M2.3 Blog Assignment: National Library of Medicine's Household Products Database

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For my household products, I chose Palmolive dish soap and Clorox disinfectant wipes. I only use Clorox wipes occasionally to wipe down surfaces or things that I know many people have touched frequently (handles, door knobs, etc). When looking up the Clorox wipes, I found that the wipes had only a slight health risk with a score of 1. In general, it is not considered hazardous. However, eye contact, skin contact and inhalation are always health risk factors as the wipes may cause irritation or problems with respiration if inhaled or gastrointestinal problems if consumed on accident. The product itself comes with warnings and advice on what to do if there is unwanted contact of any form. To protect my skin, I always wear gloves as a precaution and try not to hold the wipes near my face to protect my eyes and lessen my inhalation. I actually thought this product would be a bit more toxic than stated. I do plan on continuing to use this product, but I will use it less frequently.
 https://hpd.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=brands&id=3027442&query=clorox+wipes&searchas=TblBrands
Palmolive dish soap with Aloe is the brand I most frequently purchase. I do not have a dish washer so I wash and dry everything by hand which is why I like the dish soap with aloe. However, I do my best to wear gloves at all times. I was very shocked when I looked up this product and saw that it had a score of 3 or "serious" for its health rating. Exposure to inhalation of its vapors and flammability are highlighted and that the product possibly has some carcinogenic agents. It is also labeled as an eye irritant and comes with a variety of warnings to address eye contact and accidental ingestion. https://hpd.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=brands&id=3008342&query=palmolive&searchas=TblBrands


I definitely will look into a replacement product to wash my dishes, this was a pretty scary awakening!!! 😱


Comments

  1. Sintia ShahbazSeptember 3, 2018 at 8:22 PM

    Hi,
    I am really surprised to find out that Clorox wipes are not as hazardous as I thought they would be, I used to think they would be really bad for my health so I avoided using them. After reading this post, I think I will start using them around the house! I always use gloves too when washing dishes, but its surprising to think that the dish soap is more hazardous than the wipes!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2018 at 10:32 PM

    Really interesting write up. How surprising that dish soap has a higher hazard rating than bleach wipes of all things! What surprises me most though is the flammability score of dish soap. I was always under the impression that because bleach is so caustic to the touch, it is also relatively flammable. Boy, was I wrong!

    ReplyDelete

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