Do Our Household Items Include Harmful Chemicals?

Household items include dishwashing products, toiletries, and other cleaning agents. While these products help homeowners get cleaning jobs done fast and easily, they may contain harmful chemicals that can affect bodily functions, such as metabolism, blood circulation, heart activity, and immunity.

While you want to easily clean stubborn dirt, grime, and stains, it’s crucial to ask an important question. Do household items include harmful products?

Yes. Sadly, household items are advertised attractively, masking their potential health risk by placing warning signs in very fine prints on the label. If you think a household product is mislabeled and results in injury, you can hire a personal injury lawyer to help you. A personal injury lawyer is specialized in tort law, which includes handling car accidents, hire bike accidents lawyer at sadakafirm, and product defects.

Check the following household items and their harmful chemical ingredients to keep your family guarded against their potential health and safety risks.

Dishwashing Products

Dishwashing products remove grease, food, and calcium that binds to food particles. However, dishwashing liquid and bars that people use every day also serve as a medium for harmful chemicals that can affect one’s health and the environment.

Check the following harmful chemicals present in dishwashing products that you must be aware of:

• Ammonia: This active cleaning compound can cause eye, skin, and respiratory tract irritation.
  
• Phosphates: This ingredient is found in most dishwashing products that help control water hardness and removed soil from the dishes. However, high blood phosphate levels are linked to cardiovascular diseases and renal failure. Phosphates can quickly be introduced into the body through dishwashing liquid and bars.
  
• Phthalates: Dishwashing products with ‘fragrance’ labels are more likely to have phthalates. This compound is a known endocrine disruptor, which reduces sperm count in men.
  
• Sodium Borate: This harmful compound has negative effects on the endocrine and reproductive systems.
  
• Triclosan: This common dishwashing liquid ingredient has antibacterial properties. But triclosan can promote drug-resistant bacterial growth, affecting the thyroid glands and other endocrine system organs.
  

Toilet Bowl Cleaners

Everyone wants to maintain a clean toilet at home as much as possible, and a toilet bowl cleaner makes this task a lot easier. Toilet bowl cleaners are powerful acid-based stain removers, capable of removing stubborn dirt, slime, and rust from toilet bowls, grout, urinals, and tiles. This cleaning product also kills bacteria while leaving a clean and fresh odor after application.

However, toilet bowl cleaners may contain the following harmful chemicals:

• Hydrochloric Acid: HCl is corrosive on the mucous membranes that may cause irreversible contact damage to the eyes, skin, and lungs.
  
• Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulfate: It’s used to clean stubborn bathroom stains by reducing the water surface tension. However, SLES can cause skin and eye irritation.
  
• Sodium Hydroxide: This highly corrosive acid, NaOH, may cause blindness and skin burn when it comes in contact. So, keeping a safe distance when handling toilet bowl cleaners that contain this ingredient is highly advised.
  
• Sodium Hypochlorite: Bleach can severely irritate the eyes and skin. If this happens, visit your doctor immediately.

Laundry Stain Remover

While laundry stain removers can help remove stubborn fabric stains, they may be loaded with harmful chemicals, negatively affecting one’s health. Additionally, stain remover residues can linger in clothing even after washing. Also, children run the risk of getting poisoned when they accidentally ingest this household product.

Before you treat your next laundry load, check the label of your stain remover and watch out for the following harmful chemicals that may cause eye, skin, and lung irritation:

• 2-Butoxyethanol
  
• Ammonium Hydroxide
  
• Disodium distyrylbiphenyl disulfonate
  
• Sodium hypochlorite (chlorine bleach)
  
• Methylisothiazolinone (MIT)
  
• Linear alkylbenzyl sulfonates (C10-16)
  
• Sodium borate
  
• Quaternium-15
  

Breastfeeding and pregnant women should be cautious handling these chemicals because they can get into the breast’s milk, causing the developing fetus with skin contact and inhalation.

Protect Yourself at All Times

Always consider your safety and that of your loved ones when cleaning or dealing with products whose chemical ingredients could cause adverse effects to the body.

Wearing gloves is the easiest way to keep your hands safe from chemical burns, rashes, and more. Choose disposable latex or nitrile gloves appropriate for your task and safe for your skin. 

Also, put on a face mask and protective gear for your eyes. Complete your PPE with long pants and sleeves.

Because supplies like gloves are meant for single-use, throw them out after using. Disposable gloves are available online, so you can keep a box or two at home.

Conclusion

Household items include harmful chemicals that can pose health and safety risks. Hence, be extra cautious when handling laundry stain removers, dishwashing products, and toilet bowl cleaners.

To avoid these chemicals coming into contact with your eyes, skin, and mucous membranes, like the respiratory tract, wear safety gear before using these household products, like an eye shield, face mask, gloves, and long-sleeved clothing. Also, to avoid poisoning, keep all household items in a secure location and out of children’s reach.