Is Your Fabric Softener Toxic?

When I walk my dog, Prin, I have this little “smell” game that I play. I got the idea from watching him sniff at his favorite checkpoints around the block.

I observe the many smells that I encounter in my neighborhood and try to decide what is natural and what is chemical, and see what wins out.

In the spring and summer the natural smells usually win with the flowering of plants and the fresh cut grass.

The chemical smells win out on various days throughout the year when I smell exhaust fumes from cars and perfumy vapors from clothes dryers.

Most people would enjoy the wafting scents from the clothes dryers but I don’t because I know those “spring fresh” scents are from:

–Benzyl acetate

–Ethyl Acetate

–Chloroform

–Pentane

–Camphor

–Alph-terpineol

… and that these chemicals, when built up in the body, can cause:

–Central nervous system disorders

–Headaches

–Nausea

–Vomiting

–Dizziness

–Blood pressure reduction

–Irritation to skin, mucus membranes and respiratory tract

All this for soft scented clothes? Wouldn’t you rather use a natural solution if you knew of one?

If you do not want to experience these effects from the chemicals and would like a more natural approach, there are natural solutions to soften fabric. Here are two of them:

–Add a quarter cup of baking soda to wash cycle

–Add a quarter cup of white vinegar to rinse cycle

To reduce static cling you can bunch up a piece of tin foil and put in your dryer.

By:Marilee Tolen