My initial questions I had about why do so many kids have asthma and allergies led into a spider web of information so I’ll try and keep my thoughts organized and start with some of the products in your household that are contributing to repertory issues.
First of all is bleach (chlorine bleach), it aggravates the membranes in the lower respiratory system, causing shortness of breath and wheezing. Think about everything with bleach…Clorox products, Lysol products, Tilex, Cascade etc. Do you ever really read the warning label? No, most don’t so don’t feel bad, I never did. I just went with the notion that it’s there in the store and a Lysol toilet bowl cleaner is what you use to clean the toilet. The warning labels are there for a reason, just remember that.
Here are some facts about bleach:
1. When you mix it with ammonia the gas it creates is deadly. Urine contains ammonia so using bleach in your toilet can increase the risk of a toxic gas forming.
2. When chlorine is in a gaseous form (which it is at room temperature) it’s a known cancer-causing compound and related to birth defects, miscarriage, infertility, diabetes and immune disorders.
3. Pets are more susceptible to all of this because of their small air capacity and likelihood of filling their lungs with the vapors.
Do you remember your history lessons and reading about mustard gas that was used in WWI because it was lethal…guess how you make it…mix bleach and dish soap. Are those both in your cabinet? Makes you stop and think.
Bleach doesn’t actually have any ‘cleaning properties’ so if you think you are cleaning when you use bleach you are really just taking the color out of the dirt. It does have some disinfecting properties but if a cleaning product contains bleach it’s not the bleach that’s doing the actual cleaning.
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