Invisible News ISSUE 3 BROUGHT to YOU by the GENEVA CHEMICALS & WASTE CLUSTER at the 4th UN Environment Assembly 11-15 March 2019 CHEMICALS & WASTE in your BATHROOM? Cleans well, Make your smells nice, bathroom but is it also safe: it’s

safe? easily done! Stop and think for a moment. For The good thing is, that there are the most part, you can’t see toxic usually safer alternatives to all of chemicals, but that doesn’t mean they these toxic chemicals. As shown in are not there. the photo below, non-chemical shampoos, or plain and simple Your bathroom is a case in point. It’s coconut oil, are said to work just as where every part of your body comes well in getting rid of headlice. into contact with toiletries and hygienic products, shampoos, soaps, toothpaste. It’s good to know whether your toiletries, cosmetics, and household cleaning The same principle applies to most other products contain potentially harmful substances Do you know what’s in those products? toiletries and hygiene products. Do you know whether they are doing Choosing a shampoo or shower gel more harm than good? Not all toiletries which doesn’t contain these chemicals contain toxic chemicals. But some Making the Invisible, Visible will safeguard your health and choosing certainly do. one which doesn’t contain plastic microbeads will reduce the amount of The Geneva Chemicals and Waste Cluster is a group of international microplastics entering our oceans and Lindane, a persistent organic pollutant organisations in Geneva which collectively work to protect human health and then – through fish and other organisms (POP) listed under the Stockholm the environment from the adverse effects of chemicals and waste. This lounge – entering our food chain and possibly Convention and known to be toxic with ending up in our stomachs. adverse effects on the immune system, area installation is brought to you by four organisations of this cluster, namely: reproductive system and development, Replacing your mercury thermometers was until recently commonly used as • Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam, & Stockholm Conventions (BRS); active ingredient in anti-headlice with a digital version, widely available • Secretariat of the Minamata Convention on Mercury; shampoos. Whilst there is no on the market in most places, is also an information about current production, • Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM); easy step to take. And if an old mercury it is reported that many articles in use and thermometer breaks, don’t let your still contain this chemical. • UN Environment, Chemicals and Health Branch (UNEP) children play with it!

Do you have a mercury thermometer in See www.brsmeas.org www.mercuryconvention.org www.saicm.org and When cleaning your bathroom and toilet your bathroom cabinet? If it breaks, www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/chemicals-waste for more info areas, consider using ecological-based that mercury, however pretty and cleaning products rather than chemical- based ones. Not only are these often playful it appears, is dangerous. Mercury is a highly toxic heavy metal cheaper, they are also less likely to harm you or the environment. Great results that poses a global threat to human health and the environment. Together can be obtained from cleaning with with its various compounds, it has a dilutions of white vinegar, or regular range of severe health impacts, baking soda, or borax. including damage to the central nervous system, thyroid, kidneys, Safeguard your bathroom: protect your lungs, immune system, eyes, gums and health and the environment! skin. There is no known safe exposure level for elemental mercury in humans, and effects can be seen even at very What can you do? low levels. - Read the next Invisible News sheets to educate yourself about the hazards; Your bathroom may well contain not just lindane and mercury, but a - Visit the websites listed to find out veritable cocktail of other potentially more; hazardous ingredients including nonylphenol ethoxylates, benzene, - Seek out safe alternatives when formaldehyde, chloroform, toluene, buying toiletries, food, clothing, plus microbeads and nanomaterials in furniture: READ the labelling; toiletries which end up as pollution in our oceans. Fortunately, alternatives exist for most of these potentially harmful substances. In the - Discuss with your children, case of lindane, for example, smothering the hair with coconut oil works well for many relatives, neighbours. people to eradicate troublesome headlice