Women who use conventional cleaning products once a week damage their lungs as much as if they were smoking a pack of cigarettes a day
Women who regularly used household or industrial cleaning products for 20 years had as much lung damage as if they’d smoked a pack a day over the same period, a new European study finds.
Scientists at Norway’s University of Bergen tracked 6,000 people’s use of cleaning products for over two decades.
Women who used who frequently used cleaning products had a significant difference in lung function from women who did not. The difference was less significant in men. It’s unclear why.
Researchers say it could be because men who work as cleaners were being compared to men with occupations that exposed them to other harmful chemicals.
“We feared that such chemicals, by steadily causing a little damage to the airways day after day, year after year, might accelerate the rate of lung function decline that occurs with age,” said led author of the study Dr. Cecile Svanes, a professor at the University of Bergen in Norway.
Their fear proved correct.
Women who used the cleaning products regularly had a markedly decreased lung capacity and higher rates of asthma.
“When you think of inhaling small particles from cleaning agents that are meant for cleaning the floor and not your lungs, maybe it is not so surprising after all,” said Svanes.
Researchers attribute the decline in lung function to the damage cleaning agents cause to the mucous membranes lining the airways.
They advise avoiding the products and using a microfiber cloth and water instead. Baking soda and vinegar are also time-tested natural products that can get just about anything sparkling clean.
Comments
9 responses to “Household Cleaning Products Damage Lungs As Much as Smoking”
I am disappointed that you have chosen to start positing articles that are not based in scientific fact like the one claiming cleaning ones house once a week is going to damage your lungs as bad as smoking a pack a day. The study it is based on is not scholarly research and fails to control variables in it’s study. It also is classic scare tactic marketing and click bait. I am all for natural cleaning methods, for multiple reasons, but you don’t need to lie to people to get them interested in them. Posting articles like this severely diminishes your pages credibility and you should know it has lost you at least one follower in this case.
why is it that people always fight the fact that chemical household products are harmful…vinegar and baking soda doesn’t cost more that those products and are much safer..it’s just common sense
why is it that people always fight the fact that chemical household products are harmful…vinegar and baking soda doesn’t cost more that those products and are much safer..it’s just common sense
Lisa, I agree that these kinds of articles siting beyond iffy science as though it’s facts, detracts from the otherwise good message that the chemical based cleaning products industry is completely unnecessary and is harmful to humans, the environment and all living things!
It is fact, do your research before being a nay sayer.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29451393/
You need to rethink your article titles.
By the reasoning of this article professional housekeepers should be riddled with cancer. might have more to do with overall pollution levels and age rather then what they are claiming, but then again, i’m not a researcher.
Only affects women’s health, huh?
Read the article. The researchers guess as to why there was not a significant difference between men who regularly used cleaning products and those who did not is because men are exposed to so many other occupational hazards.