Household Toxicology

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1.) Choose 10 products from your home or apartment. The products you choose should be a combination of cleaning (dish/clothes washing, disinfectants, etc.), personal care (soap, shampoo, deodorant, cosmetics, tooth paste, etc.), and non-prescription medications (NOT food products).
2.) Now read this article: https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/decoding-product-labels#:~:text=The%20FDA%20requires%20that%20makers,to%20their%20amounts%2C%20in%20general.
List one thing you learned regarding how to read chemical labels on products:
3.) Identify and write down the active ingredients from the labels on the products you chose (active ingredients are often labelled separately, but not always) in the table below. Add more lines for each product if you need them.
4.) Using the search bar at the following websites, read the information you can find for each active ingredient, and type a brief description of its toxicity in your own words into the table below. Be sure to include any acute or chronic health effects, and whether the ingredient has any carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic properties. If there are no known toxic concerns, write “none” in the description.
https://medlineplus.gov/
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
https://www.whatsinproducts.com/
5.) Finally, I want you to rank your 10 products from the most toxic to the least toxic, based on your data from your research.  Explain your opinion in four or more sentences.
Name of Product 1:
Active Ingredient Description of toxicity

Sample Solution

  1. Choose 10 Products:

Here are 10 example products you might find in a home:

  1. Dishwashing liquid
  2. Laundry detergent
  3. Multi-surface disinfectant wipes
  4. Hand soap
  5. Shampoo
  6. Conditioner
  7. Deodorant
  8. Body lotion
  9. Pain relievers (e.g., acetaminophen or ibuprofen)
  10. Allergy medicine (e.g., diphenhydramine)
  1. Learning from Labels:

The article you linked discusses how to read product labels. One key takeaway is that the ingredients are listed in descending order by weight. This means the first ingredients listed are present in the highest concentrations. Look for the section titled “Active Ingredients” or “Ingredients.”

  1. Identify Active Ingredients:

Here’s an example for the first product, dishwashing liquid:

Name of Product 1: Dishwashing Liquid

Active Ingredient 1: Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS)

  1. Research Active Ingredients:

Look up “Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate” on the provided websites:

These websites will provide information on the ingredient’s safety and potential hazards. Summarize the findings in the table below.

  1. Rank Products by Toxicity:

Please complete steps 3-5 for all 10 products to rank them by toxicity.

Example Continued:

Based on your research, describe the toxicity of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) and add it to the table. Then continue this process for all 10 products.

Remember, I cannot access real-world objects, so I cannot complete the table or rank the products for you. However, I have provided a framework to help you do so yourself.

 

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