Clorox To Stop Using Chlorine

Chemical and Engineering News ^ | Nov 9, 2009 edition of C&EN | Michael McCoy

[Kimmers]

I love the smell of Chlorox clean.

I also find that 2-3 tbls in a spray filled with water is a great cleaner for everything....

another tip....to remove soap scum...use a damp dryer sheet

[magslinger]

The environmental group Greenpeace is lauding Clorox for eliminating risk from the use and transport of chlorine. “By ending the use of chlorine gas, Clorox also proves that eliminating these risks is both technically feasible and a smart business decision,” says Rick Hind, Greenpeace’s legislative director.

I'm not an industrial chemist but it sounds to me like all Chlorox is doing is making one or more of their suppliers assume the risk of using and transporting chlorine gas.

Pretty cagey financial decision, if they can pull it off.

It also keeps the Chlorox brand name out of the news in the event of something bad happening.

[Yardstick]

It’s not that Clorox is changing the “recipe”, it’s that they aren’t cooking it in their own kitchen. Whose kitchen is it being cooked in? Mexico? China?

Nailed it.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

And of course, it will cost more.

That's built into "reduced standard of living".

[steveo]

Yeah I miss read it. I checked the msds and the concentration looks the same.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I agree. Same product, higher price, less hazardous movement of precursor/ingredient chemicals in the production of the end product.

I cannot agree. It isn't obvious that ten tank cars of diluted chlorine are less hazardous than one tank car of full strength. Especially if the one tank car is more robust. People get hurt by railcars all the time in ways that do not involve chlorine. I am not at all convinced that this will result in any net increase in safety and most likely will merely move much of the existing the risk off-shore, most likely to some third world hell-hole. The risk from shipping it greater distances inherently increases the likelihood of an accident.

[paul51]

I used to tease her that she should have bought stock in Clorox and Scotch Tape. Her gifts were impregnable.

That's funny!

[Constitutions Grandchild]

Don’cha love family?!? At the time, I can remember feeling frustration and angst, now it's about the only thing that makes me smile inside and out. They're crazy and zany, and even if nobody else gets it, you do because all the whacked-out behavior is familiar territory.

The stories in my family make us all look certifiable in any court of law, but I swear, they were the salt of the earth.

[wideminded]

How much harm has been done during shipping of chlorine in comparison with, say, getting out of bed in the morning?

I recall hearing of one incident where a train derailment released chlorine gas. This crossed a highway where a number of people died in their cars when they were not able to drive out of the gas cloud because their car engines had stalled.

A google search reveals a number of these chlorine gas releases. One in Graniteville, South Caroline in 2005 killed 9 people.

Considering the amount of chlorine being shipped around, the number of deaths is not super dramatic, but apparently the thinking is that it could be much worse if terrorists were involved.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

If Mom had been head of Homeland Security, I'd bet my last dollar Scotch Tape would have been used on the borders, and if anybody got through, she'd have them cloroxed before the setting of the first sun.

[TexasRepublic]

That's built into "reduced standard of living".

I thought that was your implication, but sometimes you need to really spell it out for people.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

“I love the smell of Chlorox clean.”

Me, too. It makes me feel fresh and energetic. It reminds me of long summers at the pool and happy childhood memories.

After my divorce and Mom moved in with me to help with my son while I worked, I'd come home from a long day at the office. The house would smell of Clorox and home-made applebutter or Clorox and pot roast. I know it sounds so weird, but I never even considered buying the “scented” product.

[longtermmemmory]

Translation: Don’t buy chlorox.

This manuver is as stupid as “new coke”.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

Oh, and clean sheets and towels!!! I curl up in bed and feel so loved and protected, or wrap up in a towel and feel clean and cozy.

[paul51]

LOL. My mother was equally talented. It’s funny remembering how crazy my parents were not to mention the rest of the family, neighbores, freinds, etc. yet life then was much better.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

Yes, it was. It’s a shame my youth was a barrier to some of the more entertaining memories I cherish now. Wisdom does come with age, maybe that’s why most of us have to wait for the end of our lives to see Heaven. If we got there any sooner we’d be such a stick in the mud (or “pogue,” as the Irish say).

[momto6]

My 7 year old daughter came to me the other day and asked “why can’t we have a NORMAL family like everyone else.”

I told her that no matter what she saw, that no family in the world was normal. Every family has at least one and maybe even several very unnormal people in it.

I’m not totally sure she believes me now, but she will at some point in her life.

Of course I am the one who threatens the kids when they are not ready for the bus that I am going to go out in the street and dance so the kids in the bus can see when it gets here. Always gets them moving.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

I truly believe “normal” is truly a subjective thing. My parents weren’t perfect, my extended family and ancestors could be charitably characterized as “eccentric”. On paper, my immediate family at this moment in time would like like “trailer trash” as hubby has moved back home. Son has moved in with his fiancee and will be staying there until he accepts his commission and leaves for Quantico. All were raised by the “good book,” did what they thought was right according to that book and founded this country. Were they “normal” by today's standards — No way! What they were is survivors who lived and died free, and quite frankly, the stories are hysterical (dangerous at times/shocking at others). Point is no one (except us on occasion) has ever been the worse for wear because of us. We'd give you the shirts off our backs and a hand up or a kick in the ass if you needed it. We're human.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

It’s more than just the higher price for Clorox, an excellent product, btw, it’s the fact that productive and desirable jobs will move off-shore and whatever work Americans do in its place, will by definition be less desirable.

[ResponseAbility]

****It isn’t obvious that ten tank cars of diluted chlorine are less hazardous than one tank car of full strength****

This is about the company no longer moving chlorine GAS on the rails to their manufacturing plant, rather moving chlorine liquid which can still do environmental damage but is less of an airborne inhalant danger.