Elsevier

Atmospheric Environment

Volume 38, Issue 18, June 2004, Pages 2841-2865
Atmospheric Environment

Cleaning products and air fresheners: exposure to primary and secondary air pollutants

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2004.02.040Get rights and content

Abstract

Building occupants, including cleaning personnel, are exposed to a wide variety of airborne chemicals when cleaning agents and air fresheners are used in buildings. Certain of these chemicals are listed by the state of California as toxic air contaminants (TACs) and a subset of these are regulated by the US federal government as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). California's Proposition 65 list of species recognized as carcinogens or reproductive toxicants also includes constituents of certain cleaning products and air fresheners. In addition, many cleaning agents and air fresheners contain chemicals that can react with other air contaminants to yield potentially harmful secondary products. For example, terpenes can react rapidly with ozone in indoor air generating many secondary pollutants, including TACs such as formaldehyde. Furthermore, ozone–terpene reactions produce the hydroxyl radical, which reacts rapidly with organics, leading to the formation of other potentially toxic air pollutants. Indoor reactive chemistry involving the nitrate radical and cleaning-product constituents is also of concern, since it produces organic nitrates as well as some of the same oxidation products generated by ozone and hydroxyl radicals.

Few studies have directly addressed the indoor concentrations of TACs that might result from primary emissions or secondary pollutant formation following the use of cleaning agents and air fresheners. In this paper, we combine direct empirical evidence with the basic principles of indoor pollutant behavior and with information from relevant studies, to analyze and critically assess air pollutant exposures resulting from the use of cleaning products and air fresheners. Attention is focused on compounds that are listed as HAPs, TACs or Proposition 65 carcinogens/reproductive toxicants and compounds that can readily react to generate secondary pollutants. The toxicity of many of these secondary pollutants has yet to be evaluated. The inhalation intake of airborne organic compounds from cleaning product use is estimated to be of the order of 10 mg d−1 person−1 in California. More than two dozen research articles present evidence of adverse health effects from inhalation exposure associated with cleaning or cleaning products. Exposure to primary and secondary pollutants depends on the complex interplay of many sets of factors and processes, including cleaning product composition, usage, building occupancy, emission dynamics, transport and mixing, building ventilation, sorptive interactions with building surfaces, and reactive chemistry. Current understanding is sufficient to describe the influence of these variables qualitatively in most cases and quantitatively in a few.

Introduction

The cleaning of buildings and their contents is a major human activity that aims to promote hygiene, aesthetics, and material preservation. In the United States, out of a total working population of 128 million, three million people are employed as “janitors and cleaners,” or as “maids and housekeeping cleaners” (US Department of Labor, 2001). From activity pattern surveys, it is estimated that US adults devote an average of 20−30 min day−1 to house cleaning (Wiley et al., 1991). In addition, among California adults, 26% reported that they were near or used cleaning agents on the day on which they were surveyed and 31% reported that they were near or used scented room fresheners (Jenkins et al., 1992).

Despite the large overall effort devoted to these activities, relatively little scientific evidence documents the efficacy of building cleaning practices. Common themes in the literature include the effectiveness of vacuuming and other processes for controlling allergens (Hegarty et al., 1995; Woodfolk et al., 1993; Vaughan et al., 1999) and lead-contaminated dust (Ewers et al., 1994; Lioy et al., 1998). Studies have explored the role of disinfectants in cleaning agents on limiting the spread of infectious disease (Bloomfield and Scott, 1997; Josephson et al., 1997; Rusin et al., 1998). Only a few published studies have considered general cleaning efficacy (Schneider et al., 1994; Franke et al., 1997; Nilsen et al., 2002) or the beneficial attributes of cleaning products (Olson et al., 1994; Jerrim et al., 2001; Jerrim et al., 2002).

While there are substantial perceived benefits of cleaning, there are also risks. One set of concerns arises because cleaning products contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that contribute to urban or regional photochemical smog. The California Air Resources Board has adopted regulations to reduce atmospheric emissions from consumer products, including cleaning products and air fresheners (CARB, 2001). Cleaning may also pose risks to cleaners and to building occupants. Wolkoff et al. (1998) have summarized the spectrum of such concerns. These include irritation and other health hazards owing to inhalation exposures to cleaning-product constituents, exposures to dust and other particulate matter suspended during cleaning activities, and the production of secondary pollutants owing to the reaction of unsaturated organic compounds with oxidants such as ozone and nitrogen oxides.

The present paper explores the nature and likely significance of air pollutant exposures among building occupants, including cleaning personnel, resulting from the use of cleaning products and air fresheners in homes and in nonindustrial workplaces. We emphasize chemical exposures resulting from the volatile constituents of cleaning products, considering both primary emissions from the cleaning products themselves and the formation of secondary pollutants caused by the interaction of cleaning product constituents with other reactive species. Our approach involves critically evaluating relevant literature. In doing so, we utilize key principles and tools from the applied physical sciences—mass conservation, reactor models and analysis of kinetic systems—to explore the causal events linking cleaning product use with inhalation exposure to air pollutants.

Section snippets

Emissions and inhalation intake

Because of their potential contributions to urban photochemical smog, product manufacturers and air quality regulators have estimated organic compound emissions from the use of cleaning products. Table 1 presents summary data for California. The total estimated emissions of 32 tonnes d−1 corresponds to about 1 g person−1 day−1 for the entire state's population. Emissions of reactive organic gases (ROG) from the sum of indoor and outdoor sources are estimated to be much larger, about 2400 tonnes d−1

Direct evidence of health hazards

The medical, occupational, and environmental health literature contains many reports documenting cleaning related inhalation hazards (ingestion or dermal contact hazards are not considered in this review). The reports on inhalation hazards can be divided into those based on the mixing of cleaning products and those focusing on hypersensitivity responses associated with product use. This section summarizes findings from such studies with a view toward gleaning what these studies tell us about

Composition, primary emissions, and inhalation exposure

In this section, we explore the causal chain-of-events linking the use of cleaning products with inhalation exposure to the primary volatile constituents. The output parameters of interest are species-specific concentration (mass per volume) or mole fraction (moles of species per mole of air), exposure (the time integral of concentration encountered by an exposed person), and intake (species mass inhaled by an exposed person). Broadly, these output parameters depend on three classes of

Reactions with ozone

Cleaning product and air freshener constituents can react with oxidants to generate secondary pollutants. Ozone is a common initiator for indoor gas-phase oxidation processes. Reactions of ozone with constituents containing unsaturated carbon–carbon bonds are much faster, and serve as a larger source of secondary pollutants, than reactions with constituents containing only saturated carbon–carbon bonds. Table 7 lists constituents of cleaning products and air fresheners with C=C bonds. Most of

Conclusions

Cleaning generates benefits by improving aesthetics and hygiene, and by preserving objects. Cleaning also generates risks, including the inhalation of volatile constituents of cleaning products or of secondary products formed by reactive chemistry. The benefits of air fresheners are more subjective, while the risks parallel those associated with cleaning. Some specific health problems have occurred as a result of cleaning or because of inhalation exposure to cleaning products. Also,

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of De-Ling Liu who assisted with preliminary research for this review. We thank Al Hodgson, Hugo Destaillats, Brett Singer, Dorothy Shimer, and Peggy Jenkins for their review and comments on the draft manuscript. This work was funded by the California Air Resources Board, Contract No. 01-336. The statements and conclusions in this report are those of the researchers and not necessarily those of the California ARB. The mention of commercial

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