How many times have you been exposed to toxic
carcinogenic Benzine and not even known it?

I recently learned that dishwasher detergent is one of the most toxic things in our homes – and that hot cloud of vapor that blasts into us as we open the dishwasher is in fact loaded with toxic chemicals like Benzine, chlorine and phosphates. Yikes!

If you aren’t an expert on chemistry (everyone who knows what Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons are raise your hand…. That’s what I thought) and I for sure am not you may be thinking Benzine so what? Well, Benzine (which is a Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon by the way) is a known bone-marrow poison and has been known to cause breast cancer and leukemia since the 1960’s and yet it is a main ingredient in dishwasher and laundry detergent. Not to mention that dishwasher detergent also has Chlorine which corrodes the skin – that slippery feeling you get when handling dishwasher detergent, that is your skin breaking down – how appealing is that image?

And yes that hot steamy cloud from the dishwasher while it may feel pretty good on a cold winter day is in fact – a killer. There should be a movie about it…. The killer Benzine cloud!

Luckily there are a few alternative eco and health friendly dishwasher detergents on the market. We actually had one at home waiting in reserve for when we used up the bad stuff but as soon as I learned about the toxicity of our usual detergent the old stuff ended up in the trash mighty fast.

We just tried our first load with Method’s Smarty Dish a non-toxic dishwasher detergent. Smarty Dish uses mineral cleaning salts and enzymes rather than the Benzine, Chlorine, and Phosphates. It uses biodegradable and non-toxic ingredients, which means no harmful residues or Benzine cloud blasted in your face…or down the drain for that matter so it is environmentally safe as well. They even won a Presidential Green Chemistry Award for it.

But the real question with any green product is “does it work” and I have to say after that first load I am hooked. Those dishes were so squeaky clean you could.. well eat off them… and the hot grapefruit scented blast of air was completely free of toxins – The killer Benzine cloud was vanquished at last.

What types of natural non-toxic dishwasher detergents have you tried – and how do they work? Please comment…

This post added to Fight Back Fridays at the Food Renegade blog.