Importance of using green household cleaning products

Exposure to chemical based cleaners can be harmful to health as well as the environment and should be avoided.

Household cleaning products are used in almost all the homes in America. These residential cleaning products range from dish detergents to bathroom cleaners and from floor polish to scouring pads. The exposure to these cleaners on a daily basis has been found to be unavoidable by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Even not using these cleaners is not going to help in protecting the people from being exposed to them as they will continue getting exposed to them at work, schools, malls, or elsewhere.

We need to know why residential cleaning products should be avoided being exposed to. The reason for this is that most of these cleaners contain harsh chemicals that can be harmful to our health and environment. These cleaning products have been found to have caused asthma, contact dermatitis, inflammation of the eyes, and fluid in lungs. Long term side effects of these may include reproductive problems, cancer, heart diseases, and other health issues.

Not only our health but our environment’s health too is at stake because of the increasing use of the acrid ingredients used in manufacturing these products. According to a report, chemicals used in making laundry detergents have been found in 70% of streams and waterways throughout the country, threatening our eco system. Some ingredients used in the regular household cleaners as well as commercial cleaning products have been responsible for causing foaming in streams according to EPA. The organization goes on to state that there is an urgent need of improvement in cleaning products that we use.

Many consumers have shifted to other alternatives due to health and environmental concerns caused by these products though identifying environment friendly cleaners is indeed a challenging task for the consumers. Choosing a safe cleaner becomes even tough in the absence of a national regulatory body. It is advised that people see the ingredients list on the cleaning product before buying them. Apart from looking for the logo of the Design for Environment (DfE) and knowing what the marketing terms mean, consumers should also read product packaging to make sure the claims made regarding being environment friendly are qualified.