From: sbonds@jarthur.claremont.edu (007)
Subject: Re: Common ingredients info
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 11:39:35 GMT

In sci.chem, fritz@hpfcbig.sde.hp.com writes:

>I'd like to do some research on the ingredients commonly found in products
>everybody uses all the time, like shampoos, soaps, lotions, etc.  I've heard
>enough rumors of nasty effects of sodium lauryl sulfate and similar common
>ingredients that I'd like to do some looking on my own.

Sounds like a good idea!  It took me two years of chemistry just to be able
to pronounce each ingredient in my shampoo correctly! ;-)  Your biggest
challenge will probably be translating the "common names" found on bottles
to a more scientific name.  With luck, you can find a book that will 
cross-reference with the scientific names.

>Only problem is, where to look?  The only sources I've found so far are,
>shall we say, biased.  I'd appreciate pointers to any reference books
>or other good sources that list all these sorts of ingredients and explain
>what they do, what they're good for, and what dangers/hazards they carry
>in language understandable to an intelligent but non-chemist person.

It seems that you have hit a catch-22.  The most nonbiased sources of this
kind of info are written for scientists.  The articles written for non-
chemists have to be biased-- who would read them otherwise! ;-)  Your
best bet is to get a scientific reference like the Merek Index and find
someone who can translate.  If you can't find someone to translate, ask
The Net-- there are lots of helpful people around here who can
translate for you.

Here's some basic info to get you started.  Like almost anything in science,
the trickiest part is figuring out all the dammned abbreviations!  Here are
a few common ones:

	MSDS: Material Safety Data Sheet.  By law, whenever a hazardous
	      chemical is bought, one of these is given with it.  In
	      practice, this is often overlooked.  (I bet you have lots
	      of pesticides around with no MSDS, right?  Cleaning chemicals?)

	LDLo: The minimum dose of a chemical needed to kill in an animal
	      test.  For example: LDLo -- Rat (oral): 50g/kg means that this
	      chemical killed at least one rat when it ate 50g for every
	      kilogram of the rat's bodyweight.  If you see these in
	      milligram amounts, you're getting into nasty chemicals.

	LD50: The dose required to kill half of the animals in a lab test.
	      given in the same format as LDLo.  (Oh, LD stands for Lethal
	      Dose.)

	TLV:  Threshold Limit Value: OSHA (Occupational Safety and Hazards
	      Association) sets upper limits for human exposure to many
	      chemicals in an industrial setting.  These are they.

As you can probably expect, judging what is "dangerous" is very subjective.
I like to look at the LDLo and routes of entry.  Chemicals that are absorbed
through the skin get special attention in my book.  Chemicals that are
inhaled come next.  There is a great deal to look at, and lots of judgements
need to be made.  But this is a far cry better than panicking at the mention
of any "chemical".

E-mail if you want more info.  I'll probably post this letter [Obviously, I
did ;-)] to encourage other people to help with the mass of 
abbreviations/acronyms.  I'm doing all these from memory...

  -- 007

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