When I buy soap, toothpaste, and other personal care products, I always carefully check the label. I was into Burt’s Bees, Tom’s of Maine, and other natural and organic brands back in college, but not nearly as much as I am these days. These days, after all, I have a family to worry about and a child to protect.

The thing is, I should not have to stress over the products I need to buy for my family, and neither should you. No one should, for that matter. We should have protections in place to keep us from slathering our bodies with harmful substances (much like people in other countries do), and we shouldn’t have to spend hours of our time analyzing product ingredients before buying them.

That’s what the EPA is for.

The antibacterial agent triclosan is one such ingredient that none of us should have to worry about, let alone look for. It’s attached to a string of bad news: hormonal disruption, reduced fertility, early onset puberty (something that we’re all baffled by these days), and even cancer. It can also harm one’s immune system, as well as cause birth defects. The evidence against this chemical is so strong that recommendations for a ban are already being issued by scientists—yet it’s still in our products. Here are some products that you can find this potentially deadly in; check to see if you have these in your bathroom.

• Deoderants: Old Spice, Right Guard, several other brands
• Clothing: Dickies, Fruit of the Loom, more
• Liquid Soap: Dial, Softsoap, Tea Tree Therapy, CVS, others
• Cosmetics: Jason Naturals, Revlon, Paul Mitchell, many more
• Toothpastes, such as Colgate

For many more products, including kitchenware, Playskool toys, and computer products, click here.

To ask the EPA to put a ban on these chemicals as soon as possible, please click here. Comments are due by February 7, but the good news is that the reason this issue is up for a hearing at all is because last year concerned citizens stood together and demanded the ban. Please help keep up the momentum by submitting your passionate, yet respectful comments today. Let the EPA know that we won’t stand for poison in our personal care products—let alone our children’s toys!—and that we want them to ban this chemical once and for all to help keep us all safe.