Cleaning Industry News March 2008

STUDY FINDS POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN CLEANING SPRAYS AND ASTHMA
Lewis Smith, the Environment Reporter for The Times newspaper recently reported on a study that showed using cleaning sprays and air fresheners when doing housework, could account for up to one in seven cases of asthma in adults.

These labour saving cleaning sprays and air fresheners have been found to raise significantly the risk of symptoms. Indeed, just spraying a cleaner once a week in household use, can trigger an attack, according to the research. The risk rose the more that the sprays were used. A researcher stated that the relative risk rates of developing adult asthma in relation to exposure to cleaning products could account for as much as 15 per cent, or one in seven of adult asthma cases.

Furniture sprays, glass cleaners and air freshener sprays were associated with the highest risk of a person developing asthma whilst doing housework. No link was identified between the onset of asthma and the use of cleaning products that were not sprayed. Cleaning sprays have previously been found to be associated with an increased incidence of asthma among people who clean for a living but it is thought to be the first time the link has been made to everyday use.

Howard Stoate, a GP, MP and chairman of the asthma all-party parliamentary group, said that a link between chemicals and asthma has long been suspected. He hoped that it might explain why countries such as New Zealand, which have low air pollution levels, have increases in asthma levels. "There are a lot of gaps in our knowledge about asthma. Anything that fills those has to welcomed. Although asthma is on the increase worldwide no one can say why," he said.

A spokesman for the UK Cleaning Products Industry Association said: "The safety of consumers is the highest priority of our industries and the safety of our products is regularly checked and subject to rigorous controls, as well as stringent European legislation.

Source: The Times

ENDS

NEW SCOTCHGARD™ CARPET PROTECTOR EXCLUSIVE TO PROCHEM
As major suppliers of chemicals from Prochem Europe, we are pleased to announce this new product from 3M, which is exclusively available only from Prochem distributors in the UK, including us here at A1 Cleaning Supplies.

Scotchgard™ carpet protector can be diluted 4 to 1 with water and sprayed to form a protective shield on carpet fibres, which will act as a barrier to resist soil and make spot cleaning of most stains easy. It can be applied to many types of carpeting, with equal success, whether dry or damp, new or freshly extraction cleaned.

3M'S Scotchgard™ Carpet protector is a concentrate with enhanced performance characteristics, using all new technology. When diluted and correctly applied it will significantly improve the soil and stain repellency of the carpet. Each 3.78 litre bottle will provide enough protector to cover approximately 1000 sq.feet (93 sq.m) of carpet.

ENDS

UK HOUSEHOLDERS CLEANING LESS OFTEN - But men are doing slightly more, says survey

The Press Association have recently reported how people in the UK clean their homes on average three times weekly compared with four times weekly in some other European countries, such as Spain and Italy. The survey by Datamonitor, state that this amount of cleaning is predicted to fall over the next few years.

They also found that men are doing a greater share of housework and cleaning across all countries surveyed, although generally women still do about two thirds of the housework.

They found that the need for floor cleaning is reducing as more homes now have low maintenance hard wood or laminate flooring. But money spent on cleaning products in the UK was the highest of all eight countries surveyed at an average of £66.27 per person in 2006, with most other countries only averaging around £44 per person.

Datamonitor report was based on a survey of 4500 consumers across the following countries, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Spain, Sweden, UK and the US.

ENDS

Top of Page