Improving quality of life

www.norwex.com

WHY NORWEX?

We all have different reasons…

• For some it is related to the time and effort saved - the products just work so well!

• For others, it is a desire to have a career, while staying home with young children.

• Some (all?) of us believe there are potential health benefits to getting chemicals out of our homes.

• While others believe we are simply doing the right thing for our planet.

• Of course, there are also the amazing people you get to meet…and if you are lucky, work with!

What do I think?

For me, Norwex is all of the above.

My goal today is to provide you with some science to support why we do what we do…

Because what WE do actually CAN have a positive effect on people’s health and the health of our environment!

The Really Big Picture…

In the past century, human population growth has exploded – estimates indicate that world population will reach 9 billion by 2050!

The Industrial Revolution and developments in modern chemistry, together with our large numbers, mean that our ability to affect the planet has increased astronomically!

The Really Big Picture…

What is truly frightening with this amount of population growth is that at the same time, average energy and water consumption per person are also increasing.

Not only do we demand more resources, but we add more pollution on a daily basis as well.

How is the planet supposed to keep up?!

The Theory of Thomas Malthus

A typical biological growth curve.

Global Warming – Fact or Fiction?

Our climate IS getting warmer.

Global airtemperature,

sea level, and

snow coversince 1850

(IPCC 2007)

Global Warming – Fact or Fiction?

Things I Learned in My Undergrad…

All of the above.

Water is the most amazing substance on earth and is required by all forms of life!

More people die everyday from a lack of clean water than any other reason.

The W.H.O. estimates that 80% of all illness on the earth is water-related (1.6 billion at any time).

Water Pollution...

Causes of water pollution that are under OUR control include:

•Personal care products, household cleaning products, and pharmaceuticals

•These are getting into the environment…and into the animals – fragrance molecules have been found in fish, and synthetic hormones are thought to be contributing to “gender-bending” effects in frogs and fish – affecting their reproduction and growth.

Water Pollution...

Air Pollution:

•Air pollution contributes substantially to water pollution – largest contributors are coal-fired power plants (i.e., energy production) and the tailpipes of vehicles.

Plastics:

• Small particles are working their way up the food chain.• Numerous deaths due to entanglement.• Sea turtles mistake bags for jellyfish – clogs their

digestive systems.

• Check out this video: • http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/battleofthebag/video.html

Water Pollution

Everyday Chemicals and HealthDo we really need to be concerned about the effects of “everyday” chemicals on our health?

In the last 50 years, the global production and use of manufactured chemicals has increased substantially.More than 80,000 new chemicals have been created! Many chemicals that people are exposed to every day have never been assessed for their impact on human health.

A large body of scientific research links exposure to toxic chemicals to many ailments that plague Canadians, including several forms of cancer, reproductive problems and birth defects, respiratory illnesses such as asthma, and neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD (Environmental Defense 2005).

Everyday Chemicals and Health

There has been an increase in cancer rates in Canadians aged 20 to 44, with the most significant increases in cancer in this age group being related to non-Hodgkins lymphoma and thyroid, lung, and testicular cancer (Canadian Cancer Society, 2002).

Asthma among newborns to 19-year olds has increased from 2% in 1978 to 12% in 1996

VOC exposure levels could exceed guideline values under exceptional yet plausible conditions, such as cleaning a large surface area in a small room (Nazaroff et al. 2008).

The prevalence of asthma, measured either as the frequency of hospital admissions or number of deaths attributed to asthma, has increased over the last 15 to 20 years. Rapid increases in disease prevalence are more likely to be attributable to environmental than genetic factors.  

Toxic Assessments in the Real WorldRecent research suggests a link between mothers’ use of household chemical products during pregnancy and persistent wheeze in infants and school-aged children (Sherriff et al. 2005 and Henderson et al. 2008).

“There may be sufficient evidence to caution people about the indiscriminate use of household chemical products, particularly during pregnancy and around young children.” (Franklin 2008).

“The existence of at least 31 documents appearing in peer-reviewed, archival journals that implicate cleaning products as causes of respiratory health impairment suggests that cleaning product use deserves attention as a cause of air pollutant exposure.” (Nazaroff et al., 2008).

But I only use Bleach!Bleach (chlorine as sodium hypochlorite) is so highly reactive, that it pretty much instantly reacts with substances that it comes into contact with. That is why it is so effective at killing absolutely everything!

When it is combined with organic matter, it forms organochlorine substances – many of which can be carcinogenic. When it is combined with acids, it releases highly toxic chlorine gas, and when combined with ammonia, highly toxic chloramine gas. Even short term exposure to these gases can result in permanent lung damage, asthma, and other respiratory disorders.

More on BleachA recent study (Odabasi, 2008) on products that contain bleach together with other ingredients, has revealed that bleach can react with soaps, fragrances or other ingredients within the bottle to produce some pretty highly toxic substances. These may include relatively high levels of carbon tetrachloride and chloroform and lesser amounts of many other toxins.

It is noteworthy that the FDA banned carbon tetrachloride in all residential products, as they find it to be so hazardous that no warning label could adequately protect the householder. Carbon tetrachloride is also a probable human carcinogen, an ozone depleting substance, and a powerful greenhouse gas.

Are We Starting with a Clean Slate?

• Toxic Nation: A Report on Pollution in Canadians - tested 11 volunteers for 88 chemicals and detected 60; including 18 heavy metals, 5 PBDEs, 14 PCBs, one perfluorinated chemical, 10 organochlorine pesticides, five organophosphate insecticide metabolites and seven VOCs (Environmental Defense 2005).

• On average, 44 chemicals were detected in each volunteer, including 41 carcinogens, 27 hormone disruptors, and 21 respiratory toxins.

Toxic Assessments in the Real WorldSo, we start polluted, we expose ourselves daily to new pollutants and we have limited toxicity testing…but even if we tested all substances – would we be protected?

How does toxicity testing work anyway?

Toxicity testing is done using 1 chemical at a time. Then, to determine the potential effects of a mixture we simply look at the individual ingredients and their toxicity data to see if we think there may be a problem. Mixtures and final products are not tested.

A rather gaping whole, you might say!

Don’t be a rat!

For 11 years, the EPA has known that they need to do a lot more chronic testing, but they have been debating which rat is the best to use for the testing that needs to be done to protect our health…hmmm…in the meantime, any idea who the “rats” really are?

My actual point is – even if they did chronic testing on all ingredients in everyday products, we would still be rats (O.K., guinea pigs if you prefer), because there is no way to properly assess the actual long term effects of a mixture, without ever actually testing the mixture!

I am not the only one who feels this way…

Toxic Assessments in the Real WorldScientific knowledge about the human health effects of many individual chemicals is limited…Even less information is available on the cumulative effects of long-term exposure to multiple chemicals at low levels” Houlihan, et al. 2003) .

“The health effects of this chemical mix, at concentrations normally encountered in homes, is not yet known but there is some evidence that these exposures may be associated with wheeze and allergy in young children.” (Franklin 2008).

Toxic Assessments in the Real World

Adverse health effects with existing pollution measurements are often noted at concentrations below those that produce effects in controlled animal and human exposures to each pollutant alone.

Adverse responses are augmented when persons are exposed to irritant mixtures than you would anticipate by adding up the effects from the individual irritants. (Leikauf et al. 1995).

But What Can We Do?• We can help our family’s and the health of

our planet by not using cleaning and personal care products that pollute our indoor air and the environment.

• We need to educate our clients that buying quality that lasts is far better than buying numerous cheap items that don’t . This reduces waste and conserves energy!

• While there are many existing and up-and-coming “green” cleaning products, overall, there can be no greener way to clean than using a highly durable and reusable product and water!

Get out There!

• We can train others to do what we do by building a team!

• We can empower our clients and our hostesses and our consultants to know that WHAT THEY DO MAKES A DIFFERENCE!

• We do NOT need chemicals to clean our homes!

• We can learn from Experience – because that is what we get when we don’t get what we want!

• We can choose to accept things as they exist or choose to accept the responsibility for changing them!

• We can know that “We must be the change we wish to see in the world” (Gandhi) and

• We can love what we do and feel that it matters – and yes, it is fun!

• We can market in our own unique way, because we all have something to bring to the Norwex table and we can leave this world a better place because of it.

• Why do you do this business? Think about it…

When all else fails – we can fall back on some useful clichés!

Here’s why I do mine…