| Household cleaners-Out gassing Air Date: Mar 11, 2003 Reporter: Wendy Mesley Producer: Gaelyne Leslie Researcher: Louisa Jaslow We seem to be a society obsessed with cleanliness. We want our whites whiter and our bathrooms and kitchens hospital-grade disinfected. Industry has answered: today's cleaning products promise faster, easier, better results, and no scrubbing. But is our clean-freak streak is harming our kids? Shawn Ellis is a toxicologist who's begun marketing his services to anxious homeowners. He tests the air in people's homes to see how many chemicals or other particulate matter may be floating there. Among his clients is Amanda Saul. She has severe Shawn Ellis tests indoor pollution levels respiratory problems. Five weeks ago, she was rushed to hospital because she couldn't breath. "I called Shawn because I was having a lot of problems breathing and I wasn’t sure if it had to do with the house, moulds and stuff, or whether it had to do with the air quality, maybe even our cleaning products." Her oldest son, Kieran, is three. Like so many kids these days, he suffers from allergies, eczema and asthma. Ellis tests for all kinds of things: mold, moisture and chemicals. "Some of my clients, using cleaners, especially if it’s a combination of cleaners, can actually feel dizzy or have headaches." What he's talking about are everyday cleaning products — like the ones Amanda and her husband use every day. Many of them contain chemicals. "I think the majority of the awareness of cleaning products in people’s homes are that a cleaning product is natural and safe. I don’t think people consider cleaning products chemicals," Ellis said. Amanda Saul and her family like their cleaners as much as anyone else. "It is very seductive to try and get the best cleaning product out there that will actually do the job." And the advertising for those products addresses that feeling. The come-on to parents is full of babies and young children looking adorable — and vulnerable. It's a parent's job to keep them free from germs. Last year, Canadians spent more than $275 million on household cleaning products. Not required to disclose ingredients Kathy Cooper — a senior researcher with the Canadian Environmental Law Association — says there's a lot we don't know about the chemicals in our cleaners. Companies are not required to tell us. "For cleaning products in particular, the only thing the label will tell you is whether it is seriously toxic…if you swallow it or get it in your eye, or will the container blow up…but you don’t have any information about…long term toxicity," Cooper told Marketplace. If you look at the label of your favourite floor cleaner or furniture polish, you won't see much in the way of ingredients. That's because companies are protected by trade secrets. If you do see an ingredient, it's because it could blow up or poison you. Many other chemicals are not even listed. "If you had the kind of labeling laws that they have in Europe, where it would tell you that 'this product contains something that may cause cancer' and another similar product that does the same job doesn’t, you might not buy the product that contains the carcinogen," said Larry Stoffman an international expert on chemical hazards information. 'Can always smell the cleaning products' When Shawn Ellis tests the air in parts of a house where cleaners are stored, he is measuring volatile organic compounds (VOCs). His meter won't tell you how strong or harmful the chemical particles might be. It will provide clues as to how many particles there are. "You can always smell those cleaners even though they’re all tightly sealed." Everywhere the cleaning products are kept, the readings jump. The average home normally reads about 50 parts per billion.We asked Ellis to test three products that are often advertised on television: Pledge, Clorox Wipes and Lysol Disinfecting Spray. Pledge registered 273 ppb. Anything over 500 could be a problem for people with sensitivities.The Clorox Wipes came in at more than 1,000 ppb. The Lysol Disinfecting Spray was much higher — around 1,200 parts per million, or 1,000 times higher than the Clorox. We live in an increasingly chemical society: experts don't know how dangerous these chemicals might be, but they are starting to worry. Dr. Gideon Koren is a pediatrician at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. "How can we, as one of the most advanced countries in the world allow these to enter our household for small children, without the appropriate testing to see that it’s safe?" Young children especially vulnerable Koren says young children are especially vulnerable, partly because of exposure. Everything goes in their mouths and they virtually live on the floor. And young kids are more sensitive because they are still developing the basic body systems: the brain, internal organs, respiratory and immune systems are not fully developed until adolescence. Koren and his researcher are studying the babies of women who were exposed to chemical solvents in the workplace. They're finding vision problems."Vision is one of the functions of the human brain, so it means that these chemicals find themselves through the mum, through the umbilical cord, into the baby, into the developing brain, and damaging functions there, and the baby is born already with a problem," Koren said. Manufacturers are obliged to release toxicology data in the workplace. But when these same chemicals are used in the home, the exposure is lower. But no one know what affect they may have — and there's no obligation to inform us. In Canada, respiratory illness is now the leading cause of admission to hospital for children. Childhood asthma has jumped by 400 per cent. After injuries, cancer is now the leading cause of death in children between the ages of five and nine. |
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