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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday February 20 2020, @08:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the who-would-have-guessed dept.

Exposure to cleaning products in first 3 months of life can increase risk of childhood asthma:

New research from the CHILD Cohort Study[*] shows that frequent exposure to common household cleaning products can increase a child's risk of developing asthma.

Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease and is the primary reason why children miss school or end up in hospital.

The study was published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It found that young infants (birth to three months) living in homes where household cleaning products were used frequently were more likely to develop childhood wheeze and asthma by three years of age.

"Most of the available evidence linking asthma to the use of cleaning products comes from research in adults," said the study's lead researcher, Dr. Tim Takaro, a professor and clinician- scientist in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University (SFU). "Our study looked at infants, who typically spend 80-90% of their time indoors and are especially vulnerable to chemical exposures through the lungs and skin due to their higher respiration rates and regular contact with household surfaces."

[...] "Interestingly, we did not find an association between the use of cleaning products and a risk of atopy alone," noted Dr. Takaro. "Therefore, a proposed mechanism underlying these findings is that chemicals in cleaning products damage the cells that line the respiratory tract through innate inflammatory pathways rather than acquired allergic pathways."

"We also found that at age three, the relationship between product exposure and respiratory problems was much stronger in girls than boys," he added. "This is an interesting finding that requires more research to better understand male versus female biological responses to inflammatory exposures in early life."

The study used data from 2,022 children participating in the CHILD Cohort Study and examined their daily, weekly and monthly exposure to 26 types of household cleaners, including dishwashing and laundry detergents, cleaners, disinfectants, polishes, and air fresheners.

"The risks of recurrent wheeze and asthma were notably higher in homes with frequent use of certain products, such as liquid or solid air fresheners, plug-in deodorizers, dusting sprays, antimicrobial hand sanitizers and oven cleaners," commented the paper's lead author, Jaclyn Parks, a graduate student in the Faculty of Health Sciences at SFU. "It may be important for people to consider removing scented spray cleaning products from their cleaning routine. We believe that the smell of a healthy home is no smell at all."

[*] CHILD Cohort Study web site.

Journal References:

  • Elissa M. Abrams. "Cleaning products and asthma risk: a potentially important public health concern", CMAJ (DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.200025)
  • Jaclyn Parks, Lawrence McCandless, Christoffer Dharma, Jeffrey Brook, Stuart E. Turvey, Piush Mandhane, Allan B. Becker, Anita L. Kozyrskyj, Meghan B. Azad, Theo J. Moraes, Diana L. Lefebvre, Malcolm R. Sears, Padmaja Subbarao, James Scott and Tim K. Takaro. "Association of use of cleaning products with respiratory health in a Canadian birth cohort", CMAJ (DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.190819)

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by hemocyanin on Thursday February 20 2020, @11:05PM (2 children)

    by hemocyanin (186) on Thursday February 20 2020, @11:05PM (#960483) Journal

    I grew up a dirt-eating hippie child. One of the earliest photos my parents took of me I was sitting in the gravel of a riverbed, chewing on a stick I found, dirt drool oozing from my mouth. I was over two before we stopped living in campers and moved into a cabin (no inside plumbing, wood cookstove).

    Anyway, I don't get sick very often and am not allergic to anything common in the environment. The only reaction I have is related to excessive exposure while rehabbing an old boat 10 yrs ago: uncured polyester resin makes my skin turn red and break out in water blisters. Later I also discovered that fumes from HIPS (high impact polystyrene) printer filament cause a similar reaction. But these are my fault and developed from careless frequent exposure to polyester resin. Fortunately for me, it is rare to encounter these chemicals in regular life.

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 20 2020, @11:59PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 20 2020, @11:59PM (#960502)

    Watch out, exposure to uncured epoxy can give you a really nasty reaction too.
    You get sensitized in the same way. Even JB Weld drug store epoxy can sensitize you.

    • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Friday February 21 2020, @01:22AM

      by hemocyanin (186) on Friday February 21 2020, @01:22AM (#960538) Journal

      Fortunately, epoxy doesn't affect me presently, but I'm ridiculously scrupulous with using gloves and avoiding contact with fumes just so I can avoid becoming sensitized too it. It's sort of a shame about polyester resin -- it's much more economical than epoxy, but it is what it is.