About Bleach

Some food for thought…

• Chlorine levels in a common swimming pool range from about 0.5 to 1 ppm. These levels were shown to affect lung capacity in athletes with no history of lung ailment, who were exercising within or near the pool. The incidence of respiratory trouble was just under 20% at 0.5 ppm, but was over 60% at 1 ppm.
• Chlorine concentrations recommended for cleaning/disinfecting daycares are between 500 – 1000 ppm (approximately 1000-times higher than swimming pool water).
• Bleach (chlorine as sodium hypochlorite) is so highly reactive, that it pretty much instantly reacts with substances that it comes into contact with. That is why it is so effective at killing absolutely everything. When it is combined with organic matter, it forms organochlorine substances – many of which can be carcinogenic.
• Recent study (Odabasi, 2008) on products that contain bleach together with other ingredients, has revealed that bleach can react with soaps, fragrances or other ingredients within the bottle to produce some pretty highly toxic substances. These may include relatively high levels of carbon tetrachloride and chloroform and lesser amounts of 1,1-dichloroethene, 1,1-dichloroethane, bromodichloromethane, dibromochloromethane, and bromoform. 
• The FDA has banned carbon tetrachloride in all residential products, as they find it to be so hazardous that no warning label could adequately protect the householder.Carbon tetrachloride is also a probable human carcinogen, an ozone depleting substance, and a powerful greenhouse gas.
  

 
Moral of the story – bleach should be avoided if possible and should NEVER be mixed with any products other than water.