CHEMICAL CLEANUP
Delphis Eco’s Mark Jankovich asks if the cleaning industry is heading for the UK’s biggest ever class action suit?
Four tobacco companies in America agreed to pay a minimum of $206bn in a class action suit brought against them by 46 states. Johnson and Johnson has been ordered to pay out $55m in a second court case brought by a woman who said that using the company’s talc-powder products caused her to develop ovarian cancer. Could the contract cleaning industry and chemical manufacturers be vulnerable to similar litigation?
This rhetoric follows a study undertaken by The University of Bergen which took place over a 20-year period and followed more than 6,000 people. The research found that the regular use of toxic cleaning sprays has an impact on lung health that is comparable with smoking a pack of cigarettes every day.
The study also found that inhaling the chemicals from cleaning products raises asthma risk up to 43% in that time. Experts say they cause damage to airways, speeding up the decline of our lungs as we age. Professional cleaners and women suffer most.
Professor Cecile Svanes, a medic and senior author who headed the study, said that whilst the short-term effects of
42 | SUSTAINABLE CLEANING
cleaning chemicals on asthma are becoming increasingly well documented, there has been a lack of evidence – until now – as to the long-term effects on lung health. He said: “Cleaning chemicals very likely cause substantial lung damage. Think of particles from cleansers that are actually meant for floors, not lungs, and maybe it’s no surprise.”
LONG-TERM REPERCUSSIONS The new study found that the impact was particularly pronounced on women, who suffered significant health problems after long term use of spray chemicals. Lung function declined in women working as cleaners and even impacted on those who were regularly using cleaning products at home.
The implications of this landmark case must be of deep concern for the cleaning industry, which employs millions of individuals that have traditionally used harsh and toxic cleaning chemicals day-in and day-out.
And it’s right that companies take responsibility for their actions and choice of products where employees and consumers’ health may be at risk. The precedents now set by the tobacco industry and Johnson and Johnson
twitter.com/TomoCleaning
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78
