Disinfectant Wipes, Sprays w 'Quats' Chemicals Linked to Serious Health Problems: Use Soap & Water [View all]

Common disinfectant wipes expose people to dangerous chemicals, research reveals. The Guardian, May 11, 2023. Ed.

- Researchers say wipes contain chemical group called ‘quats’, which are linked to serious health problems.

Since the pandemic’s outset, the global use of disinfectants has gone through the roof. Clorox dramatically boosted production of its wipe packs to 1.5m a day by mid-2021, & an industry trade group said 83% of consumers surveyed around the same time reported they had used a disinfectant wipe in the last week. But as schools reopened, a group of toxic chemical researchers grew concerned as they heard reports of kids regularly using disinfectant wipes on their classroom desks, or teachers running disinfectant foggers. The researchers knew the disinfectants did little to protect consumers from Covid, & were instead exposing kids at alarming levels to what they say are a dangerous chemical group – quaternary ammonium compounds, also known as QACs, or “quats”.

Quats are common components in popular disinfectant wipes & sprays, especially those that claim to “kill 99.9% of germs”.

But in a new peer-reviewed paper, the researchers assembled the conclusions from a fast-growing body of quat studies that point to several main issues: the chemicals are linked to serious health problems, they contribute to antimicrobial resistance, they pollute the environment & they are not particularly effective. The chemicals “might not be efficacious, but also might be harmful”, said Courtney Carignan, a co-author on the paper & toxicologist at Michigan State Univ. “We did the review to answer the question of ‘What do we really know?’ & what was most surprising was there was a lack of health hazard data in the majority of QACs, & the few that have been studied have red flags,” she added. The paper – developed by a group of toxics researchers from academia, govt. agencies & non-governmental organizations – highlights quats’ risks & calls on regulators to eliminate the chemicals for non-essential uses.

QACs are a class of hundreds of chemicals also used in paints, pesticides, hand sanitizers, personal care products & more. Among other health issues, recent research has linked them to infertility, birth defects, metabolic disruption, asthma, skin disorders & other diseases.The main exposure is through disinfectants, & most Americans are thought to have some level of the chemicals in their blood. Recent research that checked the serum of more than 200 Indiana residents before & after the pandemic started found quat levels roughly doubled, & while about 83% had detectable levels before the pandemic, 97% did after. Humans can end up with quats in their bodies through several routes. The chemicals can be dermally absorbed or orally ingested after one touches a disinfectant wipe, or when they stick around on surfaces after the use of disinfectants. Inhalation is also a risk, especially with spray disinfectants, & the chemicals are also known to attach to dust & go airborne.

Among the groups most at risk are small children because the wipes are so frequently used in daycares or schools, elderly folks in supervised care, healthcare workers, cleaning professionals & others who frequently use disinfectants. The chemicals are persistent & thought to be bioaccumulative, meaning they accumulate in human bodies & the environment.. Disinfection with quats often has only a small benefit over plain soap & water when it comes to killing germs, research suggests, and neither is thought to be needed to stop the transmission of Covid, which happens through the air.. Soap & water is safest for general cleaning purposes, she added, and some resources offer alternatives to harsh cleaners.

Disinfectants should generally be reserved for when someone has the stomach flu or other illnesses for which disinfectants are effective, and even then they should “not be used in a cavalier way”...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/11/concern-over-increase-in-disinfectant-wipes-linked-to-health-problems