Top 10 Hazardous Household Chemicals

[Raineyrocks]

TOP "10" HAZARDOUS HOUSEHOLD CHEMICALS
By Richard Alexander


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AIR FRESHENERS: Most air fresheners interfere with your ability to smell by coating your nasal passages with an oil film, or by releasing a nerve deadening agent. Known toxic chemicals found in an air freshener: Formaldehyde: Highly toxic, known carcinogen. Phenol: When phenol touches your skin it can cause it to swell, burn, peel, and break out in hives. Can cause cold sweats,convulsions, circulatory collapse, coma and even death.

AMMONIA: It is a very volatile chemical, it is very damaging to your eyes, respiratory tract and skin.

BLEACH: It is a strong corrosive. It will irritate or burn the skin, eyes and respiratory tract. It may cause pulmonary edema or vomiting and coma if ingested. WARNING: never mix bleach with ammonia it may cause fumes which can be DEADLY.

CARPET AND UPHOLSTERY SHAMPOO: Most formulas are designed to over power the stain itself, they accomplish the task but not without using highly toxic substances. Some include: Perchlorethylene: Known carcinogen damages liver, kidney and nervous system damage. Ammonium Hydroxide: Corrosive, extremely irritable to eyes, skin and respiratory passages.

DISHWASHER DETERGENTS: Most products contain chlorine in a dry form that is highly concentrated.# 1 cause of child poisonings, according to poison control centers.

DRAIN CLEANER: Most drain cleaners contain lye, hydrochloric acid or trichloroethane. Lye: Caustic, burns skin and eyes, if ingested will damage esophagus and stomach. Hydrochloric acid: Corrosive, eye and skin irritant, damages kidneys, liver and digestive tract. Trichloroethane: Eye and skin irritant, nervous system depressant; damages liver and kidneys.

FURNITURE POLISH: Petroleum Distillates: Highly flammable, can cause skin and lung cancer. Phenol: (see Air fresheners, Phenol.) Nitrobenzene: Easily absorbed through the skin, extremely toxic.

MOLD AND MILDEW CLEANERS: Chemicals contained are: Sodium hypochlorite: Corrosive, irritates or burns skin and eyes, causes fluid in the lungs which can lead to coma or death. Formaldehyde: Highly toxic, known carcinogen. Irritant to eyes, nose, throat, and skin. May cause nausea, headaches, nosebleeds, dizziness, memory loss and shortness of breath.

OVEN CLEANER: Sodium Hydroxide (Lye): Caustic, strong irritant, burns to both skin and eyes. Inhibits reflexes, will cause severe tissue damage if swallowed.

ANTIBACTERIAL CLEANERS: may contain: Triclosan: Absorption through the skin can be tied to liver damage.

LAUNDRY ROOM PRODUCTS: Sodium or calcium hypocrite: Highly corrosive, irritates or burns skin, eyes or respiratory tract. Linear alkylate sulfonate: Absorbed through the skin. Known liver damaging agent. Sodium Tripolyphosphate: Irritates skin and mucous membranes, causes vomiting. Easily absorbed through the skin from clothes.

TOILET BOWL CLEANERS: Hydrochloric acid: Highly corrosive, irritant to both skin and eyes. Damages kidneys and liver. Hypochlorite Bleach: Corrosive, irritates or burns eyes, skin and respiratory tract. May cause pulmonary edema, vomiting or coma if ingested. Contact with other chemicals may cause chlorine fumes which may be fatal.


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OTHER NASTY THINGS THAT ARE AROUND YOUR HOME

PESTICIDES: Most pesticides have ingredients that affect the nervous system of insects. Dimpylate: Better known as Diazinon, extremely toxic. Impairs the central nervous system. Chlorinate Hydrocarbons: Suspected carcinogen and mutantagen. Accumulates in food and in fatty tissue. Will attack the nervous system. Organophosphates: Toxic and poisonous. If you can smell it, your lungs are absorbing it.

FLEA POWDERS: Carbaryl: Very toxic, causes skin, respiratory and cardiovascular system damage. Chlordane: Accumulates in the food chain, may damage eyes, lungs, liver, kidney and skin. Dichlorophene: Skin irritation: May damage liver, kidney, spleen and central nervous system.

LICE SHAMPOO: Especially vulnerable are children. Lindane: Inhalation, ingestion, or ABSORPTION through the SKIN causes vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions and circulatory collapse. May cause liver damage, stillbirths, birth defects and cancer.

CAR WASH AND POLISH: Petroleum Distillates: Associated with skin and lung cancer, irritant to skin, eyes, nose and lungs. Entry into the lungs may cause fatal pulmonary edema, most marked Danger, Harmful or Fatal.

TAR AND BUG REMOVER: Contains XYLENE and PETROLEUM DISTILLATES.

Warning terms used are significant:

DANGER - Harmful or fatal if swallowed A taste to a teaspoonful taken by mouth could kill an average sized adult.

WARNING - Harmful if swallowed A teaspoonful to an ounce taken by mouth could kill an average sized adult.

CAUTION - Harmful if swallowed An ounce to over a pint taken by mouth could kill an average sized adult.

[Insurgent]

This is why it's becoming popular for housecleaners/maids to use products they make themselves. When I lived in Minneapolis, I knew a woman who ran her own cleaning business and used only stuff that she made from natural and neutral ingrediants.

Personally, I use Simple Green which seems pretty harmless.

[Raineyrocks]

This is why it's becoming popular for housecleaners/maids to use products they make themselves. When I lived in Minneapolis, I knew a woman who ran her own cleaning business and used only stuff that she made from natural and neutral ingrediants.

Personally, I use Simple Green which seems pretty harmless.

I want to learn how to make my own household cleaners and shampoos.   I never knew antibacterial soap might be tied to liver damage.  I know someone that put essential oil on cotton balls and hung them around their home and it smelled so good.  I have those plug in air fresheners after reading this article I'm going to try the cotton balls with essential oils.

[Raineyrocks]

Ya left off the most hazardous and toxic chemical of them all of the list......... My wife's cooking.....
 
Our garbage has to sent to the toxic waste field to be disposed of...  

  Look on the brighter side, at least you'll never get fat from eating too much of your wife's cooking.

[Insurgent]

Found this site off of another thread

http://www.naturodoc.com/library/lifestyle/cleaner.htm

[Raineyrocks]

Found this site off of another thread

http://www.naturodoc.com/library/lifestyle/cleaner.htm

Great site!  Thanks!

[aworldnervelink]

BLEACH: It is a strong corrosive. It will irritate or burn the skin, eyes and respiratory tract. It may cause pulmonary edema or vomiting and coma if ingested. WARNING: never mix bleach with ammonia it may cause fumes which can be DEADLY.

Paging Dada...

[Insurgent]

Ya left off the most hazardous and toxic chemical of them all of the list......... My wife's cooking.....
 
Our garbage has to sent to the toxic waste field to be disposed of...   

Thanks, Otosan--he'll be here all week!

[cathleeninnh]

Ya left off the most hazardous and toxic chemical of them all of the list......... My wife's cooking.....
 
Our garbage has to sent to the toxic waste field to be disposed of...   

Smite Otosan for criticising his lovely wife. I thought you were smarter than that.

Cathleen

[Bald Eagle]

OK - I really just gotta chime in on this one.

"Dangerous" chemicals surround us and permeate our world.  They occur naturally in the food we eat, and even the air we breathe is a highly reactive ground-state triplet diradical.

Essential oils, just because they are steam-distilled from plants, are not necessarily any less toxic than man-designed or petroleum-derived chemicals.  Some man-made chemicals are even safer than what we find in nature.

Is paper dangerous because it's "highly flammable?"
Is water dangerous because you can drown in a few inches of it?
Is sunlight dangerous because it can burn you or cause skin cancer?
Wood ashes?
Raw eggs?
Celery?
Peanuts?
Broccoli and cauliflower?

The crux of the issue is education and balance.  Know what is dangerous, WHY it is dangerous, and in what dosages and routes of administration it is worth worrying about.  Most of the rest of it can slide.

I'd be willing to put together some information as part of a home-schooling lesson, or a series of lessons at some point after I get my posterior firmly planted in the Free State and I secure some manner of gainful employment.

There's a lot of info and discussion on the sci.chem newsgroup, and probably some info to be gained from Uncle Al's website: www.mazepath.com/uncleal
Beware - Uncle Al is a cantankerous old Jewish organic chemist who cut his teeth as a petrochemist.  His website is - ah, ... interesting.

Bald Eagle

[error]

Yeah, some of those "naturally occurring" chemicals are extremely dangerous. The one you REALLY have to watch out for, though, is dihydrogen monoxide.

[eques]

Even worse--dihydrogen monoxide is already found in worryingly high concentration levels in all children and adults surveyed--it's found in all major organs, fatty tissue, even in the brain!

[error]

Oh, it's even worse than that. I've heard of people overdosing on dihydrogen monoxide and thereby killing themselves.

[eques]

Dihydrogen monoxide is a crucial factor in just about every cancer there is.

Dihydrogen monoxide can be deadly when the ambient temperature drops too low or rises too high...

[Raineyrocks]

Oh, it's even worse than that. I've heard of people overdosing on dihydrogen monoxide and thereby killing themselves.

Gee, gosh that sounds real bad and to think I just got a shower and now it's has seeped into the pores in my skin.