A recent survey has some alarming and revealing results about how these products are being used.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it seems as if adults across the country have taken a newfound interest in making sure everything is clean and sanitized, which is good; however, it turns out there’s a decent portion of folks who are just not doing it the right way. A recent survey shows that as many as 39 percent of adults aren’t using cleaning products and disinfectants correctly.
A report published in late July by the JAMA Network cites a survey commissioned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after concerns over how disinfectants and cleaning products were being used during the pandemic. A sample group of 502 adults in the U.S. responded to the online survey. According to the results, more than 1 in 3 adults are using disinfectants in improper or potentially dangerous ways.
Here are some of the findings:
- 60% of respondents said they were cleaning or disinfecting their homes more to prevent COVID-19.
- 18% used household cleaning products and or disinfectants on their skin.
- 19% used bleach on to clean food, such as fruits and vegetables.
- 10% reported that they were misting their bodies with some sort of cleaning or disinfecting spray.
- 6% of respondents admitted to inhaling vapors from cleaning products.
- 4% reported gargling or drinking diluted bleach, spray water, or other cleaning solution.
- 25% reported that using cleaning products caused adverse symptoms including irritation of nose, skin, and eyes, headache, nausea, dizziness, or breathing complications.
It was also noted that those who admitted they did not use the products safely were twice as likely to report adverse symptoms.
The report authors made it clear to point out that the practice of gargling, ingesting, or using these products on one’s skin is ill-advised and poses the potential for great harm.
“These practices pose a risk of severe tissue damage and corrosive injury and should be strictly avoided.”
They go on to say that the practice of “mixing of bleach solutions with vinegar or ammonia, as well as [the] application of heat, can generate chlorine and chloramine gases that might result in severe lung tissue damage when inhaled.”
From the results, it’s clear to researchers that there are significant gaps in knowledge about the proper use of these products among the respondents. The main areas where this was most apparent were in regards to children and the use of hand sanitizer, keeping sanitizer out of the reach of kids, and how to safely prepare cleaning solutions.
It is always advised to follow the instructions on any cleaning or disinfectant product label, and not to ingest or use the products for personal hygiene. They are not intended for that and can cause long term injury or even death.