Detox Your Home: Are you breathing in your cleaning products?

As COVID-19 retains its grip on the headlines, keeping our homes clean and virus-free remain top priorities. But, does all the spraying, scrubbing, and disinfecting come at a cost to our health? The truth is – yes – all that deep cleaning can spread some nasty chemicals into the air of your home.

美国人花费 about 90% of their time indoors – even without a global pandemic – and our indoor air can be dirty. In fact, it’s been found to be 污染程度高出2-5倍  比室外空气好. Much of our indoor pollution comes from what’s called volatile organic compounds – a.k.a. VOCs – from chemicals in our cleaning products and other household items.

臭名昭著的VOCs

Invisible and insidious, VOCs are toxic chemicals that vaporize or “off gas” and enter the air from thousands of common items like traditional cleaning products, 消毒剂, 空气清新剂, 气溶胶喷雾, 油漆, 农药, 和更多的. You not only breathe VOCs in while using these products, but they can continue to “off gas” while stored away in a cupboard or under the sink. As anyone who has used ammonia or bleach without proper 通风 can tell you, 挥发性有机化合物会导致  眼睛, 鼻子, 喉咙发炎, 头痛, 头晕, 皮肤反应, 或者更严重的, trigger asthma symptoms or damage the liver, 肾脏, or central nervous system.

Healthy Advisory: User Error

A recent CDC survey revealed that 三分之一的受访者 have been using chemicals and 消毒剂 unsafely while trying to protect against COVID-19 and a related uptick in calls to poison centers since the start of the pandemic. They identified big knowledge gaps on proper preparation, 存储, 通风, and a host of other high-risk behaviors like misting the body with disinfectant and purposely inhaling cleaning product vapors. 呀!.

All this exposure to toxic VOCs and chemical substances on any given day, 周, or year can accumulate over time, adding to the body’s overall toxic burden and can contribute to a variety of health problems. Despite obvious health concerns, t在这里 is no national requirement to list ingredients on cleaning product labels. This leaves consumers in the dark, unknowingly bringing potentially harmful chemicals into their homes. According to the Environmental Working Group, over 53% of household cleaners include one toxic ingredient, 22% contain chemicals reported to cause asthma in otherwise healthy individuals, and over 93% of manufacturers won’t even list their ingredients!

了解你的清洁

Cleaning and disinfecting smart starts with learning what to avoid, and swapping out conventional cleaners with products that contain safer ingredients, so you aren’t spraying toxic chemicals into the air. Some common toxins and VOCs to steer clear of include:

• 氨 (or ammonium hydroxide) – causes 鼻子 喉咙发炎, leading to coughing and difficulty breathing.

• 含氯漂白剂 (sodium hypochlorite) – toxic if inhaled; causes respiratory, skin and 眼睛 irritation.

• 皮疹 (quaternary ammonium cations) – often listed as “cationic surfactant” or “benzalkonium chloride,” can cause wide-ranging health concerns from lung and skin irritation to reproductive issues; known asthma contributor.

呼吸顺畅

Here are some simple steps you can take to spray, scrub and disinfect smarter and safer to improve the air quality in your home and help protect your health:

• Look for plant powered cleaning sprays that are U.S. 更安全的选择 认证. It’s a great way to find products that use the safest ingredients in their class, have proven superior performance, and avoid potentially toxic ingredients.

• Find products with safer disinfectant chemical alternatives that have been shown to be just as effective in killing viruses and other germs without the related health hazards like: hydrogen peroxide.

• 打开窗户! Let fresh air inside daily, especially while you clean. Circulate the air with ceiling, bathroom, attic, or portable fans. 

• Invest in an air cleaner and change the HVAC filters in your home every 60-90 days – more often if you have pets. 

更安全的清洁方法

Current CDC COVID-19 guidelines advise cleaning visibly dirty surfaces first, then disinfecting. 尝试ECOS一步 消毒剂清洁, to safely kill germs and clean without VOCs or harsh fumes. If you just need an effective surface cleaner, try 安全的选择-认证 ECOS All-Purpose Cleaner Parsley Plus. Both are safe for everyday use throughout your home.

ECOS is so committed to using safer ingredients that we made a list of 500 known toxins – a.k.a. “the Nasties” – that we promise never to use in our products. 查看列表 在这里. We hope it helps guide you to products that are better for your home and your health during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond.

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