnership and other state agencies take action to phase out the chemicals, points out Heather Trim, toxics program manager for People for Puget Sound and co-author of the study entitled, "Puget Sound: Down the Drain?"
The study also calls for four other changes, including labeling products that contain phthalates, which is currently not required. It also calls for empowering the state Ecology Department to require safer alternatives be used in place of harmful chemicals in consumer products – a power the state legislature can grant.
“We need to STOP this,” Trim said of phthalate pollution.
Phthalates have been found in studies to adversely affect the male reproductive system in animals. In Puget Sound, Trim says, “We’re seeing the impacts in the little critters that are at the bottom of the food web. We’re seeing a big loss of those animals.”
The study released Monday was admittedly small – based on just six homes. Each family used a phthalate-free laundry detergent, Seventh Generation, for one or two weeks before testing. Then each family prepared a load of laundry of clothing worn around the house as much as possible. Clothes then were washed with liquid Tide (it contains phthalates) and one liter of rinse water was tested. Each family was asked not to vacuum for a least one week before testing.
Homes found to have more phthalates from vinyl flooring and other vinyl products in their house dust were also found to have more phthalates in the laundry rinse water. But when it came to a different type of phthalates (DEP) used in fragrances in products such as deodorant, lotions, cleaners and hair products, there was no relationship between the levels found in house dust and in rinse water.
Based on tests at the six homes, the study extrapolated that washing dirty laundry sends 2,110 pounds of phthalates to sewage treatment plants around Puget Sound each year. The study authors hope it proved a point: It showed an easily overlooked way for how chemicals in the home can go on to reach Puget Sound many miles away.
Scientist Tracy Collier’s farmhouse in Bainbridge Island was tested. He’s a government employee but spoke as a citizen with a background in environmental toxicology, saying he wasn’t surprised to learn phthalates are in rinse water: “But it’s very valuable to demonstrate that -- for people to see that it’s actually happening in houses of people around Puget Sound.”
“This is indeed a concern,” Jeff Stern, lead sediment program manager for King County government, said in response to the laundry study. “The problem is because it’s in everything,” he said of phthalates. “It’s going to be pretty hard to get THAT chemical out of the things we use.”
Even if there were an outright ban of phthalates starting today, Stern said, it would probably be 50 years before all of the plastics we have in homes stop off-gassing and sloughing off dust particles. That means we face at least 50 more years of airborne chemicals clinging to clothing and eventually making it into the Sound.
Schreder, however, found hope in her call for the state to take action to phase out the phthalates.
“I would say it’s a complicated problem with a relatively simple solution,” Schreder said.
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WHERE TO TURN
What should you do if you want to minimize phthalates around your house and the floors, where crawling babies and lounging pets get proportionately larger exposure? Vacuum frequently.
To avoid phthalates or other chemicals at home, consult these resources:
· Skin Deep www. cosmeticsdatabase.com/
· Campaign for Safe Cosmetics: www.safecosmetics.org
· Healthytoys.org
· Washington Toxics Coalition www.watoxics.org/
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