Save the Environment by Boycotting Electra-Sol Dishwasher Detergent

Additionally the time to act is now latest reports from The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Science and Technology Council indicate that blooms are a huge threat and increasing exponentially in U.S. waterways. Every conservation effort counts! This is there press release:

"NOAA 2007-R435
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ben Sherman
9/12/07
NOAA News Releases 2007
NOAA Home Page
NOAA Office of Communications

INTERAGENCY REPORT SAYS HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS INCREASING
Calls for Improved Research on Prediction and Response

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Science and Technology Council released today an interagency report on the United States’ efforts to better predict, prevent, control, and mitigate harmful algal blooms. The report is the first of five mandated by Congress in the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Amendments Act of 2004.

“Harmful algal blooms are very complex phenomena that cause serious economic harm. This report provides an important overview of the current status of efforts to respond to harmful algal blooms in our coastal and inland waters and is the first step in developing a national plan to improve those efforts,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.

The report, National Assessment of Efforts to Predict and Respond to Harmful Algal Blooms in U.S. Waters, also known as the Prediction and Response Report, assesses the harmful algal bloom problem in U.S. waters and identifies progress made since 2000 by federal agencies in prevention, control, and mitigation of harmful algal blooms in the U.S.

The report calls for the coordinated federal program to develop a strategy for maximizing progress in areas identified for major potential advancement including: – a refined focus on research for prevention, control, and mitigation of harmful algal blooms, – sustained and coordinated infrastructure, including increasing availability of standards and probes, shared-use facilities, platforms for continuous real-time monitoring, and training, – incorporating social sciences in harmful algal bloom response strategies, and – improving and coordinating event response.

The study reports that the frequency of harmful algal bloom events is increasing and their geographical distribution now impacts all the coastal states. Freshwater harmful algal blooms are an increasing problem in inland states as well. Human activities such as nutrient pollution are thought to contribute to some of these increases.

The economic effects of harmful algal blooms in the U.S. is estimated to reach at least $82 million per year in lost income for fisheries, lost recreational opportunities, decreased tourism, public health costs of illness, and expense of monitoring and management.

Harmful algal blooms may produce toxins and/ or develop excess biomass that negatively impact humans and ecosystems. Humans, domestic animals, and wildlife can be exposed to algal toxins through their food, drinking water, the water in which they swim, and the air near the water, resulting in fish kills, mortality of protected species, and human illness and potentially even death. High biomass blooms can discolor the water, impart foul odors and tastes to drinking water, accumulate in large quantities on beaches, overgrow coral reefs, shade aquatic plants, and upon death, deplete the water of oxygen.

The report notes that since 2000 advances are being made, notably in the area of mitigation, leading to improved monitoring, prediction, and event response. Specifically, significant advances have been made in cell and toxin detection technologies, which allow improved early warning of bloom events and toxicity to help managers prevent human poisonings while minimizing economic impacts on local communities.

Newly developed technologies can be used for rapid toxin detection in the field and others can be deployed for automated, real-time detection of events. Some have potential for use as official methods for regulatory purposes and others can be used to assess toxin exposure in humans and in marine mammals and birds. Satellite and automated underwater vehicle tracking of bloom events coupled with transport models has helped coastal managers predict bloom movement for more effective management. Federal response to events has also improved significantly.

NOAA teams with officials in Florida to issue twice weekly operational harmful algal bloom regional forecasts which are giving coastal managers advance planning time in determining whether to close beaches or restrict fishing or other coastal activities that could otherwise harm human health.

Prevention of blooms remains the ultimate management goal, but is still not possible in many cases due to the complexity of harmful algal organisms and the varying ecosystems in which they live. However, research to advance understanding of bloom initiation, development, transport, and decline is moving toward this goal.

Together, the Prediction and Response Report and a June 2007 workshop are guiding the development of a National Scientific Research, Development, Demonstration, and Technology Transfer Plan for Reducing HAB Impacts which will establish research priorities and put forth a coordinated strategy for improving harmful algal bloom prevention, control, and mitigation. This report is due at year’s end.

NOAA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention led the effort to generate this report as co-chairs of the Interagency Working Group on Harmful Algal Blooms, Hypoxia, and Human Health. The Interagency Working Group was tasked, under the President’s Ocean Action Plan by the Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology as the coordinating body to fulfill HABHRCA reporting requirements. Representatives from NASA, USGS, FDA, NSF, Marine Mammal Commission, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, EPA, and the Department of Agriculture are all members of the interagency group.

NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is celebrating 200 years of science and service to the nation. From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Commission of Fish and Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America’s scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA.

NOAAis dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing...Read More

i always read phosphate levels when i choose dishwasher soap— there is one with a yellow box – not sure which brand— that has half as much phosphate as the others— around 3% instead of the usual 6.

Dishwasher detergents, specifically Electra-Sol Tablets and Gels, have high concentrations of complex phosphates which pose grave dangers to clean waterways and surrounding ecosystems. Electra-Sol Tablets contain the maximum allowed 8.7% phosphate content. Electra-Sol Gel contains 4.9. Both of these represent alarming numbers evidenced by the fact that complex phosphates were banned in laundry detergents by the government in 1977 to levels of 0.5 due to the irrefutable evidence that the enzymes were causing irreparable damage to water based ecosystems. However, during this time few homes had dishwashers.

Now dishwashers are a staple in every household and to environmental activists dismay dishwasher detergents continue to benefit from exemptions in regulations. They continue as a direct result of the Soap & Detergent Association’s claim that consumers would be unable to effectively clean dishes after a macaroni and cheese dinner.

Complex phosphates are detrimental to the environment for several reasons. Several state governments, like Washington, Illinois, and maryland have already taken the lead on the issue and started to regulate phosphorous pollutants. But, these regulations will not take effect until 2010 and beyond allowing too much environmental damage during that time.

Phosphorous causes algae and phytoplankton to grow exponentially faster versus a non-contaminated environment. Subsequently, a “bloom” results where, "increased growth of algae and green pla

anic matter becomes food for bacteria that decompose it. With more food available, the bacteria increase in number and use up the dissolved oxygen in the water. When the dissolved oxygen content decreases, many fish and aquatic insects cannot survive. This results in a dead area.

Additionally, these dead zones are turning into a global epidemic – Dead zones are hypoxic (low-oxygen) areas in the world’s oceans, the observed incidences of which have been increasing since oceanographers began noting them in the 1970s. The term could as well apply to the identical phenomenon in large lakes. In March 2004, when the recently-established UN Environment Programme published its first Global Environment Outlook Year Book (GEO Year Book 2003) it reported 146 dead zones in the world oceans where marine life could not be supported due to depleted oxygen levels. Some of these were as small as a square kilometer, but the largest dead zone covered 70,000 square kilometers." "- Compliments of Wikipedia.org

Three independent studies conclude that the effects of a dead zone are devastating:

"Low oxygen levels recorded along the Gulf Coast of North America have led to reproductive problems in fish involving decreased size of reproductive organs, low egg counts and lack of spawning.

In a study of the Gulf killifish by the Southeastern Louisiana University done in three bays along the Gulf Coast, fish living in bays where the oxygen levels in the water dropped to 1 to 2 parts per million (ppm) for 3 or more hours per day were found to have smaller reproductive organs. The male gonads were 34 to 50% as large as males of similar size in bays where the oxygen levels were normal (6 to 8 ppm). Females were found to have ovaries that were half as large as those in normal oxygen levels. The number of eggs in females living in hypoxic waters were only one-seventh the number of eggs in fish living in normal oxygen levels. (Landry, et al., 2004)

Another study by the University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute was done on the Atlantic croaker fish in Pensacola Bay, Florida. The study was of year-old croakers that live in an estuary that has summer-long hypoxic conditions. During the study, none of the fish spawned at the expected time, or later. Examination of sample fish determined that they lacked mature eggs or sperm. (Murphy, et al., 2004)

Fish raised in laboratory created hypoxic conditions showed extremely low sex-hormone concentrations and increased elevation of activity in two genes triggered by the hypoxia-inductile factor (HIF) protein. Under hypoxic conditions, HIF pairs with another protein, ARNT. The two then bind to DNA in cells, activating genes in those cells.

Under normal oxygen conditions, ARNT combines with estrogen to activate genes. Hypoxic cells in a test tube didn’t react to estrogen placed in the tube. HIF appears to render ARNT unavailable to interact with estrogen, providing a mechanism by which hypoxic conditions alter reproduction in fish. (Johanning, et. al, 2004)

It might be expected that fish would flee this potential suffocation, but they are often quickly rendered unconscious and doomed. Slow moving bottom-dwelling creatures like clams, lobsters and oysters are unable to escape. All colonial animals are extinguished. The normal mineralization and recycling that occurs among benthic life-forms is stifled."
- Compliments of Wikipedia.org

Finally, the accumulation of too much phosphorous negatively implicates the taste, smell, color, and aesthetics of drinking or recreational water sources. – Compliments of the Michigan Environmental Council

According to Consumer Reports.org, “Cleaning dishes is big business, with Americans spending more than $500 million a year on powders, gels, tablets, and packets for their dishwashers.” Subsequently, in such a highly competitive industry, producers need to be held accountable and scrutinized for their product’s impacts on the environment and surrounding ecosystems.

That is why it is imperative that a clear signal is sent to the Reckitt Benckiser Group, the parent company of Electra-Sol. When the tipping point is reached members of the campaign will dash 10% of Electra-Sol’s business demanding attention and will simultaneously giving competitors an edge in the hyper-competitive detergent industry. Moreover, currently there exists eight non-phosphate containing alternative detergents that are readily accessible and offer competitive prices who members of the campaign can switch to until Electra-Sol detergents come in line with environmental regulations:

Bi-O-Kleen
Citrus Magic
Ecover
Seventh Generation
Shaklee
Sun & Earth
Trader Joe’s Automatic Dishwashing Detergent
Palmolive Gel

Last note, according to Consumer Reports.org: Green products can get dishes clean. Most dishwasher detergents contain phosphates, which enhance cleaning ability. Phosphates also have a reputation for being environmentally harmful because they promote the growth of algae. But four enzyme-containing, phosphate-free detergents—Ecover tablets and powder; Trader...Read More