Goodbye Winter Grime, Hello Safe Spring Cleaning!

The Full Story

Spring cleaning can be more of a safety challenge than everyday cleaning. It could involve rearranging things in the home and leaving multiple cleaning products out longer than usual. It's wise to anticipate that it will be tiring and disruptive and to plan for safety in advance. Leaving cleaners containing strong chemicals within reach can lead to poisoned children who not only get these products on their skin, but swallow, inhale, or get them in their eyes, resulting in serious toxicity or injury.

Familiarize yourself with these major categories of household cleaners along with their dangers if handled by children or improperly used by adults:

Acids

Acids used in cleaners can be very mild to very strong. Acid-containing household cleaning products include toilet bowl cleaners, tub and tile cleaners, tarnish removers, and metal cleaners. Always read labels carefully when choosing acid-based products for cleaning!

Mild acid cleaners include those with acetic acid (such as in vinegar) or citric acid (found in lemons and other citrus fruits). Cleaners made with these mild ingredients are generally safe for use around children and pets. They are used to dissolve hard water spots on glassware and other surfaces, eliminate soap scum from sinks, bathtubs, and shower doors and to remove mild rust stains. Phosphoric acid is stronger than acetic or citric acid and is in many bathroom tub, tile, and toilet bowl cleaners. Some other mild acids found in household cleaners are gluconic acid, glycolic acid and levulinic acid. These mild acid cleaners are of low toxicity to humans aside from irritant effects to the skin and eyes.

Strongly acidic cleaners can be very dangerous. They are likely to be corrosive, meaning they can "gnaw" away at metal - or human tissue. These include toilet bowl cleaners, rust removers, concrete cleaners and others with hydrochloric acid, oxalic acid, sodium acid sulfate, or sulfuric acid. All of these are poisonous and can injure skin with direct contact, or eyes and lungs if in direct contact or by strong fumes.

Always follow label directions to avoid injury. Never mix household cleaning products! For example, mixing an acid toilet bowl cleaner with bleach will result in formation of very irritating chlorine fumes that might cause serious breathing problems. Make sure to ventilate the area in which you are working thoroughly by opening a door or window and using an exhaust fan.

Alkalis

Alkalis include sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), sodium carbonate (also called washing soda or soda ash), and trisodium phosphate (TSP). These are produced as drain cleaners, oven cleaners, scouring powders, and all-purpose cleaners.

Mild alkalis like sodium bicarbonate are not caustic and are generally safe to use around children and pets.

Moderate alkalis include ammonia and sodium borate (borax). Ammonia is added to many household cleaners for its grease-cutting ability. Ammonia should never be mixed with chlorine or bleach products! This can release a highly irritating gas, chloramine. In fact, never mix any cleaning chemicals since it might lead to a chemical reaction and release poisonous fumes.

Strong alkalis are in products such as oven cleaners, lye (caustic soda or sodium hydroxide), and drain cleaners. They are very caustic and can cause chemical burns on the skin and in the lungs if strong fumes are inhaled. Lye gives off toxic fumes and can cause skin burns and severe eye injuries including blindness if the liquid or fumes come in close contact with the eyes.Trisodium phosphate (TSP) isn’t commonly found in cleaners now since most phosphates have been phased out due to environmental impact concerns. However it can still be found in cleaning products sold primarily through home improvement stores.

Bleaches

Bleaching agents are used as disinfectants, stain removers, and for control of mold and mildew. To be labelled as a disinfectant, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards require that the product must destroy 99.9% of disease-causing organisms within 5 to 10 minutes.

Some bleaching products might not list the word "bleach" on the label, so it’s important to recognize other names for chemical bleaching agents. These include sodium hypochlorite, calcium hypochlorite, hydrogen peroxide, and sodium carbonate peroxide.

Chlorine (as hypochlorite) bleach is a widely available, affordable, and effective disinfectant agent. Chlorine bleach can be irritating to the skin and eyes. The fumes are also irritating to the lungs if inhaled. Plain sodium hypochlorite household bleach is likely to cause limited vomiting if unintentionally swallowed in small amounts. However, some sodium hypochlorite bleach products now have added sodium hydroxide that can make swallowing, skin, or eye exposure more dangerous by causing chemical burns. Bleaches with sodium hydroxide often have the word "ultra" on the product label.

Polishes and Waxes

Furniture polishes and waxes often contain chemicals called hydrocarbons, such as mineral oil, as solvents. When swallowed, coughing and vomiting can follow, resulting in the oily substance getting into the lungs, which is called aspiration. Aspiration can lead to lung inflammation and severe breathing problems.

Many polishes and waxes are packaged in pressurized aerosol cans that must be protected from extreme heat to prevent explosion.

Detergents

Detergents break up and remove grease and dirt. The most significant ingredients in detergents are "surfactants," a short version of "surface active agents." Chemicals called "builders" are sometimes added to increase the efficiency of detergents. When a builder is added, the product is labelled as heavy-duty or all-purpose.

Liquid and granular regular laundry detergents can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea if swallowed but generally don't cause serious poisoning. However, serious poisoning can occur in children after unintentionally swallowing concentrated liquid laundry detergent packaged as small, single-use units ("pods"). Severe vomiting, drowsiness, aspiration, and respiratory distress requiring breathing tubes can develop after swallowing or biting into these packets.

Liquid hand dishwashing detergents are safe to use around children and pets.

If your child swallows or drinks a cleaner or detergent, use the webPOISONCONTROL^® online tool for guidance or call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 right away.

Mary Elizabeth May, RN, BA, MPH
Certified Specialist in Poison Information