A clean house may be good for your mind and body but what about the road to get there? It’s a dirty job to get clean. How are household chemicals affecting our health? Are our cleaning products dangerous? Allergies, eczema, lung damage, asthma and other respiratory illnesses are among many health risks that accompany your trusty Ajax and Drano. Continued exposure to the dangerous fumes that you inhale can be even as harmful as smoking cigarettes, found this Norwegian study.
Due to our society being driven by consumption and marketing wizards, we believe that we do actually need a separate product for all our surfaces. A spray for the counters and a different one for tiles, one aerosol for scent and another for the oven (even for cooking oil?), a bottle for the toilet and one for the floors and before you know it, you’re living in Dexter’s Lab. While it all may sound well and nice, it’s actually far from it. Most household chemicals do have that 007 card in their back pocket and long-term exposure can be responsible for many of our family’s health issues.
I’ve broken down the most common poisons that are lurking under your sink and the dangers they bring with them.
The scary ingredients
AEROSOLS – contain formaldehyde, xylene, petroleum and p-dichlorobenzene which are all highly toxic, carcinogenic and may be a cause for pulmonary edema. Inhaling aerosols can cause long-term central nervous system defects and are especially dangerous to children. Aero-solution products also pose a threat to the environment as the release of compressed gas fumes damages the ozone layer. They have even been linked to the decrease of precipitation, or rain-fall, as found by a NASA study.
AMMONIA – can cause burns if comes in contact with skin. It’s also dangerous for your airways and mucus membrane. Ammonia should never be mixed with bleach as it will create a highly poisonous gas that can be fatal. You can typically find ammonia in glass, floor, toilet, oven, stainless steel and bathroom cleaners as its properties are streak free results and getting rid of mildew. It’s usually labelled as ammonium hydroxide on product labels.
ANTIFREEZE – this is an interesting one. True, antifreeze is commonly found in windshield products for having its — you guessed it — anti-freezing quality. But this devil can also hide in your deodorant, skincare products, baby wipes, medications, pet food, ice cream and sodas! Yuck! Commonly labelled under propylene glycol or ethylene glycol, the latter having a sweet taste to it draws kids and pets to it. Inhaling it can cause headaches and dizziness and swallowing antifreeze will damage kidneys, lungs, brain and other vital organs.
BLEACH – using bleach even as often as once a week can increase the risk of a pulmonary disease by one third. It also poses a danger to your respiratory system, accelerates allergies and may cause vision and tissue damage upon contact. Bleach is found in most toilet and bathroom, tile, kitchen and fabric whitening cleaners. Commonly labelled as sodium hypochlorite (chlorine bleach).
LAUNDRY DETERGENT – these are infamous allergy causers because they contain all sorts of dangerous chemicals. The variety of synthetic dyes, perfumes and other irritants can cause eczema, itching, nausea, headaches and heart disease. Not to mention a lot of the ingredients are known carcinogens and potentially fatal. So how important exactly is it to treat that stain with a chemical compound?
Scan the label for: SLS/SLES, phosphates, formaldehyde, dioxane (proudly supporting cancer since 1988), chlorine bleach, ammonium, benzyl acetate and benzene (hello, petrol!).
The good news
…is that you don’t need any of these products to keep yourself or your home clean. I will be sharing another post on how to clean with only natural ingredients because if you can’t eat it then why breathe it? (sic)
You can read on other chemicals you ingest with conventional products here.