Some doctors are warning household cleaners may not be so good for your child's health.

Cleaning products must warn if they are flammable or poisonous but manufacturers aren't required to list which chemicals are actually in the products.




Canadians like their homes to be very clean. So much so, that young families spray tables, wipe down chairs and mop floors to make sure their children don't end up dirty or pick up bacteria.

"I find it very troubling that those kinds of chemicals are being sprayed in a child's crib," says Kathy Cooper, a senior researcher with the Canadian Environmental Law Association. "I think it's unnecessary and I worry about the long term toxicity."

Sean Ellis, a toxicologist who tests the air in people's homes, says a combination of cleaners can make people dizzy or have headaches. Ellis says some people seem to think cleaning products are all natural. They are mostly chemical.

No one knows for sure how harmful these chemicals might be, but experts are starting to worry about long term exposure to low levels, particularly children.

"How can we, as one of the most advanced countries in the world, allow these to enter our household for small children without the appropriate experiments? Without the appropriate testing to see that it's safe?" asks Dr. Gideon Koren, a pediatrician at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

Koren wonders if household cleaners are contributing to the increase in childhood illnesses. He says children are vulnerable because they touch surfaces a lot and tend to put their fingers and other things in their mouths.

Respiratory illness is the leading cause for admission to hospital for children. Childhood asthma has ballooned by 400 per cent in the past 20 years. After injuries, cancer is the leading cause of death among children aged five to nine.

Adults are protected in their workplace because manufacturers are obliged by law to inform workers about the products they work with.

They have to indicate whether it contains:

  • a carcinogen
  • a reproductive toxin
  • other chronic health hazards

But some of these same chemicals are in consumer products.

"We are basically conducting an enormous experiment on our children and our children's children," says Cooper.

Cooper says the federal government should consider testing household cleaners for long-term exposure, just like it does with lead and mercury.