Cleaning Products

Hazards of Cleaning Products

• Some cleaning products are corrosive. That means that they can seriously irritate or burn skin or eyes. Corrosive cleaners include some drain cleaners, most oven cleaners, some toilet bowl cleaners, and some rust removers. Such products will have the word DANGER on the label.

• Products containing ammonia or chlorine bleach are chemically reactive and should never be mixed together or with other products. In addition, these products are irritating to the lungs if inhaled.

• Solvent-based cleaning products, such as spot removers, degreasers, and some furniture polishes and metal polishes, can be toxic and flammable. Accidental ingestion of these products can be especially dangerous.

• Most cleaning products are eye irritants and some are also skin irritants.

• Cleaning products are consistently among the products most frequently ingested accidentally by children. Many are not particularly toxic, but the corrosives and solvent-based products can cause serious damage.

• A few cleaning products contain ingredients that are slow to break down in the environment and may be air or water pollutants. One group of ingredients of particular concern are the alkylphenol ethoxylates, or APEs. These detergents are slow to break down and form compounds that can disrupt the endocrine systems of fish, birds, and mammals. APEs are found in some laundry detergents, disinfecting cleaners, all-purpose cleaners, spot removers, hair colors and other hair-care products, and spermicides.

Disposal of Cleaning Products

Most cleaning products are water based and can be disposed down the sink or toilet in small quantities. However, it is best to use up unwanted products or give them to someone who can use them. Never pour solvent-based products down the drain. Never dump liquid cleaning products in the trash. Disposal instructions may vary with location. For information about disposal of household hazardous waste in your community, call your local solid waste utility or health department or visit the Earth 911 site.

Alternatives

There are less hazardous alternatives to many cleaning products. Most are commercial products you can buy at the store. You may also choose to make your own cleaners from common ingredients like vinegar, baking soda, and salt. There is a list of less hazardous substitutes for cleaning products in the print version of this fact sheet. To reduce the use of hazardous products, only use heavy-duty cleaners for heavy-duty jobs.

Making Your Own Cleaners

There are some good reasons to make your own cleaning products. Homemade cleaners can be less expensive than commercial ones, and you know exactly what is in the products. But there are some potential dangers to kitchen chemistry. If you choose to mix your own cleaning products, be careful. Follow these guidelines:

1. Only mix ingredients as directed by a reputable source. Avoid recipes with hazardous ingredients such as bleach, ammonia, alcohols, turpentine, etc.

2. Never mix products containing chlorine bleach and ammonia, or chlorine bleach and a strong acid.

3. Try to avoid mixing up more product than you can use at one time. That way you avoid having to store products.

4. If you do store homemade cleaners, always mark your containers, saying what the product is for and what it contains. This is important in case a child should accidentally drink some of your concoction and you need to tell the poison center what it contained.

5. Keep all cleaning products out of reach of children.

6. If a homemade cleaner is so ineffective that you need to use very large amounts to do a job, consider discontinuing its use. Extremely ineffective products waste resources and may actually be more polluting than commercial products. Many homemade cleaners are surprisingly effective, however.

"Green" Products

In recent years there has been a trend towards products marketed for their environmental qualities. They may claim to be non-toxic, environmentally safe or environmentally friendly, recycled, biodegradable, or all of the above. The claims may be true, or they may not. Remember that the production of any product places a burden on the environment. The best products are just those that are least damaging.

Be skeptical when shopping. Look for products with specific rather than general claims. For example, "90% biodegraded in 3 days" means more than just "biodegradable." "Contains no phosphates" is more specific than "environmentally-safe." If the product seems too good to be true, perhaps it is.

Look for contradictory claims. If the product says "non-toxic" on one side and "vapor harmful" on the other, something is wrong. Be particularly wary of salespeople who claim their product is so safe they drink it. Their judgment may be impaired. Besides the fact that drinking cleaning products is seldom advisable, low oral toxicity doesn't prove that a product is without hazards.

Is there such a thing as a "non-toxic" product? Any chemical is toxic if you ingest enough of it. However, the government has set benchmarks for toxicity, and a product is generally considered not toxic if the lethal dose is greater than 5 grams per kilogram of body weight. That works out to about 2 ounces for a 25 lb child or 12 ounces (3/4 pound) for a 150 pound adult.

From Safer Cleaning Products, written by Philip Dickey

Source: Washington Toxics Coalition

Also read:

Recipes for homemade cleaners:

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