nothin Worms Shrivel Along With “Eco-Friendly” Label | New Haven Independent

Worms Shrivel Along
With Eco-Friendly” Label

Allan Appel Photo

These eighth-graders may have proved that green” dishwashing liquids could hurt the environment than conventional products. They made the discovery with the help of 45 night crawlers from the bait store, dirt from their backyards, and careful observation.

The two Nathan Hale School students, Alexandria Abbagnaro and Gianna Vollano (left to right in photo), tested the effects of Dawn, Palmolive, Green Works and Method on dozens of soon-to-shrivel-up worms. They produced surprising results: The night crawler mortality rate was least with Palmolive —five of nine worms survived — and 100 percent with the so called green products.”

Their experiment — called Going Green As You Clean!’ — was one of 250 presented by 700 students at the public school system’s 18th annual citywide science fair. On Wednesday, the young scientists like Alexandria and Gianna were fielding the questions of judges who thronged the Yale University Commons.

We’re always trying to go green, but is it worth it?” Gianna posed the hypothesis that emerged from watching her parents use a wide range of products in the family kitchen. Which, she wondered, was more toxic?

To find out, the girls poured a carefully measured solution of each dishwashing liquid on three cups of backyard dirt enriched by worms, along with coffee grounds and apples. Wearing rubber gloves (the yucky part) they carefully measured weight and length of the worms over a seven-day period.

Obviously worms don’t like to have soap poured on them,” said Alexandria. Naturally, over time, as more solution was dispensed, they all began to shrivel and lose weight.

By day seven came a surprise: Both green products had a 100 percent death rate for the worms, while Palmolive had only a 55 per cent death rate and Dawn, the other commercial product 88 percent. That meant about one worm of nine had survived the dish washing liquid dousing.

All the survivors except the control group were shriveled. Without soap being poured on their wormy heads, they had grown from 18 centimeters to 25 over the course of the week.

A photo in the experiment’s display illustrates careful measuring and weighing of the worms.

There’s a lot of consumer product testing” as a main theme in this year’s fair, said citywide science coordinator Richard Therrien. He suggested it might be a consequence of a districtwide push to get kids to think about not only how science benefits society, but where it might lead to careers in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields for the young experimenters.

The girls suggested that one explanation for Palmolive’s lower toxicity may be that it is the only one of the four products without a foaming agent called sodium laureth sulfate. But that remains for another experiment to prove.

It’s a huge thing [we proved],” said Gianna after finishing an explanation to one of the judges. These green products, we’re proving them wrong. Feels less trustworthy.”

Watch out, manufacturers. Both young experiments say they want to pursue careers in environmental science and test other green products.

The final judging and awards ceremony will be held at Yale Commons Thursday at 6:30.

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