In our daily lives we are exposed to Dow's chemicals. Dow manufactures not only pesticides and industrial chemicals used in countless applications, but also many common household items including plastics, paints and pharmaceuticals.

Dow continues to market products that have known risks to consumers and to the environment, as well as chemicals that have not been adequately tested. This is because the chemical industry and Dow have successfully lobbied to prevent strong laws regulating chemicals, and to make impotent those laws on the books.

In a July, 2005 report on the effectiveness of the Environmental Protection Agency's
(EPA) regulations of chemicals in consumer products, the independent Government Accountability Office found chemical regulation in the United States fails to protect public health and the environment. The report found the EPA has limited toxicity and exposure data to properly review existing chemicals.

Chemical companies are not required to develop and submit toxicity information to EPA unless EPA promulgates a test rule. For chemicals produced in volumes of one million pounds or more, a 1998 EPA study estimated only about 7 percent of the 2, 863 chemicals included information on all six endpoints. These endpoints, which include acute and chronic toxicity, are internationally recognized, as the minimum data required evaluating a chemical's toxicity level.

EPA has difficulty proving that chemicals pose unreasonable risks and has regulated few existing chemicals under the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA). EPA has restricted only five chemical groups out of 62,000 in 29 years.

The Dow Accountability Network is working to make information on toxic chemicals public and to pressure industry to provide alternative products that do not pose a threat to your health or contaminate your environment.

For a list of Dow's most dangerous consumer products and suggested alternatives, download the Excel spreadsheet below.

For more information on these particular pesticides please go to thePAN Pesticide Database.

For more information about current campaigns fighting against Dow's most dangerous products,click here.