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Makes sense to me....... "Regular use of cleaning sprays has an impact on lung health comparable with smoking a pack of cigarettes every day, according to a new study."
I'm amazed that something with such strong apparent effects has been overlooked - too bad they couldn't document the same effect for men because there were not enough subjects. What is odd is that professional cleaners were no more impacted than women who cleaned their own homes but I wonder how they defined that. And you can't find male janitors who also use cleaning chemicals? They also say that cloths and water would suffice for most cleaning jobs. Hmmmm...yes, perfect for cleaning floors and toilets.
I'm amazed that something with such strong apparent effects has been overlooked - too bad they couldn't document the same effect for men because there were not enough subjects. What is odd is that professional cleaners were no more impacted than women who cleaned their own homes but I wonder how they defined that. And you can't find male janitors who also use cleaning chemicals? They also say that cloths and water would suffice for most cleaning jobs. Hmmmm...yes, perfect for cleaning floors and toilets.
The biggest problem I have is with not defining "cleaning chemicals" and I do not see an adjustment for the frequency of use apart from commercial versus home cleaning.
The biggest problem I have is with not defining "cleaning chemicals" and I do not see an adjustment for the frequency of use apart from commercial versus home cleaning.
Agree. Such a broad generalized statement isn't very helpful at all. The ingredients in "cleaning products" are all over the map. The concentrations of the ingredients in "cleaning products" are all over the map. Heck, the inactive ingredients in "cleaning products" are all over the map!!! This doesn't even touch on the fact that people have individual sensitivities to many safe ingredients. What bothers one person may have no affect on someone else. Frequency of use matters as suzy q said. Some ingredients technically possible to bathe in will have different effects than the same ingredient used once a month. What happens if you use the chemical once a day? 20 times a day? Once a year? Coat every piece of clothing you own in it? Mix it with the wrong otherwise safe chemical?
Then you have to actually prove causation. An anecdote: My family took vacations at southern CA beaches back in the 60s. At that time the beaches sometimes got contaminated with oil spilled from tankers and offshore oil rigs. We would often end up with tar on our feet. My Dad, a Cal Tech grad chem engineer, used carbon tetrachloride to clean off the tar. Can it be traced as the cause of my breast cancer 25 years later? Its a known carcinogen. But so are certain forms of crude oil. My Dad, who dabbled around with such chemicals over a long career, never developed cancer. Too many other unknown factors.
Speaking of bathing in it, you may or may not know that water is often described as "the universal solvent". If you include water in your definition of a "cleaning product" remember even it can have adverse health effects if you misuse it. Ever hear of drowning? Scalding? Hypothermia? Frostbite?
Now, if you state which of these ingredients, at a specific concentration, in conjunction with all the other ingredients that are present along with it, in a specific cleaning product, maybe you can make a point.
Last edited by Parnassia; 02-18-2018 at 03:57 PM..
What is odd is that professional cleaners were no more impacted than women who cleaned their own homes but I wonder how they defined that. And you can't find male janitors who also use cleaning chemicals? They also say that cloths and water would suffice for most cleaning jobs. Hmmmm...yes, perfect for cleaning floors and toilets.
This is anecdotal, only a few cases in places I've worked, but in commercial settings where I've been, most of the janitors I knew were male. One of them in particular I was alright friends with, and we spoke on breaks.
What seems to be the difference I saw, was how they treated the chemicals and products. Looking at the back of many cleaning products, they are often designed to be diluted anywhere from 2:1 to 100:1. As others have mentioned, water is the universal solvent, and it often only takes a little "boost" from a surfactant to cut oils. In fact, some of these cleaners are less effective when not diluted, because they were designed to work in a mixture with water. Meanwhile, how many homeowners are using things full strength, or even creating hazardous mixtures?
The janitor I knew well, he wore safety glasses almost all the time I saw him. This was in an industrial environment, and we would wear glasses when drilling, grinding, etc., but this man wore them at all times. I think being splashed with something from his mop bucket was just as much of a concern for him as walking through an area where dangerous work was being performed. In places where he was mopping, he'd set up hurricane fans and open doors before getting to work.
Finally, this man had a very thorough knowledge of the cleaning products he used. I remember watching him go through the cafeteria, and the cook asked him if he could look at a stain on the floor. He takes a brief look at it, and tells her that the fluid in his mop bucket is not alkaline enough to touch the stain, but that he'll be back that afternoon with the right chemical.
I think the bigges thing we can do in our homes, is to use less of all these substances. I get wanting to keep pathogens away, but so much of this is about clearing away the tangible messes of dirt, foods, or fluids that might carry these bugs. A wet rag is fine to clear the mess from a counter. Once the surface is visibly clean, a diluted disinfectant solution has no trouble killing any germs. Better this than spraying down a full strength cleaner that creates a mist in the air and a residue on the surface.
Additionally, how many cleaners do we use that are designed to smell "clean" (like mountain streams or ocean breeze or something)? To me, clean should smell like nothing. All of these scents are simply more chemicals that have to be taken into the lungs. Incidentally, it seems that industrial cleaners often have far less of these fragrances.
This is anecdotal, only a few cases in places I've worked, but in commercial settings where I've been, most of the janitors I knew were male. One of them in particular I was alright friends with, and we spoke on breaks.
What seems to be the difference I saw, was how they treated the chemicals and products. Looking at the back of many cleaning products, they are often designed to be diluted anywhere from 2:1 to 100:1. As others have mentioned, water is the universal solvent, and it often only takes a little "boost" from a surfactant to cut oils. In fact, some of these cleaners are less effective when not diluted, because they were designed to work in a mixture with water. Meanwhile, how many homeowners are using things full strength, or even creating hazardous mixtures?
The janitor I knew well, he wore safety glasses almost all the time I saw him. This was in an industrial environment, and we would wear glasses when drilling, grinding, etc., but this man wore them at all times. I think being splashed with something from his mop bucket was just as much of a concern for him as walking through an area where dangerous work was being performed. In places where he was mopping, he'd set up hurricane fans and open doors before getting to work.
Finally, this man had a very thorough knowledge of the cleaning products he used. I remember watching him go through the cafeteria, and the cook asked him if he could look at a stain on the floor. He takes a brief look at it, and tells her that the fluid in his mop bucket is not alkaline enough to touch the stain, but that he'll be back that afternoon with the right chemical.
I think the bigges thing we can do in our homes, is to use less of all these substances. I get wanting to keep pathogens away, but so much of this is about clearing away the tangible messes of dirt, foods, or fluids that might carry these bugs. A wet rag is fine to clear the mess from a counter. Once the surface is visibly clean, a diluted disinfectant solution has no trouble killing any germs. Better this than spraying down a full strength cleaner that creates a mist in the air and a residue on the surface.
Additionally, how many cleaners do we use that are designed to smell "clean" (like mountain streams or ocean breeze or something)? To me, clean should smell like nothing. All of these scents are simply more chemicals that have to be taken into the lungs. Incidentally, it seems that industrial cleaners often have far less of these fragrances.
Great post! Consumer product advertising that bugs me most are those for household cleaners and fragrances. I have never felt the need for my bathroom to smell like some lavender farm in France and probably never will. Because of my birds I tend to use non-volatile veterinary-grade safe disinfectants to clean most surfaces. They are not perfumed, not expensive, not dyed, no fancy mixtures, and are quite simply effective at low concentrations.
We dont need to clean with dangerous chemicals..I dont.. hot water, BioDwashing up liquid for all cleaning ,dishes in my house... some apple cider vinegar with orange peel as a disnfectant for worktops etc....no one needs all these scented overpowering chemicals in the home and Ihavent used any canned sprays around the house in years... check the junk in the ingredients and youll find Formaldehyde in there although it might be called by another name. so look out for it and other harmful junk..... this is how they get round using the dangerous fluid in cosmetics and cleaners ...
Formalin.all these are the same as formadehyde.. used for embalming and very dangerous
Formic aldehyde.
Methanediol.
Methanal.
Methyl aldehyde.
Methylene glycol.
Methylene oxide.
We dont need to clean with dangerous chemicals..I dont.. hot water, BioDwashing up liquid for all cleaning ,dishes in my house... some apple cider vinegar with orange peel as a disnfectant for worktops etc....no one needs all these scented overpowering chemicals in the home and Ihavent used any canned sprays around the house in years... check the junk in the ingredients and youll find Formaldehyde in there although it might be called by another name. so look out for it and other harmful junk..... this is how they get round using the dangerous fluid in cosmetics and cleaners ...
Formalin.all these are the same as formadehyde.. used for embalming and very dangerous
Formic aldehyde.
Methanediol.
Methanal.
Methyl aldehyde.
Methylene glycol.
Methylene oxide.
Formaldehyde is found in food and your own body makes it.
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