So Clean It Is Green

New Health Concerns Surround Household Sprayers and Soaps, But Are Eco-Friendly Versions Up To Scrub?
The Georgia Straight|Living|Spring 2007|(February 15-22, 2007)
By Carolyn Ali

Most people aim to get housecleaning over with as quickly as possible, so they buy products that promise fast and easy results.  But fumes from counter sprays, shower foams, and toilet liquids can make cleaning feel like an endurance test.  Is there a good reason to switch to cleansers that market themselves as "natural" or "environmentally friendly"  Do they actually work?  Susan Kennedy, director for the Centre for Health and Environmental Research at UBC, says many studies have shown that cleaning products with strong disinfectants compounds used in occupational settings contribute to asthma.  "These complex disinfectants are unlikely to be present in natural or "environmentally friendly products," she explains in a phone interview.  She advises consumers to check labels of household products and avoid those with amine-based ingredients, such as ammonium chloride.

In addition, she suggests staying away from products with limonene or pinene, classes of chemicals responsible for lemon or pine scents.  "Many people are allergic or develop allergies to chemicals that get added to cleaning products to make them smell nice," Kennedy says.

"You do not need to get the really fancy cleaners with fragrances that nobody even knows what is in them," says George Astrakianakis, a senior occupational hygienist at the Occupational Health & Safety Agency for Healthcare in B.C.  He says manufacturers may not list all ingredients due to trade secrets.  "A natural cleaner will, hopefully, list everything that will be there," he says, and it will not contain "things that should not be there, or do not need to be there to do the job".

AspenClean (www.aspenclean.com) is a West Vancouver-based company that offers full home-cleaning services using natural products.  Though its primary business is home cleaning, it also sells some of its products at several stores.  The nontoxic, biodegradable products are made from ingredients like kelp-based soap, baking soda, borax (sodium tetra-borate), vinegar, and essential oils like lavender and tea tree.

AspenClean president Alicia Sokolowski says by phone that there no special regulation requiring makers of "natural" cleaning products to list their ingredients any more than regular chemical cleaners must.  She says she would like to itemize the ingredients in all the products they sell but ca not for her All-Purpose Cleaner because the manufacturer refuses to disclose trade secrets.  Although she believes it is nontoxic (the manufacturer ate some to prove it to her), she is not satisfied with the situation.  "We want to be very ethical, and believe the consumers should know (what is in the products)," she says.

However, she is confident that AspenClean products do not endanger the health of her employees, some of whom reported improvement in their asthma after starting work for the company.  "It makes a huge difference for people who work for us who come from other companies," she says.  ?They feel a huge difference from working with bleach and ammonia."  She adds that some employees said they used to feel dizzy after cleaning a bathtub, but they do not now with these products.

If you havve ever felt lightheaded cleaning the bathroom, it was probably not just in your head.  Astrakianakis points to the danger of inadvertently mixing incompatible cleaners, like a chloride-based cleaner with something that has an acid.  This can release a toxic cloud of chlorine gas.

There are also environmental reasons to use natural cleansers.  In his own home, Astrakianakis uses baking soda "for most scrubbing situations", borax for the bathroom and vinegar and water for window cleaning.  "In most cases, simple cleansers and a little bit of elbow grease will do the job very well," he says.  He uses these products because they "exist naturally in the environment, they break down extremely easily, they add no additional load to the pollutants in the environment."  He adds that he has a five year old, a baby on the way, and a pet.  "It matters to me not to have things that I do not need in the house, and it matters to me not to dispose of things that are going to add to the overall pollution burden in the environment."

Kennedy also uses basic cleaners like baking soda in her home and likes the fact that she know exactly what?s in them.  She points out, however, that organic cleaners still contain chemicals: even water is a chemical.  "Natural does not mean it is not chemical," she says.  "If you use vinegar on your windows, the only chemical is acetic acid, which is what vinegar is."