Household products putting lives at risk, say experts

Experts have warned that pollution from household products such as air fresheners and cleaning products can be life-threatening.

Researchers from the Royal Colleges of Physicians and of Paediatrics and Child Health have released a report that states the public is largely unaware of this kind of pollution and its hazards. It concludes that indoor air pollution may have caused or contributed to 99,000 deaths annually in Europe.

Scientists say the effects can be particularly dangerous for foetuses in the womb.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"We now know that air pollution has a substantial impact on many chronic long-term conditions, increasing strokes and heart attacks in susceptible individuals," said Professor Stephen Holgate, the chairman of the report's working group. "We know that air pollution adversely affects the development of the foetus, including lung development."

Sara Beirne, who is eight months pregnant, told Sky News the study was "worrying". She said: "You do your best. You want to keep your house clean, get rid of all the germs to keep your baby healthy - to find out you might be doing more harm than good is another thing to add to the list of worries."

Which products are dangerous?

"The lemon and pine scents that we use to make our homes smell fresh can react chemically to generate air pollutants and ozone-based air fresheners can also cause indoor air pollution," says the report.

Other items exposing people to potentially harmful pollutants include joss sticks, cookers, boilers, candles, open fires and portable gas or paraffin heaters, notes the Daily Mail.

What can be done about it?

The team says the UK government needs to introduce tougher legislation to reduce permissible levels of harmful emissions and also pass new laws on outdoor pollution, such as allowing local authorities to close roads, especially those near schools, when air pollution levels in a particular area are too high.