Household Cleaning Agents Causing Lung Damage

Keeping your surfaces at home clean and disinfected will certainly kill germs, but the cleaning agents themselves can also be harmful to your health, researchers in the US have found.

Never before have we been so obsessed with killing germs and viruses in our homes, offices and shops as in the past two years.

But the surge in household cleanliness during the pandemic has heightened the health risks associated with cleaning agents, according to new research.

Commercially available cleaning agents for disinfecting indoor surfaces can introduce small pollutant particles into people's respiratory tracts - to an extent that occurs when inhaling car exhaust fumes.

The findings were reported by US scientists in the scientific journal Science Advances. Several studies have already suggested that cleaning agents not only kill germs, but can also be harmful to the people who use them.

A long-term Norwegian study published in 2018 found that people who cleaned a lot had weaker lungs than those who never cleaned. The scientists from the University of Bergen observed the greatest drop in lung function among professional cleaners.

A Belgian study reported a year earlier that the mortality risk of male cleaners was significantly higher than that of office workers.

People cleaning their own homes may be even more at risk because they know little about safety precautions and use products incorrectly or combine them without hesitation.

Gloves not enough

According to the authors of the Belgian study, wearing gloves is one of the most basic precautionary measures. However, a study by a team led by chemist Colleen Rosales, who was researching at Indiana University at the time of the study, suggests that not only direct skin contact could be problematic.

The scientists focused on the primary and secondary emissions of the cleaning agents and especially on those that smell "naturally" of citrus fruits or pine.

Such cleaners often contain monoterpenes, which are the main components of essential oils. Among the best known are limonene, alpha- and beta-pinene and camphor.

As the researchers describe, these agents release volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the term used to describe gaseous and vaporous substances of organic origin in the air.

VOCs can come from many sources. Some of them can cause sensory irritation, headaches, but also organ damage and even cancer, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Secondly, VOCs can oxidise, the study says, leading to the formation of specific secondary organic aerosols (SOA), including peroxides, alcohols, carbonyls and carboxylic acids.

Deep in the lungs

To measure these primary and secondary emissions, Rosales and her colleagues set up a test room that, at just over 20 square metres, was intended to be the size of a typical office.

The room was wiped and cleaned with a commercially available cleaning agent based on monoterpenes for about a quarter of an hour while the scientists continuously analysed the air in the room.

Based on their room air analysis, the researchers calculated that a person using such a cleaner would inhale about 30 to 40 micrograms of primary volatile organic compounds per minute at the beginning of the wiping.

In addition, 0.1 to 0.7 micrograms of secondary organic aerosols are produced by the reaction of the product with the air in the room.

In terms of mass, this is not much, but many of the particles produced are in the nanoscale range and could thus have health relevance, as they are able to penetrate into the deepest regions of the lungs.

Exposure to such nanoparticles led to dose levels in the respiratory tract that were greater than or comparable to those obtained by inhaling traffic-related aerosols in urban streets, the study says.

The authors themselves emphasise, however, that little is known about the toxicological profile of these particles indoors.

Despite these uncertainties, there is cause for concern for people like caretakers and cleaners who spend a lot of time cleaning indoor surfaces.

In addition, workplace and household exposures leading to adverse health effects are likely to be influenced by increased chemical disinfection of indoor surfaces during the current coronavirus pandemic, the authors write.

More strategic ventilation during and after cleaning could help reduce the accumulation of harmful particles, the researchers say.

Reuters