Families Against Cancer & Toxics

Harsh health effects clear for some; experts advise common-sense use

By Tony Davis
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.02.2007

Friends of South Sider Lourdes Renteria used to say her house smelled like Clorox.

That's no surprise. For two years, she had doused a gallon a week of the popular product to keep her clothes sparkling white and to clean her dishes, bathroom and floors.

But her daughters Sandy and Silvith, now ages 8 and 15, were complaining of breathing problems, headaches, nosebleeds, fevers, coughing and bouts of sleepiness.

That's changed since last January, when Renteria attended a weeklong training session on environmental health and learned how to use home-based cleaners employing few, if any, toxic chemicals. She's now down to a few teaspoons mixed with a bucket of water every other day for her floors. Elsewhere in her home, she substitutes soap or baking soda for bleach.

Her kids' health has improved dramatically, Renteria said in Spanish through a translator.

Several experts in chemical hazards agree that the bleach could have caused her kids' problems, and that scaling back could have made a difference.

"I can't imagine using a gallon a week. That is a staggering quantity of bleach," said William Nazaroff, an environmental-engineering professor at the University of California-Berkeley who specializes in indoor air quality.

But when it comes to normal amounts of bleach and other household cleaners, there is vast disagreement over the hazards among researchers, environmentalists and industry groups.

Studies have linked conventional cleaners to asthma or related diseases, or suggested that their use can trigger releases of an intense enough chemical brew to violate state and federal air quality standards. But industry groups have disputed most of the studies' scientific validity, and academics haven't reached consensus about whether cleaners are safe to use.

Experts also are far from agreement about commercial "green" cleaners, such as Seventh Generation, Ecover and Method Home. They're a big business, whose sales rose 23 percent to $105 million nationally this fall compared with a year ago, USA Today reports.

But few rules or standards guide the consumer. One reason is that many of these companies don't publish the ingredients of their products on the labels — just like their conventional counterparts.

Overall, given the industry's scale and the potential significance of the human exposures, "There is amazingly little research on cleaning products and their health hazards, or lack thereof," Nazaroff said.

It's "buyer beware," said Kenneth Rosenman, a Michigan State University professor of medicine who has researched chemicals for 30 years.

Huge industry

The first liquid soap sold in this country was patented in 1865. Ivory Soap was discovered by accident in 1879. Clorox arrived on the scene in 1913. Pine-scented Pine Sol, today's biggest-selling cleaning product, went on the market in 1929. Formula 409, originally a harsh solvent and today a gentler, all-purpose cleaner, hit the market in 1957.

Today, these and thousands of other products make up an industry that took in $14.4 billion in 2004 and should hit $16.9 billion by 2009, predicts the European data-gathering firm Major Marketing International.

Various researchers and advocacy groups have long acknowledged that these cleaners carried risks as well as benefits. The chemicals they contain can irritate the skin, the eyes and sometimes the lungs. They are abrasive and corrosive. But the prevailing wisdom was that they could be used without much harm to all but the most sensitive people, provided users followed the directions on the label.

Still, the 1,788 complaints about household cleaners that poured into the University of Arizona's Poison and Drug Information Center ranked third in 2006 after those about aspirin and related compounds and animal bites. Cleaner complaints are perennially ranked the second- or third-most common types called into poison-control centers nationally.

Several studies have linked household cleaners and asthma. Just this fall, a European study linked asthma risks with various cleaning sprays used by a sample of 3,500 people at home over nine years. Researchers found that asthma risks rose 30 to 50 percent in people who spray once a week, and by more than 100 percent when they spray four times a week.

Two years earlier, a British study concluded that infants are more likely to develop persistent wheeze — an asthma symptom — if their mothers were exposed to any of 15 disinfectants, bleaches, carpet and window cleaners, aerosols, air fresheners and varnishes. And in 2006, researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California-Berkeley concluded that 21 common household cleaners and air fresheners emit pollutants at levels that can lead to health risks, and at times exceed state guidelines.

The worst reactions came when people cleaned in a small, moderately ventilated bathroom, combined air fresheners and ozone-based cleaners in a child's bedroom, or cleaned when there was a lot of ozone — smog — outdoors. People who used these products under ordinary circumstances were unlikely to be exposed to chemicals at unsafe levels, the study found.

After reading studies like those, epidemiologist Mark Mendell in Berkeley said his inclination would be to avoid conventional cleaning chemicals.

"Why use something that is a risk if there's something else out there?" asked Mendell, who has done research on household chemicals. "There's a whole mini-industry of healthy cleaning products and advisers on how to use them, people who write books and consult."

Two other researchers, Charles Gerba of the University of Arizona and Charles Weschler of New Jersey, said they're more concerned about spray cleaners than commercial cleaners in general.

Weschler suggests avoiding spray cleaners because they're much easier to inhale than a cleaner wiped onto a surface. He's more comfortable with other cleaners as long as people ensure they don't get in a position to inhale them.

"Use common sense," said Weschler, an adjunct professor of environmental and occupational medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center. "Don't clean your shower stall without ventilation. Don't use more of the product than the instructions say. Don't assume that you always need a strong product. A sponge or cloth wetted with water can remove a lot of stuff."

Industry groups such as the Consumer Specialty Products Association treat these studies skeptically. Its 260 member companies include manufacturers of disinfectants, candles, fragrances, pesticides and general home cleaners.

Most allergens known to trigger asthma attacks are biological substances such as dust mites, molds, mildews and other things brought up into the air by cleaning, said Doug Fratz, the association's vice president for scientific and technical studies.

Cleaning products are designed to combat the contaminants already linked to asthma; by its very nature, the cleaning process puts people in contact with those allergens, the group says.

Gradual awareness

The push for energy efficiency in buildings aggravates household chemical exposures because structures are more tightly sealed, said Neal Langerman, a San Diego-based chemical industry consultant.

Langerman, a chemist who is an officer of the Chemical Safety Division of the American Chemical Society, said he tells his kids to minimize their use of cleaning products or go outside when the family is using them. The society is an independent, professional group.

"When Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner wants a really clean home, they want to use stuff that works. They're driven by fear of germs," he said. "The stuff from cleaning products can in fact build up. How do you solve that? I don't know."

Local consumers are gradually learning about the possible risks of household cleaners and making decisions about what they feel comfortable using.

Citizen activist Bonnie Poulos of Tucson switched more than a decade ago from conventional drain cleaners to home-based cleaners mixing vinegar with baking soda.

Poulos works at a lab for the University of Arizona's Department of Veterinary Science and Microbiology, where she regularly pours baking soda mixed with vinegar or acetic acid down the drain to clear the pipes.

A co-worker, research specialist Leonne Mohney, uses a citrus-based compound at home to dissolve adhesive labels, rather than harsher acetone or carbon tetrachloride.

"They worked to an extent, but I wanted to use something a little safer," Mohney said.

Charles Carey, a buyer for University Medical Center, said he is content to use household cleaning chemicals, and is unaware of any health risks other than what's on the labels.

But, he said, if he knew of comparable products that aren't hazardous, "I would buy that in a heartbeat."

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