Why Chlorine is a concern?

Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 by bbb-admin

How many of you have noticed that many alternative diapers advertise that they are chlorine-free? Well, I noticed too. So what? Should I be worried about this?

It did make sense to me that I should be concerned about chemicals up against my babies’ skin, but I wondered why the more common brands of diapers would put something in diapers that could be harmful to a child’s long-term health. With the recent media circus surrounding the BPA-bottles, I have admittedly become much more skeptical about how much such companies actually do ‘care’ about my family’s health.

There is quite a bit of information available about chlorine in diapers. Many common diaper companies say that chlorine in diapers is not harmful to children and who knows, maybe they are right? What I do know is that as a parent, it is my job to learn as much as I can about the issue and make a decision myself. Here is the information that I have found about chlorine in diapers. You can decide for yourself what is right for your family.

The chlorine found in diapers belongs to a family of molecules called dioxins. Dioxins do not easily biodegrade and are persistent in the environment. Dioxins do not occur naturally in the environment and are the unintended results of human activity for example in the manufacturing of herbicides, the production of PVC and in the case of diapers, the bleaching of paper.

Upon escaping into the environment, humans are exposed mostly by the ingestion of dioxin-contaminated foods such as beef and dairy products. Most testing on the acute effects of dioxins have been done using the most toxic of the compounds, TCCD, on experimental animals. Humans however, are not exposed to pure TCCD, but combinations with other chemicals. Regardless, acute levels produce eye irritation, headaches, nausea and vomiting, sever muscle pain, elevated liver enzyme levels, enlargement of the liver, suppression of the immune system, wasting syndrome… There is no known no-effect dose of dioxins.

There are other possible negative effects on human health such as carcinogenic effects. Dioxins are a probable human carcinogen. Strong evidence exists for an association with soft tissue sarcomas due to its ability to accumulate in fat cells in the body.

What does all this mean? Dioxins are not a good thing. How much is a baby exposed by wearing a diaper whitened with chlorine? I don’t know. Even if it considered a ’safe’ amount, babies wear diapers all day, every day. The skin is the body’s largest organ that can absorb many things put on it. Does it take up dioxins?

The other concern for me after my research is whether I am contributing to the release of dioxins into the environment by throwing away disposable diapers that are whitened with chlorine?

There are so many unanswered questions on this one and I figure that because this is an easy one to find an alternative for, my girls do not wear diapers containing chlorine. I will stick to the cloth and chlorine-free disposables.