Beware: your toilet paper?
Just like food packaging, you need to read the labels on your toilet tissue too
What colour is the toilet tissue in your bathroom right now?
It’s a safe bet that it’s white, and you have selected it because it’s soft, thick and feels great when you well… use it.
There shouldn’t be more to think about when it comes to choosing toilet tissue. But just like shopping for your food, you should be reading the labels on disposable paper products too.
Why? To put it bluntly, toilet tissue can be extremely toxic.
When white may not be right
In order to create the crisp, bright white that we all love so much, the pulp (the wood source where tissues are derived) must be bleached.
The chemicals used in the preparation of that pulp, specifically the bleaching and colouring, might cause the problems. Bleaching is the only way to completely remove the natural colours of pulp.
The most common form of commercial bleaching is chlorine bleaching. The chlorine used in this process, “contributes to the formation of harmful chemicals that wind up in our air and water and are highly toxic to people and fish,” according to the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), a US-based non-profit environmental group founded in 1970, and one of the world’s most powerful environmental action organisations.
One of the chemicals formed are dioxins, which is toxic when humans are exposed to them. Dioxins accumulate in fatty tissues, and high levels of exposure increase the risk for skin diseases, reproductive and developmental problems, heart disease and other health problems.
Despite all efforts on the part of manufacturers to remove these dangerous chemicals from the process to make toilet tissue white, residue remains detectable on all products exposed to that type of bleach.
What should you do?
Every day, we absorb thousands of chemicals into our bodies from personal hygiene paper and other products. We wipe our faces, hands and intimate areas with these products, exposing our bodies to harmful chemicals and toxins over and into our bodies repeatedly. We do so thinking we’re limiting the risk of disease, not increasing it.
We all want to make the best choices for our selves, for our families and ultimately for our planet. To stay safe, read the packaging of toilet paper before you make your selection. Here’s what to look for:
• Toilet tissue made from non-bleached pulp, which is usually brown or beige in colour
• In addition to promoting more responsible and sustainable foresting, tissues made with bamboo pulp or bamboo virgin pulp. Bamboo can be grown and harvested in five years, and cutting bamboo results in a healthier growth of new shoots.
• BPA-free paper products that have not been recycled and have not, therefore, ever been exposed to chlorinated bleach. (Yes, the same BPA you hope to avoid in plastic.)
• Those marked TCF (which stands for Totally Chlorine-Free items), or PCF (Processed Chlorine-Free), which will have been processed chlorine-free
• Be aware of hygiene paper products labelled “ECF” (which stands for Elemental Chlorine-Free). They may expose you to higher levels of toxicity.
