Cleaning ‘as toxic as fags’ ... but only for women

IF there was ever a reason for men to do more of the cleaning – this is it. A major study has found their lungs are apparently resistant to the toxic chemicals in cleaning products such as bleach.

But cleaning the house as little as once a week meant women went on to suffer asthma and lung tissue scarring.

The damage was found to be comparable to the impact of smoking 20 cigarettes for between ten and 20 years. However, using cleaning products appeared to have no effect on the health of men’s lungs, the research showed.

A variety of chemicals found in an array of domestic cleaning products such as bleach and ammonia were found to be potential irritants to the lungs.

The researchers suggested that prolonged exposure could be responsible for the damage to lungs. Dr Cecilie Svanes of the University of Bergen in Norway, who carried out the study, said: ‘While the shortterm effects of cleaning chemicals on asthma are becoming increasingly well documented, we lack knowledge of the long-term impact.

‘We feared that such chemicals, by steadily causing a little damage to the airways day after day, year after year, might accelerate the rate of lung function decline that occurs with age.’

The researchers, from 22 European countries, used data that monitored the lungs of 6,235 people over 20 years. Participants were asked whether they cleaned their house or worked as professional cleaners, and how often they used liquid cleaning products and sprays. There were 2,932 men and 3,298 women who cleaned at home, and 57 men and 293 women who were professional cleaners.

The research found that the women who cleaned had an ‘accelerated’ decline in lung capacity – similar to that caused by long-term heavy smoking.

They were also more likely to develop asthma. However, no effect was found on the lungs of men who did cleaning. The authors suggested that this may be because men’s lungs are less susceptible to the impact of cleaning chemicals – previous research has found that men’s lungs are more resistant to various irritants, including tobacco smoke and wood dust.