Beware: how toxic are your cleaning products?

Look at one of the labels on your cleaning supplies  – it often says something similar to ”hazardous to humans and domestic animals”. The question is – if this is the case, why do we continue to buy these products and use them in our places of work and our own households?

While they do wonders in disinfecting our kitchens, bathtubs and toilets, they also contribute to air pollution and can potentially harm us as well, if we inhale or touch them. The average household contains around 62 toxic chemicals, according to environmental experts. That’s an incredibly high number! The worst part is that we’re exposed to them daily, which means there’s very little chance that they don’t affect us at all.

These toxic ingredients have been linked to cancer, asthma, hormore disruption and neurotoxicity. The most dangerous cleaning products are undoubtedly our corrosive drain cleaners, oven cleaners and the acidic toilet cleaners. Let’s take Canadians as an example – they spend over $275 million on cleaning products every year, believing they make our homes clean and our lives easier.

Yet, apart from maintaining a clean home or office, the chemicals harm not only human health, but also the environment. What is even worse,  we usually have our offices cleaned by cleaning companies and we have absolutely no idea what they use to make all the surfaces so shiny and the bathrooms so clean. The chemicals usually linger in the air and we breathe them in without even realizing it.

They can also enter our bodies if we absorb them through our skin or ingest chemical residues from dishes and cutlery – not to mention the impact they have on the environment when they get flushed down the drain.

Some of the most dangerous chemicals in cleaning products are chlorine bleach and ammonia, which create fumes that are irritating to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs and should be avoided by people with asthma or heart problems. Some other toxic elements are nonylphenol ethoxylates, phosphates and triclosan.

You have a few options in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle while living and working in clean spaces. If you have a small office which you clean yourself, swap all your toxic products for ones with natural ingredients. You can check out our variety of green products right here. Same goes for your home! If your place of work is quite large and someone else is cleaning it, you should definitely look into the company who performs this and take a look at the products they’re using – you have the right to know what you’re inhaling on a daily basis! Then, you can always suggest a change to those in charge.

The most important thing is to be healthy, regardless of how often we clean and what we use to do it!