If you’re anything like me, then you’re slowly starting to wake up and realise that the world is in a bit of a pickle at the moment. With things like childhood allergies on the rise, and antibiotic resistance seemingly just around the corner, we’re looking at how all this could have happened.
There’s a real trend lately towards eco-friendly, organic, products – products that are from the Earth and don’t contain any nasty chemicals and what not that can be doing our bodies harm. It seems like we’ve come full circle from chemicals helping us to do anything and everything, to getting back to nature, and natural products.
Which is why today I thought I’d bring up bleach and disinfectant for use around the home. Now, our parents were always using bleach and disinfectant around the home to clean everything, these were multi-purpose products.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they were the right thing to do. We are more concerned now about the effects of harsh chemicals on our pets and children than ever before – even if it’s too late to rewrite our own childhoods, it’s not too late to rewrite that of our kids.
So, I went out and had a scour (pun intended) to see what the effects of bleach and disinfectants can have in our home. And let me tell you, what I found wasn’t the best news. But it’s not too late to turn things around.
Anyway, here is what I found about bleach:
Bleach is a toxic substance
While we all know that it’s very dangerous to drink bleach, just the fumes from bleach can be damaging for humans and animals. So, if you’re cleaning with bleach, the fumes can have adverse effects on your health. You may have noticed that you get dizzy if you clean in a confined space with bleach. But that’s not all, people exposed to bleach have a higher rate of respiratory problems, including asthma and other allergies. Not cool at all.
Bleach can interact with other chemicals
Bleach combined with other household chemicals that are currently used can elevate it to a seriously dangerous substance. When combined with ammonia, for example, it causes chlorine gas, which can even result in death. It can damage the respiratory system forever and has been known to be fatal. This can also happen with other acids like vinegar, which is regularly used for cleaning.
Since many household cleaning products have ingredients in them that react to bleach, we can never be quite sure what’s safe, which is why we shouldn’t be using bleach at all.
Since there are so many different products that we can use instead of bleach for cleaning, we should always use these instead. This includes things like using white vinegar for disinfecting in the kitchen, which is also safe to use around kids and pets.
Another natural disinfectant that you can use around the home is hydrogen peroxide. While hydrogen peroxide is typically safe, it cannot be ingested by humans or pets, otherwise it’s likely to give an upset tummy. In larger quantities when swallowed it can be dangerous.
So remember, if you’re using hydrogen peroxide for disinfecting, that you should be careful to rinse down surfaces afterwards with water, and make sure to keep the tub out of reach of pets and kiddies.
Keeping our homes as non-toxic as possible is useful in the ongoing war against chemicals. The more natural substances that we use around the home the better it is for both the environment as well as our loved ones, be they our cheeky cherubs or our furry friends.
If you’re currently using bleach or other toxic disinfectants, consider switching to child and pet-friendly natural alternatives, such as white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. This way you can have a healthier home that is still free of nasty germs, and keep your family safe.
