Most Dangerous Household Chemicals

Air Fresheners - Don't let the commercials fool you. Most air fresheners interfere with your ability to smell by disabling your nasal passages with an oil film or a nerve-deadening agent. Common chemicals in air fresheners include formaldehyde (a highly toxic known carcinogen) and phenol (which can cause hives, convulsions, circulatory collapse, coma, and even death).


Ammonia is a volatile chemical that can damage your eyes, respiratory tract, and skin.


Bleach is a strong corrosive that can damage the skin, eyes, and respiratory tract. NEVER mix bleach with ammonia, as the fumes can be deadly.


Carpet and Upholstery Shampoos generally contain highly toxic substances like perchlorethylene (a known carcinogen that damages the liver, kidneys, and nervous system) and ammonium hydroxide (a corrosive that irritates eyes, skin, and respiratory passages).


Dishwasher Detergents - Most of them contain highly concentrated chlorine, which is the #1 cause of child poisonings.


Drain Cleaners commonly include lye (which can burn skin and eyes, and the esophagus and stomach if ingested), hydrochloric acid (a corrosive eye and skin irritant that damages kidneys, liver, and digestive tract), or tricholoroethane (eye and skin irritant and nervous system depressant).


Furniture Polish is highly flammable and can cause skin and lung cancer. It often contains phenol as well as nitrobenzene, which is an extremely toxic chemical that's easily absorbed through the skin.


Mold and Mildew Cleaners often contain sodium hypochlorite (a corrosive which can lead to fluid in the lungs) and formaldehyde (a highly toxic, known carcinogen). To clean mold and mildew safely - and to prevent it from coming back - use M-1 House Wash and M-1 Sure Cote Sealant.


Oven Cleaner contains lye (sodium hydroxide). Lye is often used to dissolve roadkill dumped in landfills; that can't be healthy.


Antibacterial Cleaners often contain triclosan, which is absorbed through the skin and linked to liver damage. Antibacterial soaps may also contribute to the development of drug-resistant bacteria.


Laundry Room Products may contain sodium or calcium hypocrite (a highly corrosive agent that can irritate the skin and eyes), hypochlorite bleach (a corrosive that can burn the eyes, skin, and respiratory tract). If exposed to other chemicals, hypochlorite bleach may form chlorine fumes that could be fatal.


Toilet Bowl Cleaners may contain hydrochloric acid or hypochlorite bleach.
Other Dangerous Chemicals around the House

Pesticides - Dimpylate, or Diazinon, is extremely toxic and impairs the central nervous system. Chlorinate hydrocarbons are suspected carcinogens and mutagens; they accumulate in fatty tissue and attack the nervous system. Organophosphates are toxic and poisonous; if you can smell it, that means your lungs are absorbing it.


Lice Shampoo - Inhalation, ingestion, or absorption of lindane causes vomiting, convulsions, and circulatory collapse and may cause liver damage, stillbirths, birth defects, and cancer.


Car Wash, Car Polish - Petroleum distillates are associated with skin and lung cancer, and they irritate the skin, eyes, nose, and lungs. Inhalation could cause fatal pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs).
Chemical Warning Labels

The information below is actually new to me, and it's very interesting and helpful!

DANGER means that the chemical is harmful or fatal if swallowed. Ingestion of a small taste to a teaspoon could kill an average sized adult.

WARNING means that the chemical is harmful if swallowed. Ingestion of a teaspoon to an ounce could kill an average sized adult.

CAUTION means that the chemical is harmful if swallowed. Ingestion of an ounce to a pint could kill an average adult.

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The 10 most dangerous toxins in your house

Household toxins? Look no further than your kitchen cabinets.

It's official: Staying home is hazardous to your health. Toxins found in the home injured 789,000 Americans between 1992 and 1995, and new research suggests that this figure is underestimated.

"Toxins in U.S. homes now account for 90 percent of all reported poisonings each year," says Ross Ann Soloway, administrator of the American Association of Poison Control Centers. That's an epidemic of hazardous living by any standard. And while these figures include everything from non-fatal aspirin overdoses to the deadly consumption of drain cleaners, they fail to include long-term exposure to toxins like lead and asbestos.

To address the climbing domestic injury rates associated with household toxins, Congress and the Centers for Disease Control in 1992 created the Unintentional Injury Center to focus on the health dangers of consumer goods and modern home living. Other federal agencies are following suit. The EPA now has branches which deal with home indoor air quality, lead exposure and ubiquitous low-level toxicity, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development publishes a pollution look-out list for first-time home buyers.

The short list of toxins under your roof may surprise you:

Formaldehyde offgasses (evaporates) from cushions, particleboard and the adhesives used to manufacture most inexpensive wood-based products. Carpets and carpet cushions may also offgas formaldehyde, causing eye and upper respiratory irritation. According to the EPA, formaldehyde may even cause cancer;

Radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, warns the Surgeon General. Radon is a natural radioactive gas that can seep into homes through cracks in the basement, the surrounding foundation and in well water. It enters the body quietly through the airways;

Lead keeps epidemiologists returning to the drawing board, says Soloway, "mostly because we know more now about the adverse effects of low-level exposure." Levels once thought to be acceptable are now known contributors to learning disabilities and behavioral problems. Lead is found in paint in older houses, old plumbing and soil near highways and busy roads. It causes neurological and kidney damage, high blood pressure, disrupted blood cell production and reproductive problems;

Carbon monoxide will kill an estimated 660 Americans this year. Don't look for exhaust fumes in the attached garage; the biggest culprit is the unserviced furnace burning propane, butane or oil; Arsenic is still lacing many household pesticides and is increasingly used as a wood preservative. Low levels of inorganic arsenic "may cause lung cancer risk," according to the CDC. The Department of Health and Human Services agrees, adding arsenic compounds to the list of unknown carcinogens;

Vinyl chloride is the source of "new car smell": The plastic interior of a new car offgasses this known carcinogen. Water sitting in PVC pipes overnight may also be steeping into a toxic tea. Very large exposures can lead to "vinyl chloride disease," which causes severe liver damage and ballooning of the fingertips;

Hydrofluoric acid "can cause intense pain and damage to tissues and bone if the recommended gloves happen to have holes in them," says Soloway. This highly corrosive substance is the active ingredient in many household rust removers.

But even the most liberal list of known toxins pales next to the order of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs comprise hundreds of natural and man-made, carbon-based agents. They react quickly with other carbon-based compounds, and evaporate easily, making them ideal solvents. VOCs can be found in disinfectants and pesticides, too.

Solvents: Benzene and methyl ethyl ketome traverse cell walls unchecked by normal cell defense. Both are known carcinogens. Cousins toluene, xylene, 1,1,1-trichloroethane and trichloroethylene make up the lion's share of the solvent market;

Disinfectants: Phenols, which include biphenyl, phenolics and the preservative pentachloraphenol, are found in disinfectants, antiseptics, perfumes, mouthwashes, glues and air fresheners;

Pesticides: Chlordane, aldrin, dieldrin, though all banned for nearly two decades, continue to show up airborne in older houses.

Don't be a statistical figure on the CDC's tracking list: Be aware of what substances, from pesticides to cleaners, pose threats in your household. Maintain ingredient awareness. Many poisonings still occur because of product combinations, like the ammonia-chlorine bleach reaction, which produces the deadly respiratory irritant chloramine (a problem labeling practices have not addressed).

Replace toxic agents with non-toxic alternatives. Above all, educate your household to reduce risk and exposure. For practical ideas on reducing your family's risk, consult the following books: "Living Healthy in a Toxic World" by David Steinman and R. Michael Wisner (Berkeley, 1996); "Toxins A-Z: A Guide to Everyday Pollution Hazards" by John Harte, Cheryl Holdren, Richard Schneider and Christine Shirley (University of California, 1991); "Home Safe Home: Protecting Yourself and Your Family from Everyday Toxics and Harmful Household Products" by Debra L. Dadd (Putnam, 1997).

TOXINS IN YOUR HOME - PROTECT YOUR FAMILY

Workers can carry hazardous substances home from work on their clothes, bodies, tools, and other items. Workers can unknowingly expose their families to these substances, causing various health effects. This can also occur when the home and workplace are not separated, such as on farms.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted a study of contamination of workers' homes by hazardous substances transported from the workplace. The study documented cases of home contamination from 28 countries and 36 states in the United States. Reported cases cover a wide variety of materials, industries, and occupations.

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A Summary of a Study Conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health