Formaldehyde and Cancer Risk | Why Use Green Cleaning Products

When people select green cleaning products or green janitorial supplies they often consider the potential for the products to cause or contribute to cancer.  With the recent announcement that formaldehyde is a KNOWN carcinogen,  it is more imperative than ever to use green cleaning products for your natural green home cleaning and green janitorial supplies for your business that have been certified by a 3rd party, e.g., EPAs Design for the Environment (DfE).

How You are Exposed to Formaldehyde

As a result we not realize how prevalent this is in our world.  Formaldehyde is commonly used as a preservative in medical laboratories and mortuaries.   If you want a natural green home and are wondering where you can we find this carcinogen in our everyday lives, below is a list of some of the sources I found in my research for you:

• Building Materials including glue and adhesives, pressed wood products (like particleboard, plywood, paneling, and fiberboard), insulation, composite wood products, some painting and coating products, insulation materials;
• Cigarettes and other tobacco products;
• Automobile exhaust from cars without catalytic converters;
• Fuel in heating and cooking equipment – such as wood stoves in our natural green home, gas kitchen stoves, and kerosene heaters;
• Everyday products including paper product coatings, plastics, melamine resin, permanent-press clothing and draperies, synthetic fibers, textile finishes (even wrinkle free bedding!) and furniture;
• Baby Products including baby wipes, baby lotion, bubble bath, baby bath wash, baby shampoo;
• Personal care products including lotions, shampoos, sunblock, soap bars, cosmetics, body wash, toothpaste, nail polish, and some hair straightening products  (Beware – Some trendy professional hair straightening treatments are now testing positive for a high amount of formaldehyde even when they claim to be formaldehyde-free!)
• Formaldehyde-based materials are used to produce dollar bills, the ones we spend every day!  You will also find it in the documents we print from our computers and the ink used in books, magazines and newspapers. 
• Although you will not find them in your green cleaning products used for your natural green home cleaning or your green janitorial supplies for your business, it is found in your conventional cleaning products, including air fresheners, deodorizers, odor removers, laundry detergent, fabric softener, dryer sheets, dishwashing liquids, laundry stain removers, furniture polish, mold and mildew cleaner.  It is even found in pine oil and citrus based products that many consider as green cleaning products.

It has been found that even fairly porous products (like sheetrock or carpets) that do not normally contain formaldehyde may absorb it from other sources and release it later.  This is even more likely if there is a rise in temperature and the amount of moisture in the air over a period of time.

This is a good news, bad news situation.  The good news is that most products contain only very small amounts of this harmful chemical.  The danger, however, lies in our modern habits of using and being exposed to so many of these products on a regular basis, and for a long time.  As we surround ourselves with more and more products containing this carcinogen, our exposure level increases.  Similarly, the longer we expose ourselves to these products the more exposure we are getting.  As a result it is imperative you control what you can control, using green cleaning products from Green Cleaning Products and green janitorial supplies from Rochester Midland is the first step.

If you are looking for a GREAT green cleaning products and green janitorial supplies that are free of formaldehyde, check out our green cleaning products store!