Health, safety, and ecological implications of using biobased floor-stripping products.
Journal of Environmental Health › Vol. 69 Nbr. 9, May 2007
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Health, safety, and ecological implications of using biobased floor-stripping products.
Introduction
There is an ongoing debate about whether biologically based (biobased), or green, cleaning products are safer, healthier, and more environmentally sustainable than conventional solvent-based cleaners (Committee on Biological Products, Board on Biology, Commission on Life Sciences, & National Research Council, 2000; Mary, 2003; Singh, Ekanem, Wakefield, & Comer, 2003). There are, however, no known detailed studies on biobased floor strippers to support the arguments. Even if the arguments for biobased products are true, many issues could still confront organizations intending to switch from current petroleum-solvent based products to biobased, or greener, floor-stripping alternatives. One problem is the large number of these products in the market. Literally hundreds of biobased and green product formulations are on the market today Another challenge is that some manufacturers have labeled their products as environmentally friendly, or green, when the products do not objectively offer such attributes (Mitchell, 2000). A third challenge is the existence of great variability in the literature from one vendor or product to another with respect to the performance of biobased products (Marshall, 2005). The fourth and most important challenge, from the EHS perspective, is a lack of detailed eco-toxicological information on the products. For various reasons, including reasons of proprietary information and confidentiality, manufacturers do not disclose all the components of their formulations on the material safety data sheets (MSDSs). This situation makes it extremely difficult to evaluate the toxicity of such products. A strategy called toxics use reduction (TUR) planning can address some of these problems. TUR plann...See the full content of this document
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