3 Deadly Household Products

Air Fresheners

Although created to make homes more comfortable and reminiscent of flowery hillsides or pumpkin patches, air fresheners may contain toxic chemicals with ominous impacts on human health.

Air fresheners work by interfering with a person’s ability to smell by releasing a nerve-deadening agent. This agent can include chemicals like formaldehyde, phenol, acetone, butane, isobutene, liquefied petroleum gas, petroleum distillate, propane, perfume, and benzene. When exposed to these chemicals, humans can experience hives, convulsions, circulatory collapse, headaches, dizziness, behavioral change, leukemia, cancer of the upper respiratory system, coma, and even death. All of these side effects are a result of being exposed to the known carcinogens and neurotoxins in air fresheners.

Unfortunately, even the worst side effects of air fresheners are real. Reported on local Louisiana news, in 2009, an 8-year-old boy died of “inhalation of air freshener.” Because of his autism, the young boy unknowingly and accidentally sprayed the can of Glade air freshener up his nose. His heart stopped soon after.

This unfortunate incident suggests that air fresheners should be kept out of the reach of small children and potentially even hidden from view or locked away somewhere.

Alternatives to air fresheners include using baking soda to absorb odors and opening windows to air out the space. This article provides several more creative alternatives to air fresheners.

Drain Cleaners

Drain cleaners are meant to keep pipes clean and stave off visits from plumbers. Anyone with long hair or a faulty garbage disposal knows how products such as Drano can provide an easy fix.

Although drain cleaners don’t hide their dangerous contents under flowery scents, these products may be more toxic than you know. Drain cleaners include a plethora of known toxic chemicals with damaging consequences. One ingredient, lye, is caustic and can burn the skin and eyes as well as the esophagus and stomach if ingested. Hydrochloric Acid, which is corrosive and irritates the skin and eyes, can also damage kidneys, liver, and digestive tract. Trichlorothane is an eye and skin irritant, nervous system depressant, and has the ability to damage the liver and kidneys.

With all of these dangerous chemicals present in drain cleaners, it may come as no surprise that the product can result in injuries. In a study of sulfuric acid in drain cleaner, 8 of 21 patients studied sustained accidental cutaneous burns from drain cleaner. In another 13 cases, the drainer cleaner was able to be used as a weapon where patients required skin grafts to address the damages due to burns. Indeed, in the U.S. there are 3,000 injuries every year related to drain cleaner and about one-third of these involve cutaneous burns.

Obviously drain cleaner should be kept out of reach of children and should be used with extreme precaution. Use rubber gloves when necessary. There are also alternatives and/or steps to take to prevent a drain clog like using drain hair stoppers and throwing away cooking grease rather than pouring it down the drain.

Laundry Detergent

What price are we paying to have clean clothes? Laundry detergents can include chemicals like sodium or calcium hypocrite, linear alkyate sulfate, sodium tripoluphosphate, hypochlorite bleach. Exposure to these chemicals can cause irritation to the skin, eyes, mucus membranes, and respiratory tract, pulmonary edema, vomiting, liver ailments, coma, and even death if chemicals are mixed and resulting chlorine fumes are inhaled. The most shocking part about these side effects is that the chemicals can be absorbed through the skin. When clothes are washed in these products, residue builds up in the fibers and rubs noxious chemicals against skin and can be absorbed. Skin rashes are an obvious indicator of this absorption, and can mean that the chemicals have been absorbed into your circulatory system.

Some new laundry detergents are designed as "pods" for convenience. Unfortunately, to children these products may appear to be candy or edible. In Florida, recently, a baby left alone with a laundry detergent pod ingested the detergent and had to be rushed to the hospital. The child died from chemical exposure. This is not an isolated incident... Indeed, from January 1st to July 31st of 2013, there have been 5,731 exposures to laundry detergent. These exposures range from dermatitis to death.

Much like the other products, laundry detergent should be kept out of reach of small children to avoid ingestion. To reduce the risk of absorption through the skin, reduce the amount of detergent used per load and switch to “scent-free” brands.

Conclusion

Cleaning supplies and household products make our lives easier, but they have also increased our exposure to hazardous substances and have increasingly put our children at risk to toxic chemicals. It is important to consider some safer alternatives to air fresheners, drain cleaners, and laundry detergents.

Try keeping fresh flowers or potpourri in the house to keep your home smelling sweet and fresh. To unclog hair from drains, sticking a Zip-It in your drain to grab hair and pull it out followed by filling the drain with a mixture of baking soda and vinegar can do the trick. And for safer laundry, try using products like Eco Nuts natural laundry soap; it is made out of soap nuts from the Himalayas and is 100% organic and non-toxic.