Urban Blog

There may be a big surprise lurking in your home. Many common household cleaners can be packed with dangerous and harmful chemicals. Sadly, the idea that household cleaners can be dangerous is not a myth, but is in fact quite real and quite true. How these products, which are often clearly labeled as dangerous or even poisonous, have stayed on the market is a mystery. Many of these chemicals have been proven to be toxic for families and yet they still remain on store shelves and are used every day in homes and around children. In this article, we are going to explore five alarming facts regarding chemicals used in homes for cleaning.

Alarming Fact Number One-They are Everywhere

It might sound a little alarmist to state that harmful chemicals are everywhere. But in the world of home cleaning products, it isn’t an overstatement. Unless you are carefully seeking out products that are safe and labeled “organic,” or “nontoxic” or address their safety in some other way, then you are likely dealing with a chemical based product and that product may be dangerous. In fact, many household cleaners contain chemicals, such as formaldehyde.

Alarming Fact Number Two-Air Quality Issues

If you often feel that cleaning products often smell dreadful, you are not alone. The toxic compounds found in household cleaners smell toxic often for the simple reason that they are toxic! Whether it is formaldehyde or ammonia or a range of other products, you can expect your indoor air quality to suffer.

Ammonia is so well known that many people believe that it must be safe. This is an understandable but completely inaccurate understanding of the chemical. Ammonia may cause organ damage, including liver damage. Ammonia is serious stuff, and it is found is a surprisingly diverse array of cleaning products. Yes, it works, but the price tag may be a high one! The best option is to simply avoid chemical cleaning products so as to boost your indoor air quality.

A decrease in air quality has been linked to an increase in diseases and even lower I.Q.’s in children. The right move is to steer clear! Researchers have discovered over 100 different VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, in cleaning products. These compounds make their way into the air where they are not only breathed in, but make their way into our food and drink. Here is a truly shocking fact: you may be eating and drinking whatever you clean with so pick very wisely!

Alarming Fact Number Three-Chemical Fragrances are Not Your Friend

There are thousands of chemicals used in cleaning products for fragrance purposes. Companies work hard to give their products a “distinctive” smell and, sadly, those distinctive smells are often toxic smells as well. Phthalates are a particularly serious problem. Phthalates have become quite ubiquitous in our society, as they are in everything from cleaners to laundry detergents. There are numerous problems with phthalates including lowering sperm counts.

Alarming Fact Number Four-It Gets Worse

As if all of this wasn’t bad enough, it does get worse. How does it get worse? There are some seriously bad chemicals out there, and they have made their way into your home. While chemicals such as formaldehyde are fairly well known and get a lot of attention, there are other lesser known, but widely used chemicals that are downright scary! A great example of this is paradichlorbenzene. Now that might not sound too familiar, but this is a key ingredient in mothballs. If you have mothballs, get rid of them. Paradicholorbenzene has been linked to a range of organ damage.

Like cooking? Hate food sticking to your pans? You may have done what millions of other people have done over the years and opted for polytetrafluoroethylene also known as PTFE. PTFE is what makes Teflon pans non-stick. When heated, PTFE releases toxic gases that have been linked to cancer, organ problems and more.

Alarming Fact Number Five-You May Be Surrounded

It isn’t just floor cleaning products, toilet bowl cleaners, cleaning sprays and other household cleaning products. The facts are that the problem extends outside of your home as well. If you are using weed killers, then you are likely exposing yourself to insecticides and herbicides.

One very problematic example is Round-Up. Round-Up is very popular and has been aggressively marketed; however, it is feared that Round-Up may cause organ damage and other health problems.

Together these five alarming facts might not paint a very cheery picture. However, there is much that you can do to avoid harmful chemicals in and around your home. The first step is to make no assumptions. Unless you know for certain what is in a given product, do not use it. Secondly, if a product has an odd odor, don’t use it. Third, always be on the lookout for a natural cleaning product alternative. The war on germs has gotten a little out of control in the last few decades; antibacterial products have for example led to stronger germs.

The odds are excellent that you don’t need the ultra-powerful “kill them all” type chemical cleaners that populate most store shelves. Vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, lemon and other natural cleaners worked very well. Our ancestors, after all, survived long before weed killers and chemical cleaners. There is every reasons to believe that we can keep the germs at bay without having to harm our health.