Do harsh cleaning products really affect our health, our children’s health, and our pet’s health? Absolutely! Lets start out by talking about asthma. Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease in the developed world. It has become more common in the last 30 years.
Children develop asthma usually before the age of 5! This means their airways are narrowing and inflammation of the airways in response to a trigger, which makes breathing difficult. Do household products play a role in this?
Research has been done to measure levels of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which are fumes that can be found in items such as cleaning products, paint, furnishings, polishes, and room fresheners. These fumes can irritate the airways causing narrowing and difficulty breathing. We should all know what our cleaning products contain and if they contain harmful chemical we need to use alternatives.
There are cleaners on the market that contain human carcinogens, which means, there is sufficient evidence of a cause and effect relationship between exposure to the material and cancer in humans. We also take the risk of mixing these harmful chemicals together; for example if you accidently mixed a chlorine-based product, such as bleach, with an ammonia-based product, the result could be deadly.
When we are cleaning our homes we are in an enclosed space, such as the bathroom, this is not ventilated enough to be safe. The fumes are enclosed and if we accidently mixed some together you can be overcome by the vapors and pass out.
There is so much literature out there that goes into detail on how harmful these chemicals are for us and our pets but it is also extremely harmful to our environment.
Ok, we know that it causes harm to us, to our children, to our pets, to our environment, which leads into the streams, the food supply chain and so forth and so on. What are we going to do about it? Hopefully with more education on how harmful all of these everyday items can be we as consumers will start to make better choices. It begins with me and you. Will we change the world over night? Will people finally fight back and stop buying the chemical laced products? The answer to both is no it will take time, be better educated on what you are purchasing, research the chemicals listed, and look for alternatives.
Cleaning Products That Might Cause Indoor Air Concerns
Degreasers
Disinfectants
Furniture polishes
Oven cleaners
Tub and tile cleaners
Waxes
There are different choices that are out there!
