The Great Lakes are under emerging threat from an unnecessary long-lasting fragrance chemical. Galaxolide, a synthetic musk frequently used in those scented cleaning products that give our home that pine-fresh or lemony-smell, is getting washed down the drain, sneaking past wastewater treatment plants and is putting the Great Lakes’ delicate ecosystem as risk.
Great Lakes
Hazardous 100+ chemicals found in the Great Lakes
I am a Great Lakes enthusiast; in fact my love of the lakes is one of the driving forces that led me to this work. I spend my summer vacation on Lake Superior, took frequent camping trips along the North Shore of Superior in college, and have enjoyed friend’s weddings along the banks of Lake Michigan.
There’s something about the Great Lakes that hooks us. Whether or not you live in a Great Lakes state, if you’ve experienced their beauty you know how important it is to protect them.
That’s why dozens of Great Lakes organizations have come together to ask the nation’s top ten retailers to protect these valuable resources from toxic chemical pollutants. As part of the letter to retailers, the organizations attached a new fact sheet highlighting some of the new science around toxic chemical pollutants in the Great Lakes, including the nasty “PBT” chemicals that stay in the environment, to “emerging contaminants” like Triclosan, which are rapidly rising as Great Lakes pollutants.