No Artificial Scents Please

Man, I love my Burt’s Bees lip balm. I have about 10 of them scattered in various drawers, rooms and bags in my house. I’ve tried other natural lip balms since I developed Multiple Chemical Sensitivity but they have either made me sick or I just don’t like them. I just found out that there’s a Canadian retail site for Burt’s Bees. I even joined the Facebook group for people addicted to Burt’s Bees lip balm.

John told me that he had some bad news. Let me just say that I hate it when people tell you that they have something bad to tell you instead of just coming out and telling you because in the moments between them saying they have something bad to tell you and actually telling you the news, I imagine all sorts of horrible possibilities. This was the bad news that he told me: Clorox bought Burt’s Bees. I just cannot wrap my head around that one (sounds like a match made in Hell to me). I am terribly sensitive to bleach; it gives me a migraine and makes me feel sick so the thought of a bleach company owning my favourite natural brand just doesn’t sit well. To me, bleach is poison and that is not a good thing.

I initially went to the Burt’s Bees site to see if I could find anything about this but I couldn’t. Then I googled it and came upon this letter to our loyal customers. Then I came across this article which says that Clorox is trying to go green. You can’t be green with bleach and artificial scents. Then I went to the Clorox site and looked at their products. At first glance, none of them are green; I wouldn’t be able to come within 20 feet of any of their products without becoming sick. To me, Clorox means the opposite of green which is harmful at the least and toxic at worst.

Then, I scroll through all of their products until I come to product 29 of 29 and am shocked to see the word “green” in one of their products. I clicked on it to discover that Clorox is trying to go green and they’ve got an entire line called Green Works to prove it. They’re probably sold next to their non-green counterparts so there’s no way a person like me would ever come across them. Yep, I was right, as I found out in their FAQ section. This is where you know whether a company is actually green versus trying to jump on the green bandwagon. If your so-called green products are sold beside the non-green ones, people with allergies and sensitivities won’t ever see them so you’re missing a big portion of your target market. Plus, their packaging will take on the chemical smells of the products they are sitting beside; that’s just stupid.

I just finished watching Oprah’s show in honour of Earth Day this Sunday. I must say that I was very impressed with the suggestions that were brought up for people to do to help treat our planet better. The added benefit for me, being a person who suffers from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, is that going green helps me breath better. If more people would use non-toxic cleaners in their homes and thought about what they use to scent themselves and what these products are doing to the Earth and their health, I and my fellow sufferers would feel much better.

They mentioned on the show that in some places, the air quality inside homes is twice as bad as outside (that certainly would not be the case in my home). As mentioned on the show, clean doesn’t have a scent. People have been brainwashed by cleaning product companies claiming that clean is artificial lemon and pine scented products; that’s not clean; that’s poison.

I already do a lot of what was suggested to “go green” but there were a few things that I hadn’t thought about. I already take my own reusable bags when shopping but I never thought of getting my own reusable produce bags. Those are next on my shopping list. Oprah even had her own organic cotton canvas bag designed for sale on her site and they’re already out of stock.

One company was mentioned that I hadn’t heard of before; Shaklee is offering discounts on their website because of being featured on Oprah’s show.

I like that Oprah is talking about things important to little me and has a voice much louder than mine; I hope more people get rid of toxic products in their homes.