The Naturally Clean Office & Home
According to a 5 year EPA study the air in offices and homes has chemical contamination levels 70x greater than outdoor air. EPA reports status that office and household cleaners are 3x more likely to cause cancer than outdoor air pollution.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has determined that more than 150 chemicals are found in ordinary cleaning products that are directly responsible for producing cancer, allergies, birth defects, migraines, asthma, bronchitis, eczema, reduce male sperm count, testicle atrophy, infertility and numerous phycological disorders.
Pets and children are especially susceptible to the risk of these chemicals. Since their bodies defence system are undeveloped, it takes less exposure to cause harm. Another factor to consider is that young children spend time crawling around on the floor during play with toys. Imagine small children’s curious fingers exploring such and are and then finding their way to eyes, nose, and mouth.
Disinfectants
These aggressively marketed liquids have quite a list of harmful ingredients including naphtha, 2-butoxyethonol, triclosan, phenol, formaldehyde, benzalkonium chloride, ethanol, and sodium sulfites. Phenols can cause liver and kidney damage and are also nerve-deadening agents. Sodium sulfites can be fetal to asthmatic. Triclosan is readily absorbed through the skin and associated with kidney damage.
Carpet & Floor cleaners
Trichloroethylene, naphthalene, ammonium hydroxide, and perchloroethylene are main toxins found in carpet and floor cleaners. Ammonium hydroxide is corrosive and damaging to the skin, eyes, and lungs. Trichloroethylene can cause cardiac arrhythmia or raspatory arrest. Perchloroethylene is a known cancerogenic and impairs the liver, kidney, and nervous system. Both these chemicals enter the bode through inhalation and are stored fatty tissue.
Air Fresheners
These fresh smelling sprays actually poison the environment with formaldehyde, naphthalene, phenol, sodium bisulfate, methxychlor and o-phenyl phenol. This chemical suppresses the central nervous system. Formaldehyde is known cancerogenic.
Cleaning Product Affecting your Health
How clean is the air in your home?
Probably not as clean and pure as you think. In fact, studies have shown that indoor air is typically up to seventy times more polluted than outdoor air. But what is the cause of this toxicity?
One major contributing factor is the chemicals used in conventional cleaning products. We have previously outlined the dangers of artificial cleaning ingredients to families with pets and kids in particular, and one of the most common culprits is fragrance.
Manufacturers will often include a range of fragrances, often derived from petroleum, into cleaning products to make your home smell strongly as you apply their colourfully-packaged product.
Also known as parfum, fragrances provide no cleaning power whatsoever, and simply result in your home smelling strongly of chemicals. Worse still, they can trigger a host of health issues including asthma, allergic reactions, and hormone disruption. And that’s without even mentioning the fact that fragrances are non-biodegradable and acutely toxic to aquatic life.
Perfume in cleaning products will also linger long after it’s applied, meaning that if you sprayed your kitchen counter with some artificially-scented cleaner last week, the chances are you are still inhaling the toxic fumes. This is especially important to consider when you’re cleaning less well-ventilated areas of the house like the bathroom.
Key points to remember
• Avoid buying anything unlabeled, or featuring ‘parfum’ or ‘fragrance’ on the label
• Choose plant-based cleaners made with all-natural ingredients
Have you ever stopped to consider the chemicals in your cleaning products?
Most people don't realise the types of harmful chemicals they introduce into their home, which can have serious effects on your health, your family, pets, and the environment. One of the main concerns when purchasing cleaning products is, manufacturers are not required to list all their ingredients on product labels, so consumers never fully know the harmful ingredients they are cleaning their homes
with. Another concern is some companies like to take advantage of the eco-friendly branding by advertising their products as environmentally friendly. Knowing this, we want to educate consumers on what a constitutes a green product and how to identify these products.
Some of the most harmful types of conventional cleaning products, are products such as hand sanitizers, fragranced products, fabric softeners and dryer sheets. To help consumers understand the potential risks of cleaning products, BioGreen has compiled a list of some harmful ingredients found in cleaning products and their side effects.
PHTHALATES
Phthalates are a common ingredient found in many fragranced household cleaning products, such as air fresheners, dish soaps or any sort of fragranced product. The health effects of exposure to phthalates are still being studied, as it is considered very harmful to human health. Exposure of phthalates has been linked to cancer, hormone
disruption, birth defects, respiratory disease, chemical burns to eyes and skin and many more. However, the issue with buying fragranced cleaning products is, companies are not required to disclose the ingredients behind fragrances. By law, companies only have to list ingredients that are “chemicals of known concern”. However, for
reasons of competition, companies argue the success of the product hinges on the secrecy of ingredients.
SULPHATES
Sulphates such as SLS and SLES, are commonly found in cleaning products such as laundry, dish and dishwasher detergents to help create a lather in cleaning power. Typically produced from petroleum, sulfates are known for irritation to skin, eyes, mouth and lungs. Though not all sulphates are considered harmful, SLES can become
contaminated with 1,4 -dioxane during the manufacturing process, which has been linked to cancer in laboratory animals.
TRICLOSAN
Typically found in antibacterial cleaning products, triclosan is considered an endocrine disruptor and has been found to interfere with humans thyroid hormone metabolism. Exposure to triclosan in infancy increases a child's chances of developing allergies, asthma and eczema.
QUATERNARY AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS (QUATS)
Another harmful ingredient found in disinfectant, antibacterial and toilet cleaning products are Quaternary Ammonium Compounds (Quats). Know as a powerful irritant, exposure to Quats can lead to skin rashes like dermatitis and is linked to multiple respiratory problems such as asthma, as well as fertility issues and reproductive harm.
There are also concerns that the overuse of products containing Quats can lead to antibacterial-resistant bacteria.
BUTOXYETHANOL
Butoxyethanol is used in a lot of commercial and industrial cleaning solutions such as liquid dish soap, dry cleaning solutions, degreaser applications, glass cleaners and all-purpose cleaners. Listed as a hazardous air pollutant, butoxyethanol is demonstrated to reduce fertility, as well as cause low birth weight, toxic liver metabolites, asthma and allergies.
CHLORINE
Chlorine is typically in bleach-based cleaning products like detergents, disinfectants, mildew removers and toilet bowl cleaner, but poses serious health risks to humans. Chlorinated products generate fumes that irritate lungs and are particularly dangerous for people suffering from respiratory problems such as asthma or emphysema and people with heart conditions. Listed as a hazardous air pollutant, chlorine is also considered to be highly corrosive and can damage skin, eyes.
Chlorine is also used to bleach some paper towels, napkins and tissues, which can contain dioxin that can potentially transfer to any person it comes in contact with. Dioxin has been known to affect people’s immune systems and the development of nervous systems, endocrine systems and reproductive functions and has also been classified as a known human carcinogen.
SODIUM HYDROXIDE
Sodium Hydroxide or also known as caustic soda is extremely damaging and corrosive to human tissue. Typically used in industrial cleaning, drain and oven cleaners, and some soaps and detergents, exposure to sodium Hydroxide can result in severe burns to a person’s skin. When working with sodium hydroxide, inhalation of the substance
can irritate the mucous membranes of the nose, throat and respiratory tract.
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