“There is general agreement that exposure to home cleaning chemicals in industrial and household cleaning products is linked with asthma: ammonium quaternary compounds, disinfectants, bleach, air fresheners, furniture polish, etc.,” (Society of Toxicology)
The Price We Pay
We all want our homes to feel hospitable. We want them to smell good and be clean. We want to know that we are doing what we can to have a germ-free home. Do we really have to pay such a steep price to accomplish this? Watching your child struggle to breathe is terrifying. As a parent you feel more helpless than you ever have before when the emergency inhaler doesn’t work. You feel panicked and you realize, as you hand your child over to the EMT, that this could be the last time you see each other. A couple I know described their daughter’s severe asthma attack for me. They homeschool her now after a particularly bad winter in the local public school – this little girl missed 21 days of school because she couldn’t breathe. The girl is now 12 and even though doctors said she might grow out of it; she is getting worse. Imagine not breathing! It’s a terrifying thought! It made me wonder about the possible triggering substances they had in their home.
Everyday Trigger Allergens
I went on a search to look up trigger factors. First, I checked for all the usual suspects. The mother kept her house immaculate to avoid dust issues. She never wore perfume and the parents were very careful to change clothes if they were ever near a smoker during their evenings out. She washed their laundry in dye-free and perfume-free laundry soap and never used dryer sheets. She even bleaches their whites to make sure they were completely free of contaminants. (This was my AH HA moment!) I started researching chemical cleaners on some traditional websites like WebMD. I wanted to find something that would be mainstream and still have move information on my triggering substances theory. What I found was shocking! “Some cleaning chemicals in schools have been linked with higher rates of asthma.”
“What’s surprising to so many parents is that we don’t have good safety testing for a lot of the chemicals we use every day,” Kenneth Bock, MD, pediatric neurotoxicologist and co-director of the Rhinebeck Health Center in Rhinebeck, N.Y.
“We don’t really know what they might be doing to our kids.” To be cautious, many parents try to reduce their use of household cleaners that contain harsh chemicals.” (WebMD)
Cleaning Your Way to the ER
The family had scrubbed and cleaned their daughter’s way to the ER. The bleach was a significant factor that triggered her attacks. (The attacks had been worse in the winter partially due to the cold, and partially because her mother was extra vigilant during cold and flu seasons.) All the cleaners, even the ones that say ‘no perfumes’, were like a death trap for the poor family. These studies and more have made it all too clear that all-natural chemical-free products need to be in homes and schools. Living chemical-free whenever possible can be a life saver not only for your own family, but also someone else’s little girl.
Applications & Resources
- Read more of what WebMD has to say about household cleaners and Asthma
- Go to WebMD Health News to find information about what may cause childhood asthma
- Check out the Environmental Working Group’s investigation of 2000 cleaning supplies and your health
