No, the title of this blog is not
in a foreign language for Happy New Year, but I wish one to all my friends,
family and blog readers who I haven’t met yet.
And I wish you one without the above chemicals in your life.
I thought supercalifragilisticexpialidocious with its 34 letters and my spinalspondylitisankylosingspondylosis with its 38 letters were long, but so is alkyldimethylbenzlammoniumchloride with its 34
letters which refers to chemical compounds. I’m writing this article because they’re
negatively affecting our food, health and environment.
I came across alkyldimethylbenzlammoniumchloride
when
I was reading about a product called Suma Bac D10 that all of a sudden seems to
have become very popular. I have seen it
being used in restaurants where people dine, in supermarkets (while I was
buying my organic food in Waitrose, a germicide was sprayed right under my nose
at the checkout), in hospitals, and in care homes.
What is alkyldimethylbenzlammoniumchloride?
Alkyl dimethyl
benzyl ammonium chloride (ADBAC) is also known as benzalkonium chloride with 24 compounds that are structurally similar to
Quaternary ammonium compounds. It can
be used as a biocide, a cationic
surfactant and phase transfer agent in the chemical industry.
A biocide
can be:
·
A pesticide:
this includes fungicides,
herbicides,
insecticides,
algicides, molluscicides,
miticides
and rodenticides.
· An antimicrobial:
this includes germicides,
antibiotics,
antibacterials,
antivirals,
antifungals, antiprotozoals and antiparasites.
See also spermicide.
Biocides are purportedly used on harmful
organisms, but in reality, they can and often do indiscriminately harm any
organism.
It you
eat conventionally grown foods, it is possible that you will have more than one
source of exposure to ADBAC.
Because the odour is barely noticeable, it has
only a feint almond-like smell in concentrated form, it is easy to see why one
would not immediately be aware of the danger it poses.
The applications are wide ranging, from disinfectant
formulations, such as being an active ingredient in D10 (and Dettol and Lysol
brand products), to microbial corrosion inhibition in the oilfield sector, and a
multi-surface mould, algae and moss remover.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much information about exactly what effect ADBAC has on our health. We know it kills fish, but not whether it causes cancer in humans. We also don’t know (or at least it’s not documented) whether or not it’s a hormone disrupter or interferes with reproduction. Regardless, it is widely used.
Besides being used for cleaning and microbial control in the oil industry, ADBAC is used for wood treatment, carpets, textiles, hard surfaces, agricultural premises and equipment, aquatic areas, food handling/storage, industrial processes and water systems. ADBAC is also applied to nursery ornamentals and turf, and is used for mosquito control in ponds and puddles. Based on this information, ADBAC is present without your knowledge in a lot of circumstances.
Believe it or not, it is also used in:
·
Pharmaceuticals such as leave-on skin
antiseptics
·
Antiseptic in Bactine to treat
childhood scrapes and cuts.
·
Hand sanitizers
·
Towelettes and wet wipes
·
Cosmetics such as eye and nasal drops, as a
preservative!
·
High-level surgical instrument sterilizing and
disinfection solutions
·
Air disinfectants!
·
Over-the-counter herpes cold sore and fever
blister single-application treatments such as RELEEV and Viroxyn
·
Algaecide
D10, a short snappy innocuous name for a product whose main
ingredient is such a long-named chemical compound with dangerous potential.
I have seen people without gloves, spray this, wipe it up
with either a dry or wet cloth/paper towel and then continue on as if
everything was fine. Far from it.
The
Safety Data Sheet for D10 under section 8 Exposure Control/ Person
Protection, which perhaps few employees have time to read, states that in order
to protect hands: “use gloves resistant
to alkyldimethylbenzlammoniumchloride.” I
take this as a good indication that the product can and will harm us.
Spray cleaning and disinfection:
1. Use at a concentration of 1 dosage in a 750 ml
spray bottle
2. Remove gross soiling
3. Spray onto surfaces
4. Leave for at least 30 seconds
5. Rinse food contact surfaces
thoroughly with clean water and allow to air dry
First of all, someone has to
make-up these spray bottles and expose themselves to this hazard in
concentrated form.
Secondly, it advises the user to
“Rinse
food contact surfaces thoroughly with clean water and allow to air dry.” I have never seen this done and think it is
unlikely it is done much, if at all. So
if you consider a restaurant kitchen spraying D10 on the work surface, then
wiping it up with a damp cloth and then setting the food for your meal on it to
be prepared (such as making a burger), it is likely that this chemical is
getting in your food. If you eat out
regularly, or even buy a prepared sandwich for lunch, it is likely that you
will be getting a regular supply of this chemical.
For those who work in places
where this chemical is sprayed and used like water, especially in small areas
with poor ventilation, you are likely to be getting a good dose in your body from
the vapours, absorption through your skin and your eyes.
TOXICOLOGICAL INFORMATION from The
Safety Data Sheet
Eyes : Strong
irritant with the danger of severe eye injury.
Skin : Irritant
Inhalation : Irritant
Ingestion
: Irritant
At the very least, it is clearly
irritating, in more ways than one. The
most irritating thing to me is that people don’t take it seriously.
Very toxic to aquatic organisms. The manufacturer lets us know that the
undiluted product is hazardous waste, but what about the cumulative effect of
using it diluted every day all over the world.
By the way, aquatic organisms are big and small. Furthermore, I figure that something that
kills fish could kill me because I am mostly water and have many aquatic-like
organisms living inside me that keep me alive.
Of course, I’m talking about the help from all the bacteria, fungi and
other such creatures.
Suitable gloves
As I’ve already mentioned, the
person using D10 is supposed to wear gloves resistant to
alkyldimethylbenzlammoniumchloride. This
is a bad joke really. Never mind do most
people not wear gloves (especially younger people who think they’re invincible,
especially to anything invisible), but when was the last time you saw a package
of rubber gloves that said they were resistant to
alkyldimethylbenzlammoniumchloride? I’ve
yet to notice this, but I’ll let you know if I find a pair and where to get
them.
In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive advises that employees must be trained when and how to use
and replace such protection. From my
experience, this training is totally inadequate if not non-existent.
Diversy
for a cleaner healthier future
The company that produces D10 is now called
Diversy. The parent company is Diversy, Inc with its headquarters in Racine, Wisconsin. Before March 2010, it was known as JohnsonDiversey, Inc., and was
created by Johnson Wax Professional's acquisition of the DiverseyLever company
in May, 2002.
Purportedly 10,000 persons or so are contributing to the
manufacture and distribution of its products.
The corporation in turn is making lots of money with sales of $3.1 billion in
2010.
Edward F. Lonergan (51) is the President & Chief Executive Officer of Diversy,
Inc and his total calculated compensation for 2010 was
$18,296,853. That’s over 18 million dollars in one year
for big number-shy people like me!
Follow the link on his name for more companies he’s put his fingers
into, like the man with the Midas touch (everything he touches turns to gold
for him and chemicals for us). The rest
of the
Investors Management Team would also make lots of money and I noticed that
one fourth of them previously worked for Unilever, a big B’org of Food.
In further B’org of Food-like shenanigans, Sealed Air acquired Diversey Holdings Inc. along with Sturtevant commercial cleaning products in a 2011 deal valued at $4.3 billion. Sealed Air specialises in packaging and hence the name makes sense, but it is a scary name when you think that in the future air may be sold like water is today, in plastic containers.
Diversey develops and markets cleaning and hygiene solutions and services that are used in lots of places all over the world in retail, food & beverage, food service, healthcare, lodging, building service contractors, commercial laundry, government, education, manufacturing, janitorial distributors and cash & carry.
I’m not so sure about the ‘cleaner’ in Diversy’s motto, after all, how clean is a surface that is full of chemicals. But it certainly is not healthier.
Our mission: Transform our industry, preserve lives, protect the environment.
They’ve got a long way to go with their mission with products like D10. For example, how can a product that kills the environment, protect it? The environment includes the living organisms that comprise it. Without the living organisms, we would live in a barren world like the moon or Mars! But D10 and other products this company produces are designed to kill living organisms, indiscriminately. They don’t even know half of them, never mind whether they are harmful or not to humans. They know of a few harmful ones and so use this as an excuse to kill them all.
You won’t get much information off the company’s website, but it does say that they are in 175 countries. With the cummulative effect of so much D10 being used around the world, it seems to me that aquatic life hardly stands a chance.
I was recently asked why this product would be provided by the employer with little warning about using it if it was so dangerous. With so much money at stake and available for lobbying and other political tactics, how could poor people with little political clout be protected? How would you protect your $18mil job? With delusions perhaps?
Well, if you’re making minimum wage or near enough, it doesn’t follow that you need to sacrifice your health as well as income prospects just so a few top executives can be millionaires and billionaires. They may be delusional and think that this product is good for life, but we need to have common sense and acknowledge the facts. If your nose turns red after breathing in the spray, you cough and sputter, your eyes become dry, puffy and bloodshot, your stomach cramps up and/or your hands start to crack and chap after handling it, this is proof enough that it is irritating your health. In the long-term, irritating your health leads to diseases such as cancer, heart problems and dementia.
It’s time for us to stop being so trusting and take matters into our own hands, hands that aren’t being poisoned by chemicals. Stand up for your rights. Don’t use D10 or support the use of such chemicals with your daily life choices. Nobody can make you do it.
In further B’org of Food-like shenanigans, Sealed Air acquired Diversey Holdings Inc. along with Sturtevant commercial cleaning products in a 2011 deal valued at $4.3 billion. Sealed Air specialises in packaging and hence the name makes sense, but it is a scary name when you think that in the future air may be sold like water is today, in plastic containers.
Diversey develops and markets cleaning and hygiene solutions and services that are used in lots of places all over the world in retail, food & beverage, food service, healthcare, lodging, building service contractors, commercial laundry, government, education, manufacturing, janitorial distributors and cash & carry.
I’m not so sure about the ‘cleaner’ in Diversy’s motto, after all, how clean is a surface that is full of chemicals. But it certainly is not healthier.
Our mission: Transform our industry, preserve lives, protect the environment.
They’ve got a long way to go with their mission with products like D10. For example, how can a product that kills the environment, protect it? The environment includes the living organisms that comprise it. Without the living organisms, we would live in a barren world like the moon or Mars! But D10 and other products this company produces are designed to kill living organisms, indiscriminately. They don’t even know half of them, never mind whether they are harmful or not to humans. They know of a few harmful ones and so use this as an excuse to kill them all.
You won’t get much information off the company’s website, but it does say that they are in 175 countries. With the cummulative effect of so much D10 being used around the world, it seems to me that aquatic life hardly stands a chance.
I was recently asked why this product would be provided by the employer with little warning about using it if it was so dangerous. With so much money at stake and available for lobbying and other political tactics, how could poor people with little political clout be protected? How would you protect your $18mil job? With delusions perhaps?
Well, if you’re making minimum wage or near enough, it doesn’t follow that you need to sacrifice your health as well as income prospects just so a few top executives can be millionaires and billionaires. They may be delusional and think that this product is good for life, but we need to have common sense and acknowledge the facts. If your nose turns red after breathing in the spray, you cough and sputter, your eyes become dry, puffy and bloodshot, your stomach cramps up and/or your hands start to crack and chap after handling it, this is proof enough that it is irritating your health. In the long-term, irritating your health leads to diseases such as cancer, heart problems and dementia.
It’s time for us to stop being so trusting and take matters into our own hands, hands that aren’t being poisoned by chemicals. Stand up for your rights. Don’t use D10 or support the use of such chemicals with your daily life choices. Nobody can make you do it.
