Household cleaners ‘as bad for the lungs as 20 cigarettes a day’

HOUSEHOLD cleaning products are as a bad for lung function as smoking, a study has shown.

Women who worked as cleaners or regularly used cleaning sprays for 20 years were found to have lung decline equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes a day over the same period. They were 40 per cent more likely to develop asthma. “When you think of inhaling small particles from cleaning agents that are meant for cleaning the floor ... maybe it is not so surprising,” said Øistein Svanes, the lead author from the University of Bergen, Norway.

Meanwhile, a separate study found that products such as cleaning fluid, deodorants, shampoo and perfume now rival motor vehicle emissions as the top source of urban air pollution.

The research was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Texas.