Household chemicals as possible causes of poisoning and environmental pollution

Abstract

Nowadays, in order to maintain cleanliness in our houses, as well as to maintain personal hygiene, numerous chemical agents are used every day. Dishwashing detergents are used the most, followed by laundry detergents, various soaps and hair sham­poos, and not infrequently descaling agents, for cleaning ovens, unclogging drainage and sewage pipes, neutralizing unpleasant odours, etc. Although their number is growing day by day, most people do not realize the consequences, or at least not enough, and especially not about their potentially toxic effects. In fact, a great deal of the population do not consider household chemicals a particular problem, which is true, if they are used in the pre­scribed manner. However, the fact that these agents can cause harmful effects in humans and animals, and even participate in environmental pollution, is more than a sufficient reason to pay more attention to these agents, that is, to talk about them more and obtain more information for that matter. Particularly since there are authors who believe that some of the mentioned agents can even cause cancer, asthma or birth defects, i.e. infertility. Household chemicals can be divided in several ways, and one of the classifications is the one made according to the place of use. According to this division, the products we use every day at home can be roughly divided into those used for cleaning and maintaining hygiene in kitch­ens, used for the same purposes in bathrooms (including those used for personal hygiene ), and the products used in rooms and on terraces (flower protection).

Keywords

• household chemicals
• personal hygiene
• detergents
• soaps
• hair sham­poos
• toxic effects
• environmental pollution