Ditch the chemicals

Julia Stephenson reveals a more affordable and environmentally responsible alternative to the dozens of chemically insane cleaners that are on the market - see here. This is not a brand new revelation, but it gets me wondering why people fall for the companies' spiel about their products. The companies peddle these wares because they can presumably trademark the chemical cocktails that make up their drugs and increase their profits (it's a bit like the GM movement - you can't claim ownership of bog-standard potato, carrot or wheat, but if you genetically modify it, you're suddenly owning a little chunk of the food supply). But like disposable nappies, they're a conman's trick.

Just as disposable nappies have to go on at length about how "gentle" they are on your baby's skin (this hides the fact that a disposable nappy untreated is the principal cause of nappy rash; cotton-based nappies may be messier, but cotton doesn't interact with your baby's skin like plastic does), so these chemical cleaners tell us how wonderful they are and how they'll shift stains or dirt like no other. The fact they're no better than non-chemical cleaning alternatives doesn't matter - it seems nobody looks beyond the hype and the outright lies of the ads themselves. Take Fairy dishwashing tablets - they're no better than Ecover's solution. Barry Scott's Cillit Bang is no better than the lemon juice, salt and vinegar solution, and Diet Coke really won't make you more attractive to the opposite sex - you're too busy belching and burping to make the right impression, although it might make a pretty good cleaner (have you seen how acidic it is?)...