Toxic cleaners have been linked with causing or worsening asthma, reproductive and developmental toxicity and cancer. When shopping for cleaning products, it’s important not to get influenced by the product packaging as lots of brands claim to be natural or green. The proof is in the ingredient list! It can be tricky to understand what to look out for, but here are a few major ones that we should be cautious of.
- Fragrance – this term often hides a multitude of synthetic chemicals and if they’re not disclosed, we don’t know how toxic they are. Certain phthalates (artificial fragrances) have been linked to hormone disruption, reproductive health issues and cancer.
- Bleach (sodium hypochlorite) and Ammonia (ammonium hydroxide) – these give off toxic fumes which irritate the eyes, lungs, nose, throat and skin and may even cause burns and death.
- Formaldehyde and 1,4-Dioxane – these have been designated as a probable or known human carcinogens.
- Ionic and non-ionic surfactants (eg sodium lauryl (laureth) sulphate and cocomidopropyl betaine (cocamide DEA, coco-betaine…) – these are lung, eye and skin irritants.
If you want to dig deep on this subject, we recommend the following resources:
- The Building Biology Website details six ingredients to avoid (and so much more)
https://www.buildingbiology.com.au/hazards/cleaning-products.html - The US based Environmental Working Group has a detailed report and ranks the toxicity of cleaners!
https://www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners/
