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Janitorial work and birth defects

News has just hit that women working in the cleaning industry are at greater than normal risk of givingWindows_web birth to children with birth defects - along with women working as biologists, chemical scientists and pharmacists.  The study is published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (21 December 2009), and reviewed by Stephen Ashkin in Health News Digest.

Sounds like chief contributors are disinfectants (phenols, bleach and quats), floor strippers, and glass cleaner (often contains ammonia). 

Steve recommends hydrogen peroxide products as a safer but powerful alternative to standard disinfectants and glass cleaner.   

We've already switched to JohnsonDiversey AlphaHP for most cleaning and disinfection applications, and their GreenSeal certified Freedom stripper.  Nice to see this kind of alert, and know that I've already done what it recommends.


Posted 01-26-2010 3:09 PM by Bob Croft