Wednesday 24 May 2006

What surprises are stored in the small print on the back of those brightly coloured labels and bottles that promise snow white teeth, a glistening oven and a house free of germs?

Take a closer look at the ingredients and you will find that many of the everyday household products we keep in our garden sheds, bathrooms or under our sinks are actually stacked with chemicals that are harmful to wildlife. Worse still, every day we are pouring them down our drains into our rivers and estuaries.

This was the shock discovery for eight volunteers from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness, who opened their homes this spring for a forensic scrutiny of their cleaning and personal care products. The house audits, carried out in Scotland's four biggest cities, reveal that toxic chemicals are being unwittingly stored across Scotland in our homes and gardens.

Many of these chemicals, such as parabens, artificial musks and alkylphenols, are known to be harmful to freshwater and marine wildlife. The worse offenders, called 'hormone disruptors,' depress the reproductive performance and immune system of fish and marine mammals.

Annette McKie, one of the volunteers from Glasgow, was worried by the number of chemicals compounds found in her home. "I have been trying to get as many natural perfume products that could help with a skin condition I have, but the audit confirmed that I was actually buying products that are packed with chemicals."

Many of the products in Annette's kitchen and bathroom listed perfume or "parfume", which are invariably made up of synthetic fragrances that are toxic to the environment.

The house audits are part of the WaterSense Campaign, funded by Scottish Water and WWF Scotland, which is working to raise awareness about the pollutants that we are inadvertently dumping down our drains. The campaign also gives advice on how to cut down on our chemical dependency.

"Most of the everyday cleaning products we buy nowadays are unnecessary," commented Miranda Jacques-Turner, WaterSense Campaign Coordinator. "You can keep your kitchen or bathroom just as clean with old fashioned methods as simple as mixing up your own solution of vinegar and bicarbonate soda. We are calling on people to take more care with what they buy, to use less of these products and where possible to switch to eco friendly versions."