Cleaning Kills!
(Page 2 of 6)
November/December 1970
By the Mother Earth News editors
DETERGENTS AND PHOSPHORUS
RELATED CONTENT
Detergents cut grease and suspend dirt. Heavy-duty detergents used in washing machines generally contain a "surfactant" or the actual detergent, plus one or more phosphate "builders," "optical brighteners" and fillers. A builder doesn't clean by itself, but works with the surfactant to greatly improve product efficiency. Phosphate builders soften water, help suspend dirt, emulsify oil and grease and contribute to the reduction of germs on clothes. They are unquestionably effective and have been widely used for 30 years. However, about 76 per cent of the phosphorus in detergents, 370 million pounds of it, ends up in surface waters, and the problem is getting worse. Not only is the amount of detergent used annually increasing, but the amount of phosphorus in each product is also rising.
DETERGENT PHOSPHATE CLAIMS AND COUNTERCLAIMS
The detergent industry contends that dissolved phosphorus, at least that contributed by detergents, has not been proven to be the cause of eutrophication. However, they did not object to the statement of the Joint Industry-Government Task Force in 1969 that " . . . phosphorus is the most critical element with respect to algal production." Algae growth is, of course, the key process in eutrophication, and in pollution control the final proof is often unfortunately inconclusive until it is too late to reverse the damage.
The industry also claims that when the phosphorus level reaches ten micrograms per liter, further additions of phosphorus will not result in increased eutrophication. They are misquoting a paper which offers that figure as an uncertain average phosphate level which can be allowed without danger of harmful growth rates. Since blue-green algae proliferate in any phosphorus-rich water, the addition of phosphorus beyond any "magic number" will probably result in increased growth.
"There is growing technical belief," the industry claims, "that total removal of phosphates from detergents would have no effect in reducing cultural eutrophication," and there is "no evidence" that reducing the phosphorus content would lower algal growth rates. Experiments have shown that deprivation of either phosphorus or nitrogen retards the growth of green algae and that reduction of phosphorus by 99 per cent curtails the growth of blue-green algae almost completely. The New York State College of Agriculture recently showed that small lakes recover almost completely a year or so after nutrient addition stops. Another researcher has stated that there is no doubt in his mind that if phosphates were eliminated from detergents going into Lake Erie (one of the worst cases of eutrophication) the rate of eutrophication would be reduced. The Soap and Detergent Association's position appears supported only by one paper which was commissioned and paid for by that association. To the manufacturers contention that phosphate detergents are essential to maintain cleanliness and sanitation, it should be noted that cleaning standards were well out of the dark ages before 1940, when synthetic detergents became widely available. They also claim that there are no suitable replacements available for phosphates.
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