I’m sure many people with good intentions buy green cleaning products to help the environment or reduce the risk of exposure to toxins for their families at home. But, before we start replacing a specific chemical cleaner with a green cleaning product, we need to see if it is worth making the switch.
Some of the chemical cleaners in our homes may not be so dangerous anyway, so it makes sense to look at the worst offenders first.
Start with the most toxic, dangerous or polluting chemical cleaners, and swap those for a green cleaning product first. That way your change has the biggest and quickest impact on the health of your family and the planet.
Of course, certain situations warrant employing more abrasive chemicals (using proper procedure). But consider greener cleaners for daily cleaning, as well as for many other scenarios. And, remember, you can make a lot of your own cleaning products!
So, here goes the list of toxic cleaning chemicals in everyday products we should try to avoid (in alphabetical order):
Alcohol
Alcohol of various types can be found in a wide range of chemical cleaners including all-purpose cleaners, disinfectants, glass cleaners, metal polishes, air fresheners, and de-greasers.
The names of the various types of alcohol often found in household cleaners are:
- Ethanol
- Isopropanol
- Methanol
Alcohol used in cleaners are poisonous. Ingestion or inhalation can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, depression, and stomach pain. Ingestion in large amounts could lead to blindness and even death. Long-term exposure may be related to sinus and throat cancers.
For certain uses, consider hydrogen peroxide.
Ammonia
Found in all-purpose cleaners, disinfectants, drain cleaner, floor cleaners, furniture polish, kitchen cleaner, metal polish, oven cleaner, and toilet bowl cleaner is ammonia.
Ammonia is a powerful irritant for eyes, nose, and lungs. For some, ammonia will cause rashes and even burns. When mixed with bleach, chloramine gas is produced which is highly poisonous to breathe in.
Bleach
Found in bathroom cleaners, disinfectants, laundry bleaches, tile cleaners, and toilet bowl cleaners.
The names to look out for are:
- Chlorine Bleach
- Sodium Hypochlorite
This is one of the most common causes of poisoning at home. Bleach is a skin irritant and when ingested may damage the mouth, food pipe, and stomach. When mixed with acids, bleach will form poisonous chlorine gas and when mixed with ammonia, it will create toxic chloramine gas.
While there may be a time and place for disinfecting with bleach, you need to make sure you respect proper protocols! Also, if you’re interested in a deeper dive, check out Popular Science article that puts the use of bleach in perspective.
Butyl Cellosolve
Found in degreasers, heavy-duty all-purpose cleaners, and window cleaners. When absorbed into the bloodstream this can damage blood, liver, kidneys and the central nervous system. The main problem with this as an ingredient in household cleaners is that it is easily absorbed into your system through the skin.
Carbolic Acid (Phenol)
Found in air fresheners, disinfectants, and furniture polish. This is a probable carcinogen. If it gets spilled on skin, carbolic acid can cause swelling, burns, and hives. Ingestion can result in convulsions and even death. Even low concentrations can cause gangrene, burns, and loss of feeling.
Cresol
Found in detergents, disinfectants, and herbicides. Some companies are slowly discarding this as an ingredient due to its toxicity. Highly caustic, contact with cresol will cause a prickly or intense burning sensation followed by numbness. Cresol poisoning causes diarrhea, vomiting, headaches, and dizziness. It has been linked to liver, kidney and lung damage as well.
Formaldehyde
Found in detergents, disinfectants, furniture polish and water softeners. It is likely that your home is polluted with formaldehyde anyway, from the fixtures and fittings rather than just the cleaners you use. Chipboard, plywood, mattresses, foam, plastics, and insulation materials often make use of formaldehyde as a preservative. Kitchens with laminated cupboards and compressed worktops are often the worst polluted regions of our homes.
In lower concentrations, formaldehyde is a suspected carcinogen and irritant, causing nausea, headaches irritated eyes and nose. Ingestion can lead to stomach pain, bleeding, and even death.
Glycols
Found in degreasers, dry cleaning chemicals, dyes, floor cleaners, and paints. There is a wide variety of glycols used, some are highly toxic, others relatively non-toxic. Glycols are easily absorbed through the skin, and from breathing vapor via the lungs and into the bloodstream. There they can damage the kidney, liver and central nervous system. Many are simple irritants to skin, eyes, nose, and throat.
Hydrocarbons (Petroleum Distillates)
Found in furniture polish, metal polish, oven cleaner, and pesticides. The hydrocarbons range from the decidedly non-toxic such as petroleum jelly to the pretty toxic skin irritants. All are toxic if ingested. Perhaps the biggest concern is how polluting the petroleum industry is and using hydrocarbons perpetuates this damage being done to the planet.
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Hydrochloric and Phosphoric Acids
Found in bathroom cleaners, limescale remover, metal polishes, tile, and toilet bowl cleaners. These strong acids can damage your soft tissues. Burns, scarring and even blindness can result from spills and splashes of these acids. The vapor alone is a strong irritant to eyes, nose, and throat.
Hydrofluoric Acid
This is a scary one! Found in rust removers and aluminum cleaners. On contact, this acid will penetrate skin and tissue until it reaches the bone. Most worryingly there is no pain associated with the acid’s penetration so if you do not notice a spill you could be in real trouble.
Lye (Sodium Hydroxide)
Found in drain cleaners, oven cleaners, bathroom cleaners, and toilet bowl cleaners. Lye is an extremely caustic base or alkaline material. It can quickly dissolve, skin and soft tissue, so splashes to the eyes can easily cause blindness. When mixed with acids, lye can release harmful vapors and when mixed with water, it will result in boiling temperatures, steam, and frequent splashing.
Many drain cleaners have lye concentrations of 90% or more, so it must be treated with absolute care.
Naphthalene
Found in air fresheners, carpet cleaners, mothballs and toilet bowl cleaners. This is dangerous to breathe, causing headaches, vomiting, and excessive sweating. Naphthalene is very toxic to small children, so beware of storing children’s clothes in mothballs which can result in serious poisoning of the infant.
Paradichlorobenzenes (PDCBs)
Found in insecticides, mothballs, room deodorizers and toilet fresheners. These are toxic to breathe or ingest and a common eye and nose irritant.
Perchloroethylene
Found in dry-cleaning solutions and spot removers. This is another suspected carcinogen. Exposure causes dizziness, nausea, and tremors. Long-term exposure can even damage the liver and central nervous system.
Propellants (Propane, Butane & CFCs)
Found in all aerosols, including air fresheners, and polish. These are relatively safe but can be dangerous when inhaled. And, the whole point of sprays is that they send out easy to breathe small particles! They are irritating to throat, nose, and lungs and can even cause death if inhaled regularly or in excessive amounts (such as done by youngsters as a cheap “high”).
Sulfuric Acid
Found in metal polish and toilet bowl cleaners. This acid gives off very dangerous fumes. Contact (even in diluted form) can burn skin and soft tissues. Be especially careful of splashes in eyes that could lead to blindness.
Trichloroethylene (TCE)
Found in metal polishes and spot removers. TCE is carcinogenic and narcotic. It is irritating to the eyes and nose, can dry out skin and cause dizziness or even memory loss when inhaled.
The List of Toxic Cleaning Chemicals in Everyday Products — Recap
- Alcohol
- Ammonia
- Bleach
- Butyl Cellosolve
- Phenol
- Cresol
- Formaldehyde
- Glycols
- Hydrocarbons (Petroleum Distillates)
- Hydrochloric and Phosphoric Acids
- Hydrofluoric acid
- Lye (Sodium Hydroxide)
- Naphthalene
- Paradichlorobenzenes (PDCBs)
- Perchloroethylene
- Propellants (Propane, Butane & CFCs)
- Sulfuric acid
- TCE (Trichloroethylene)
Do You Really Need to Worry About all Those Toxic Chemicals?
Many of these chemicals will be found in relatively small quantities in your commercial cleaning products. So, you may think “why bother making the switch to a green cleaning product?”
Well, personally I have no desire to risk exposure to all those toxic chemicals at all. It is so difficult to tell how toxic a cleaner is, let alone the difficulty in determining how toxic those cleaners are when mixed with all the other cleaners I would use in one bout of housework!
Also, I know that I never carry out my household chores in the same kind of controlled environment that all the chemicals are tested in. Is my bathroom a well-ventilated space? Well, yes, when the window is open, but what if it’s blowing a gale and I still need to clean the bathroom?
I worry about children and pets getting hold of those toxic chemical cleaners too. Even if they don’t immediately set about devouring the contents, they may well spill those toxic cleaners on things they will damage.
Also, if a chemical is toxic to me, chances are a variety of other people are being exposed to that toxicity to bring that chemical cleaner to my home. I am thinking of those people working to produce and transport those chemicals to the store.
Even if I know not to ingest a certain substance, there will be small amounts of leftover which are thrown in the garbage and eventually hit landfill sites. Those chemicals do not stop being toxic just because they leave our homes. In fact, if something is mildly toxic to us humans, you can bet it is very toxic to other forms of wildlife.
The Solution: Green Cleaners
Household and commercial-grade green cleaners can meet most of the general population’s cleaning needs. While certain situations may warrant a highly sanitized environment or highly abrasive cleaning solutions, the vast majority of scenarios can be well-handled with kinder cleaners.
Final Thoughts
I’m not silly enough to think I can live a modern life without impacting on the environment. I try not to be too wasteful, but I am far from completely self-sufficient. But, by using green cleaning products I can reduce that impact in a very straightforward way.
Removing more toxic substance from the house (especially a house with younger children) can help protect potential accidents and exposure to nasty chemicals.
More selfishly, I feel happier using an eco-friendly cleaning product (and some may say that they smell better, too). I feel less at risk of developing a headache from cleaning the bathroom. That makes me feel less at risk of doing myself long-term damage from inhaling all those unknown compounds. If I feel healthier, I feel happier and much more likely to keep on top of all the cleaning chores!
Credits
- Bottles and Test Tubes
- Caution! Sign by Paul Racko
- Glass Bottles by qimono
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