Numerous toxic chemicals in national brand cleaners are as damaging to lungs as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years.
A new, independent study based on 20 years of research and published in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine reveals a sobering fact: cleaning your home with national brand cleaners as little as once per week significantly and permanently damages lung tissue. Almost all the cleaning products you buy at the grocery store contain a number of harmful chemicals. The study specifically named ammonia, chlorine bleach and quaternary disinfectant compounds as some of the likely culprits. But there are so many other dangerous compounds that name brand cleaners commonly use. The study also showed cleaning with products that contain dangerous chemicals 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.
Study Details
- 20 year longitudinal study
- Completely independent
- 6,235 male and female subjects
- Average age 34 at beginning of study; 54 at conclusion
- Use of spray and liquid home cleaning products monitored
- Lung capacity tested regularly
- Results complied by 28 top researchers from 9 countries
- Peer reviewed and published in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
Finding 1: Weekly use of national brand 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 include depleted lung capacity — the result of damage to the tender internal tissues of the respiratory system. Shockingly, the 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 less correlation for men. While not completely unaffected, male lungs have been proven to endure greater exposure to environmental pollutants 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 study 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 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: Dangerous chemical including ammonia, chlorine bleach, and quaternary disinfectant compounds 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 national brand 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 toxic chemicals – like those found in most all national brand cleaning products – are regularly inhaled into the sensitive tissues within the lungs, it makes sense that respiratory 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.” Household cleaners are even more dangerous than anyone imagined.
Most of the companies that manufacture the national cleaning brands knowingly choose to formulate with dangerous chemicals. Almost all cleaning products you’ll find in the grocery store contain numerous toxic ingredients, including, but not limited to, the following:
Chlorine Bleach
- 2000 Flushes® Toilet Bowl Cleaner
- Cascade® Complete with Clorox
- Clorox® Bathroom Cleaner with Bleach
- Clorox® Bleach
- Clorox® Cleanup All Purpose Cleaner
- Clorox® Toilet Bowl Cleaner
- Fantastik® 5 in 1 All Purpose Cleaner
- Great Value® All Purpose Cleaner with Bleach
- Kaboom® Mold and Mildew Stain Remover
- Kaboom® Shower, Tub & Tile Cleaner
- Lysol® Mold and Mildew Bathroom Cleaner
- Redi Shine® Bathroom Cleaner
- Scrubbing Bubbles® Foaming Bleach Bathroom Cleaner
- Scrubbing Bubbles® Multi Surface Bathroom Cleaner
- Soft Scrub® with Bleach
- The Works® Toilet Bowl Cleaner with Bleach
Ammonia
- Great Value® Glass Cleaner
- Misty Glass® & Mirror Cleaner
- Spartan® Glass Cleaner
- Windex® Original
Quaternary Disinfectant Compounds
- Clorox® Bathroom Disinfecting Beach Free Cleaner
- Clorox® Disinfecting Wipes
- Formula 409® Multi Surface Cleaner
- Great Value® Disinfectant Spray
- Lysol® All Purpose Cleaner
- Lysol® Disinfectant Spray
- Lysol® Disinfecting Wipes
- Spic and Span® Everyday Antibacterial Cleaner
And Many More …
If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to rid your home of the dangerous national cleaning products that contain so many harmful chemicals.
Melaleuca EcoSense® Offers Safe, Non Toxic, Biodegradable Cleaning Product Solutions
Melaleuca is a wellness company committed to providing products that customers need for healthy living. Melaleuca scientists have formulated cleaning products with unparalleled results for more than 3 decades. The Melaleuca EcoSense® line of cleaning products never use the cheap, widely available, dangerous chemicals national brands are known to contain. The EcoSense® brand guarantees ingredients like ammonia, quaternary disinfectants, chlorine bleach, and other dangerous chemicals will never be used in their products.
EcoSense® products use safer, biodegradable, plant derived ingredients that are found in nature. EcoSense® products use thyme oil, surfactants from coconut and palm oil, natural enzymes, citric acid found in lemons, and 100% pure Melaleuca oil. These cleaning products are so safe that no childproof caps are required on the bottles. EcoSense® products are proven to perform. They clean as well or better than the competitive products that use dangerous ingredients. The advanced EcoSense® formulas also clean better than other competing green products by measurable margins.
Most Melaleuca EcoSense® products are shipped in concentrated formulations that customers can dilute with water once received. The reasons for this are to provide customers with a wholesale pricing model and to save customers from paying for extra water weight in the shipping process.
Where to Buy Melaleuca EcoSense® Cleaning Products
Melaleuca sells products on their company website through a wholesale membership business model. Membership costs $19/year and often the first year is only $1. The company sells an abundance of health care products, not just cleaning products. They also sell health supplements, pure essential oils, healthy snacks, skincare products, hygiene products, beauty products and first aid products.