Some items used in offices and homes may be dangerous
Researchers in USA have found that dust, both visible and the invisible found in offices and homes does contain a lot of toxic chemicals that have been linked to an increased risk of health hazards ranging from cancer to infertility.
The chemicals are from flooring, electrical goods, beauty products and cleaning agents.
Veena Singla, co-author of the study from the Natural Resources Defense Council in California says, ‘We think our homes are a safe haven but unfortunately they are being polluted by toxic chemicals from all our products.’
Especially vulnerable are children as they often play or crawl on the floor and frequently touch their mouths. ‘They end up having a lot more exposure to chemicals in dust and they are more vulnerable to toxic effects because their brains and bodies are still developing,’ said Singla.
The research published in Environmental Science and Technology journal was an outcome of analysis of 26 peer-reviewed papers, as well as one unpublished dataset, from 1999 onwards. The studies covered homes, schools and gymnasiums across 14 states in the US.
45 toxic chemicals in indoor dust were found to be significant by the researchers, of which 10 were present in 90% or more of the dust samples that included flame retardants, fragrances and phenols.
“They are just a bunch of letters – a lot of people might not recognise what those chemicals are, or what they mean, but they are really a number of bad actor chemicals,” said Singla.
Phthalates, another toxic substance found in almost all dust samples is often present in vinyl flooring, food packaging, personal care products and have been linked to developmental malformations in babies, hormone disruption, and also thought to affect the reproductive system.
Stephen Holgate, clinical professor of immunopharmacology at Southampton general hospital, described the research as important. He said though the study was US-based, the findings were also relevant in the UK.
The review, he added, showed ‘what we all have suspected – namely indoor exposure to household chemical and personal products accumulate in house dust, which serves as a Trojan horse when inhaled carrying these chemicals into the body.’
Holgate raised concerns over the findings that high levels of phthalates and replacement flame retardants appear to be ubiquitous, given their health impacts. Together with evidence from other studies, ‘there is an urgent need to consider the indoor environment as a crucial source of chemical pollutant exposure’, Stephen Holgate said.
People buy the nicest homes they can afford. They spend years -sometimes decades -pouring money into nest-feathering by stocking up on creature comforts. It’s no wonder we spend 90% of our lives indoors. Like George Carlin said, it’s where all our stuff is.
Furniture. Shower curtains. Electronic items from TVs to computers to games. Carpeting, cosmetics, and even air-fresheners and soap. It’s all there to make life easier. And yet, many of those pleasant symbols carry a hidden price: they may be slowly killing you.
Nobody ever said plastics and industrial chemicals were good for healthy living. It turns out some are really quite hazardous, according to a comprehensive review in Environmental Science and Technology by three universities and two environmental groups.
They reviewed the science and identified 45 substances -phthalates, phenols, flame retardants, fragrances, and fluorinated chemicals -that most commonly leach out of products and become a part of household air and dust. Those toxins, when floating inside your home or apartment, are linked to endocrinal, reproductive, developmental, neurological, and immunological hazards. And probably cancer.
Once in dust form, “they can enter your body ,“ said Ami Zota, as sistant professor at the Milken Institute School of Public Heath at George Washington University and a co-author of the study . “We know these chemicals even at low levels can have negative health effects.“
Children and pregnant women are often the most sensitive. Children can have many times more of a chemical in their bodies than their mothers do, according to research released in July by the Environmental Working Group and Duke University .
TCEP, also known as Tris(2chloroethyl)phosphate, a flameretardant common to furniture, including kids’ mattresses. These chemicals don’t bind to foam, leaving them free to get all over chil dren’s hands, which inevitably end up in their mouths. Some areas have begun to ban TCEP.
The team reviewed relatively new research, published since 2000, to ensure they were identifying chemicals in current use. “Consumers can’t shop their way around chemical exposures,“ Tasha Stoiber, senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group warned.
A 2014 study found that the crud left on hand-wipes after use carried levels of flame-retardant that matched dust levels in each household. So, kids, wash your hands. And preferably do it with non-antibiotic soap devoid of fragrance, which may contain chemicals that are part of the problem.
