REGULAR use of cleaning products has a similar effect on lung health as smoking a pack of cigarettes every day, according to a new study.
New research published in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
The research followed more than 6,000 people over a 20 year period and concluded that women, in particular, suffered significant health problems following long-term use of these products.
Lung function was measured by testing how much air the participants could forcibly breathe out.
This was compared to answers gathered from a questionnaire given to everyone in the study to gauge their level of cleaning activities.
The scientists found that the amount of air breathed out by participants decreased more in women who were regularly cleaned.
The results suggested that women working as cleaners or regularly using cleaning products at home was comparable to smoking 20 cigarettes or more a day over 10 to 20 years.
The scientists advised that such products should be avoided and can normally be replaced with simple microfiber cloths and water.
University of Bergen professor and the senior author of the study, Professor Cecile Svanes, told Independent.ie: “While the short-term 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 study did not establish any harmful effects to those seen in women in the men they studied.
The scientists noted that their work did have some limitations, and the number of men exposed to cleaning products on the scale of women in the study was small.
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