Soap Opera A line of all-natural cleaning products

When Amilya Antonetti's newborn son became seriously ill,she was frantic. It wasn't until she kept a log of heractivities and his illnesses- included asthma, eczema andsevere colic- she realized his outbreaks coincided with hercleaning days. The products that Antonetti used contained chemicalsthat nearly killed her baby, who later was diagnosed with multiplechemical sensitivity. "It was a toxic time bomb," saysthe 32-year-old. "But I wondered how I was going to [clean]without these products."

From that moment on, Antonetti was on a mission. Unable to findall-natural products on the market, she sought advice from cleaningexperts of yesteryear. Elderly women explained how they once usedingredients like vinegar, lemons and baking soda to clean theirhomes.

After talking to other mothers with ill children, Antonetti wasconvinced that a market existed for products containing suchingredients. "Detergents break down the immune system, soanyone with immune system problems- with cancer or AIDS, forexample-'t be around them," Antonetti explains. In1994, using an initial $300,000 of her own start-up capital,Antonetti launched SoapWorks in San Leandro, California. She and acore group of volunteers worked like women possessed, developing anall-natural soap, then a laundry detergent and an all-purposecleaner.