Mountain Green

With H1N1 virus running rampant, hand washing as a preventive measure is big news. Unfortunately, many people are turning to antibacterial soaps containing the pesticide triclosan to get the job done. And that’s bad news. It’s been a great boon for the makers of this chemical and antibacterial soaps, but not so good for you, your kids, and the world. We’re going to run a full article on triclosan in a couple weeks, but I didn’t want to wait, because this one is important. Triclosan has been associated with skin irritations, interfering with hormones and has been linked to increased risk for respiratory illnesses and cancer.  And when it goes down the drain, as all soaps do, it converts into toxic dioxins that wreak havoc with the environment and those who live in it. So, with all this bad news, there must be something good about triclosan, right? Like, say, it kills bacteria and prevents H1N1 better than regular soap. Wrong, says the FDA! They ran a study in 2005 that concluded that triclosan soaps are no more effective than washing with soap and water.

So it all points to an easy solution, if you follow the Mountain Green motto – “cleaner hands and a cleaner world”. (OK, just made that up.) Use a good, non-toxic soap and wash your hands for the time it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice. Or maybe the alphabet song… Where could you find a completely non-toxic, plant based soap that shoots out of the bottle as a fun-filled foam that kids love? We happen to have one here – our foamy hand soap – the one that makes washing your hands an adventure in silliness for kids and…well, the grownups around here like it, too.

Here’s to clean hands, a cleaner world and the demise of H1N1!