Spic and Span A Greener Approach To Cleaning Products There’s
nothing like a cleanser that actually works as advertised,
bulldozing through dirt and leaving a surface sparkling clean.
But conventional cleaning products can actually leave indoor air
polluted with a toxic smog of petrochemical volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) and the synthetic fragrances used to mask them.
Think, then, what damage cleaning products used on a regular
basis year-round can do in the enclosed space of a home, where
VOCs can build up for months. “When they evaporate, they are
transported directly to the brain, where they can be as
intoxicating as ether or chloroform,” says Kaye Kilburn,
professor of internal medicine at the University of Southern
California medical school. “They are palpably dangerous to
health.” In other words, when someone complains of being knocked
out after cleaning house, it’s likely more than just a turn of
phrase. Cleaning product VOCs, many of which are neurotoxins and
known or suspected carcinogens and/or