7 Findings of Lung Damage linked to Using Non-Natural Cleaning Products
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A new, independent study based on 20 years of research reveals a sobering fact: cleaning your home with common, well-known grocery store products made with ammonia, chlorine bleach, quaternary disinfectant compounds, and other dangerous chemicals significantly damages lung tissue in women.
In fact, the study showed that cleaning with such products as little as once per week was as damaging over time to respiratory health as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years!
About the Study
The European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS III) has been tracking a large population of 6,235 women and men with a beginning average age of 34 at 22 health centers in multiple countries. Over 20 years, participants were quizzed about their use of both spray and liquid home cleaning products and had their lung capacity tested regularly.
The results were compiled and analyzed by a top team of 28 international researchers from nine countries, led by scientists at The University of Bergen in Norway. The study was recently published in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Results of the Research
Finding 1: Weekly use of non-natural home cleaning products is as damaging to lung health as smoking 20 cigarettes per day.
By now, just about everyone knows the dangers of smoking cigarettes. Among their many hazards is depleted lung capacity – the result of damage to the tender internal tissues of the respiratory system. Shockingly, the ECRHS III study concluded that women who used home cleaning products at least once per week saw the same reduction in lung capacity as those who smoked a pack a day over the same period.
Finding 2: Women are affected far more than men.
Though there was a clear correlation between women who cleaned at home or for work and respiratory illness, there was no correlation for men. While not completely unaffected, male lungs have been proven to endure greater exposure to environmental pllutants before experiencing a similar drop in lung capacity. This finding is particularly concerning considering women engage with cleaning products more frequently than men.
Finding 3: Cleaning at home is just as harmful as being an occupational cleaner, if not more so.
The ECRHS III survey categorized participants as “not cleaning”, “cleaning at home”, and “occupational cleaning”. Surprisingly, the “cleaning at home” group saw the same decreases in lung health as “occupational cleaning”. Using cleaning products within the relaxed, comfortable confines of home may actually lend to a general complacency (not necessarily using the needed protective equipment) that ultimately leads to impaired health.
Finding 4: Liquid cleaners are just as dangerous as sprays.
Study researchers originally suspected that products delivered through a spray or mist would prove more dangerous than those applied as a liquid, gel, or wipe. The study found no significant difference between cleaner delivery types.
Finding 5: Ammonia, chlorine bleach, quaternary disinfecting compounds, and other dangerous chemicals appear to be primary culprits.
In their conclusions, the researchers stated, “one could hypothesize that long-term exposure to airway irritants such as ammonia and bleach used when cleaning at home could cause fibrotic or other interstitial changes in the lung tissue, thereby leading to accelerated decline of FVC (forced vital capacity).”
Finding 6: Women who regularly use cleaning products have increased rates of asthma.
Researchers found increased rates of asthma within the groups who used cleaning products regularly. This echoes multiple recent studies that have clearly linked the use of dangerous chemical cleaning agents with the onset of asthma.
Finding 7: Damage is cumulative over time.
When chemical agents like ammonia, chlorine bleach, quaternary disinfectants, and other chemical compounds are regularly inhaled into the sensitive tissues within the lungs, it makes sense that respirator problems would result. “Exposure to cleaning chemicals,” the researchers wrote, “could result in accelerated lung function decline and chronic airway obstruction; low-grade inflammation over many years could possibly lead to persistent damage to the airways.”.
What these findings mean for you
For most women who try to keep a clean, safe home, the results of the ECRHS III study are an imperative call to action.
If you haven’t already, rid your home of the cleaning products that contain ammonia, quaternary disinfectants, chlorine bleach, and other dangerous chemicals! What kind of products use such ingredients? Nearly all home cleaning products, including disinfectants, bathroom cleaners, toilet cleaners, shower and tub cleaners, scrubs, stain removers, floor cleaners, degreasers, window and glass cleaners, and all-purpose cleaners.
A Wellness Company that offers a full line of safe cleaning product solutions.
For more than three decades, the wellness company, Melaleuca, has had scientists formulate cleaning products that effectively perform household chores without the cheap, available, and now documented-as-dangerous chemicals cited in the ECRHS III study. Their EcoSense line has taken a firm stance on ingredients like ammonia, quaternary disinfectants, chlorine bleach, and other dangerous chemicals. This is why their cleaning products are so safe that they do not even require child safety caps.
EcoSense products are proven to perform. They clean as well as or better than the competitive products that use dangerous ingredients. And their advanced formulas clean better than other supposed “green” products by measurable margins. There is a reason Melaleuca has been the leader in safer-for-your-home cleaners for more than a generation. Not only are their products formulated to be safe for us, but for our environment as well.
If you are interested in Melaleuca’s EcoSense products among their other 300+ effective and natural vitamins, weight loss, home care, and essential oils (especially for wholesalers), feel free to contact us here on the blog for more information.
Interested in learning more about companies making strides in industrial environmentalism? Check out our section on the topic.
Tell us, what is most important to you when it comes to cleaning routines in your home? Comment below!
Comments & Reviews
A few years back I became more aware of some of these dangers and the cumulative effect that they can bring. This piece more than helps to expand our awareness and make solid conscious choices as well as a company I will be looking more into with healthier alternatives 🙂
Glad to hear your observance Shay,
Indeed, it is rather alarming what household products that turn out not to be safe for us can do. Perhaps this is part of the reason we have such a high rate of diseases such as cancer in our modern age. I recommend the company Melaleuca as I have had good experiences with them over the past nigh decade at this point.
Thanks for sharing!