PSA: Impact of cleaning products on your health

Back in the day, I quit using 3M PI-II RC over the silica-based abrasives and the need for a mask with `em. And products like Wheel Brightener just aren`t part of my arsenal, primarily because of the potential health impacts. I don`t mind using nasty stuff when it`s needed to get the job done, but I`d still rather avoid it.

Regarding the linked study, I found it a bit tough to evaluate given the paucity of data, and I also wonder how our Detailing stuff compares to the "disinfecting products" they were studying. Anyhow, looks like guys are off the hook ("No association between lung function and cleaning was seen for males.."), though that M/F diff makes my inner skeptic wonder ;)
 
Angus said:
Saw this posted over on Reddit, and wanted to share it here:

Impact of Cleaning Products on Women`s Lungs as Damaging as 20-a-Day Cigarette Habit: Study

To pros and weekend enthusiast (like me), if you don`t already use a mask while working around harsher cleaners like an APC or a Wheel Cleaner you may want to start.
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Mebbe a little late for me..............

But gives me something else to blame, like blowing out my brakes weekly in college while I was working at gas station.
 
As a kid I worked at a tunnel car wash for a few years. Carbon Tetrachloride was used in squirt bottles to remove tar. Refilled your bottle by dunking it into a big, open trough of Carbon Tet. Oops...

Carbon tetrachloride is one of the most potent`hepatotoxins`(toxic to the liver), so much so that it is widely used in scientific research to evaluate hepatoprotective agents.Exposure to high concentrations of carbon tetrachloride (including`vapor) can affect the`central nervous system, degenerate the liver and kidneys, and prolonged exposure may lead to`coma`or`death.Chronic exposure to carbon tetrachloride can cause`liver and`kidney damage`and could result in`cancer.`See`safety data sheets.
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BudgetPlan1 said:
As a kid I worked at a tunnel car wash for a few years. Carbon Tetrachloride was used in squirt bottles to remove tar. Refilled your bottle by dunking it into a big, open trough of Carbon Tet. Oops...
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yep, that too

But we got the stuff clean!
 
BudgetPlan1 said:
Bonus was wet concrete + carbontet = *really* slippery toxic tumbles.

Care to expand on the weekly blown brakes issue?
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Drum brakes collected dust inside. Remove wheels/drum, blow out big time. Like a brake job for stopping power.

Great for being a smart butt college kid with fast car, and no brains.
 
Waiting for all the years of cleaning my hands with lacquer thinner to catch up ... or breathing paint in the air before that was banned too :D
 
Ronkh said:
Drum brakes collected dust inside. Remove wheels/drum, blow out big time. Like a brake job for stopping power.

Great for being a smart butt college kid with fast car, and no brains.
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pluse the noise it made with the dust in the drums.
 
Or using asbestos trivets as Frisbees in chemistry class
or no gloves in biology and reaching into formaldehyde.....
 
Yep, the good ol` days. Like high school chem class where mercury was played with in our hands to "prove" a metal could be a liquid at room temperature, OR the "uneducated" chem student who "accidentally" mixed chemical-strength bleach (sodium hypochlorite) and ammonia (10% solution!) and clears the school out. Of all the home-care cleaning "accidents" that send "ignorant" home-owners to the hospital emergency room in America, it is the mixing of bleach and ammonia-based cleaners in an attempt to have a more-effective cleaning solution, only to produce an extremely toxic gas/fumes that damage the lungs.

That leads to a very interesting topic about the long-range health effects of silicone (Si) based chemicals. In time will it be the equivalent of volatile organic compounds (VOCs)?? We just do not know, so enjoy (use) them while you can. Unfortunately, this is how misinformation, hearsay, rumors, untruths, and today`s "fake news" gets started, so blame this one on Captain Obvious. I would at least wear latex gloves if you are a professional detailer who handles (uses) such products on a regular (daily) basis.
 
For those of you who are unfamiliar with chemistry as to why Ronhk posted "ammonium iodide crystals" above, this was the result of a high school lab experiment that produced the crystals above that we called "fly paper explosives". The resulting crystals produced an small explosion when touched lightly. I THINK it is the chemical compound used in 4th of July fireworks (blasting caps??) we bought as kids that you could throw down on the ground and they would go off with a small `bang` when they hit a hard surface with force.
True story from my junior year in high school chemistry class: Some "unintelligent" chem class student mixed a small batch of this crystal and placed it under the seat cushion of the chem teacher`s chair in hopes that it would explode and scare the teacher. It did not, but it did stain the cushion purple from the iodine. That student was expelled from the chem class for the year.
But I digress... back to detailing safety
 
Lonnie said:
..[certain individuals are harmed by]..the mixing of bleach and ammonia-based cleaners in an attempt to have a more-effective cleaning solution, only to produce an extremely toxic gas/fumes that damage the lungs..
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Huh, surprised that Chlorine Gas thing is actually common, thought everybody knew about that after WWI. I distinctly remember my fave aunt warning me about that when I was in gradeschool, maybe 2nd grade or so.
 
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