Spuitbussen slecht voor de gezondheid.*
Het gebruik van spuitbussen geeft een sterk verhoogde kans op astma. Dat blijkt uit een Europese studie uitgevoerd gedurende negen jaar in tien Europese landen onder 3.500 personen. In het onderzoek werd het gebruik van huishoudproducten vergeleken met het aantal astmagevallen. Daaruit blijkt dat personen die een tot drie keer per week een spuitbus gebruiken, 40 procent meer risico lopen op astma dan zij die geen spuitbussen gebruiken. Wie meer dan drie keer per week een spuitbus gebruikt, blijkt zelfs 70 procent meer kans te hebben op de ziekte. "Volgens onze analyse kunnen 11 tot 18 procent van de nieuwe astmagevallen toegeschreven worden aan een frequent gebruik van huishoudsprays", zegt dokter Jan-Paul Zock van het instituut voor epidemiologisch milieuonderzoek in Barcelona. De verklaring zit in het feit dat de chemische deeltjes van sprays direct ingeademd worden. Voornamelijk glasreinigers, meubelreinigers en luchtverfrissers zouden gevaarlijk zijn, maar ook ammoniak, bleekmiddel en verfoplossers houden risico's in.
Household spray cleaners bad for the health
A new study has found that some sprays which are used to clean the home are bad for the health and may cause asthma in some people.
An international longitudinal study has revealed a link between common household cleaning sprays to an increased risk of asthma in adults.
According to the lead author of the study Dr. Jan-Paul Zock, an epidemiologist at the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona, the frequent use of household cleaning sprays may be an important risk factor for adult asthma.
Cleaning sprays and air fresheners contain chemicals such as ammonia, chlorine-releasing agents and sodium hydroxide.
Although several studies have produced evidence of adverse respiratory health effects related to professional cleaning exposures, the potential risks of nonprofessional uses in private homes have not been evaluated.
Asthma affects as many as 300 million people world wide; the condition causes an inflammation of the airways which results in wheezing, shortness of breath, coughing and chest tightness.
For the study the researchers from Spain, Britain, the Netherlands, Canada, Italy, Sweden, Germany and Greece studied 3,503 people aged 20 to 44 in ten European countries and tracked them for a 9-year period in order to determine if they developed asthma and whether cleaning sprays were a factor.
The results of the study led the scientists to conclude that as many as one in seven cases of asthma being diagnosed was related to the cleaning frequency exhibited by participants; the most dangerous types of spray cleaners were air fresheners, furniture cleaners and glass-cleaners; cleaning products not applied in spray form were not associated with asthma.
The researchers say just spraying a cleaner once a week can trigger an attack and the risk increased the more that the sprays were used.
The study which is published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, used data from the European Community Respiratory Health Survey, one of the largest epidemiologic studies of airway disease in the
world. (November 2007)
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