Domestic property audit carried out by WaterSense

• An audit of properties, undertaken by the WaterSense campaign, in some of Scotland's main cities, reveals that a mix of damaging chemicals is unwittingly being washed down our drains every day.
• Householders from Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Inverness agreed to open up their cupboards and garden sheds to allow the WaterSense House Doctors to scrutinise the ingredients in domestic cleaning and personal care products.
• Some of the manmade chemicals frequently identified in the audits, such as artificial musks, have been proved to be harmful to aquatic wildlife and are not easily destroyed in the environment so they can stay around for a long time.
• The main findings from the House Doctors included:
• Poor labelling and lack of consumer information. The House Doctors uncovered an astonishing number of products where the chemical ingredients were not listed. In one household in Aberdeen, 14 out of the 32 products found had no ingredients listed. The Doctors uncovered products with no ingredient labelling in every household.
• Large numbers of products containing artificial perfumes. Almost half (48 per cent) of products found by the House Doctors – including items such as mouthwash and baby cradle cap treatment – contained artificial perfumes. In one Edinburgh household a staggering 73 per cent of all products contained artificial perfumes. Many of these manmade perfumes are likely to be artificial musks, some of which can build up in the bodies of wildlife and are implicated in developmental problems in aquatic wildlife. Artificialmusks are not listed on products as they are constituents of the fragrance, referred to only by the term “parfum” or “fragrance”, so there is no way of knowing whether a product contains artificial musks. Unless the label says something like “naturally fragranced” or “scented with natural oils”, it is more than likely perfumed with an artificial musk.
• Overuse of antibacterial ingredients. As with antibiotics, there are concerns that the widespread use of antibacterials may promote bacterial resistance. Householders were surprised to find an antibacterial chemical called triclosan in their toothpaste and other personal care products. 5 of the 8 households tested were unwittingly using products containing triclosan, which is already partially banned in Sweden and is facing a total ban in Norway.
• Banned products and products listed under EU Dangerous Substances Directive. Two pesticides plus an agricultural growth inhibiter were found lurking in garden sheds causing the House Doctors major concern. These have subsequently been safely disposed of.
• Members of the eight families that took part in the audit were shocked to find they were washing chemicals in products such as shampoo, deodorant and toothpaste down their drains and could be affecting wildlife in their local rivers and estuaries.
• "Before this audit I thought the majority of cleaning fluids that went down the drains would just mix with the water and dilute away," admitted David, one of the Inverness volunteers.
• "We buy a huge variety of cleaning products nowadays and most of them are unnecessary," commented Miranda Jacques-Turner, WaterSense Campaign Co-ordinator.
• "You can keep your kitchen or bathroom just as clean by buying eco-friendly products containing plant based ingredients, or by using old-fashioned cleaning ingredients such as white vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.”