As we use disinfectants to stop coronavirus transmission, we also have to weigh the risks

Disinfectants are selling like hotcakes: stores can’t keep them in stock. The first thing you may notice when you walk into a shop these days is the ripe smell of strong cleaning products, often masked with a fragrance. However, do we know how effective disinfectants are in fighting the coronavirus, and furthermore, are they safe? Should businesses and households pause to evaluate what types of disinfectants they are using, considering the inherent risks of most chemically based ones?

First, we must acknowledge the unknowns of how the coronavirus is transmitted. The CDC’s reopening guidance declares, “The virus that causes COVID-19 can be killed if you use the right products.” There’s a list of EPA approved disinfectants, many of which are highly toxic. However, it also admits there is still much to learn about the novel coronavirus and that “transmission to persons from surfaces contaminated with the virus has not been documented.” The virus is much more commonly spread through respiratory droplets rather than by surfaces.

Secondly, we must understand the risks in using traditional chemical disinfects. Consumer Reports warns that disinfectants contain EPA registered pesticides that can lead to asthma with long-term exposure. Children are at even greater risk. University of Washington School of Public Health reports that some disinfectants can “harm reproductive health or may cause cancer if too much exposure occurs.” Furthermore, a 2019 study of a large cohort of U.S. female nurses found that regular exposure to chemical disinfectants during cleaning put them at higher risk for developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Moreover, if toxic disinfectants can be harmful to people one must question their effects on the environment. University of California’s “Green Cleaning Guide for Early Care and Education” explains that disinfectants, cleaners, sanitizers, and fragrances can pollute our water, air, and soil. Basically, these products are washed down our drains and sent to wastewater treatment plants where sewage is treated and discharged back into our groundwater, rivers, reservoirs, and oceans. The problem is many of our wastewater treatment plants are not equipped to remove many of the chemicals in these products, polluting the waters for fish and marine life, and more concerning, polluting our drinking water.

It is clear that neither the government nor many companies are making it easy on us. Consumers are left to their own devices to wade through euphemisms like “natural” or “green” on product labels, and now more than ever there is an urgent need for clear, scientific guidance about cleaning and disinfecting practices to help fight the coronavirus. The EPA has compiled a list of disinfectants called List N: Disinfectants for Use Against SARS-CoV-2; however, many products on this list contain toxic chemicals like chlorine bleach or quaternary ammonium chloride compounds.

Luckily, the Responsible Purchasing Network has identified several of the safer hydrogen peroxide-based disinfectants on the EPA’s List N: Disinfectants for Use Against SARS-CoV-2. Forces by Nature is a company which offers hospital grade sanitizing and disinfecting by using electrolyzed water, and their product appears on the EPA’s list for use against COVID-19.

You can also look for the EPA’s Safer Choice label on your cleaning products; however, all of these products do not appear on EPA’s List N.

Finally, Environmental Working Group has a very useful database of over 2,500 cleaning products, their ingredients, and health/environmental concerns. They even give each product an overall score. Go ahead - find your favorite product’s score here!

The importance of using all measures to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 is obvious, yet the lack of transparency about using non-toxic disinfectants to kill the virus is concerning. So the next time you find yourself reaching for a disinfectant, read its label, and evaluate the risk.

Kathy McDonald is an elementary school teacher in Lexington.

This story was originally published May 28, 2020 at 3:46 PM.