Chlorine Bleach

Sorry to hear your son has Asthma.  Disturbing microbes indoor can have unintended consequences: We worked with Argonne Lab here in Chicago.  The took samples of microbes "before" and "after" they bleached a home.  The before indicating there was a balance in the ecosystem of microbes and no microbes dominated the surfaces.  "After" indicated while initially a lot of the microbes were killed, subsequently, the microbes that came back and dominated the surfaces are more of harmful microbes, e.g. mold.  More information needs to be gathered for the impact of disturbing microbes in our enviornment 

I remember the City of Cambridge switching to ״_____ Orange״ (forget the name) years ago to avoid bleach. I think Steve Ashkin is the expert on this stuff... On

Hi Meredith, Hi Meredith, The Harvard School of Public Health has done quite a bit of research about asthma and I remember seeing a presentation by Jack Spengler and a Boston Housing person some years ago - but I cannot find it.  Others on this list may have better memories or search tools, but Barbra's comment about Cambridge may be the most useful. Somerville's Office of Sustainability and Environment is mostly focused on reduction of operational carbon, but I think they would be very receptive to this and there may be other actions already happening in the school system. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0013423 https://acaai.org/allergies/types/allergy-myths/chlorine-allergy

Meredith, I would suggest you check HBN (Tom Lent or Bill Walsh).  They may likely know of specific studies on the topic.  I am surprised to learn Somerville is/was using bleach based products.  Many school districts have move to "green" cleaning products (although we find some are somewhat "greenwashed" by the cleaning contractor- no pun intended).  We are designing the Somerville HS (LEEDv4) so this is quite insightful about the school district. Martine

Meredith, Here is some valuable information and resources for information on cleaning, including the health and environmental attributes for 11 active ingredients commonly found in surface disinfectants and non-food contact sanitizers (including chlorine bleach). I used this info (along with other info) when creating a green cleaning program for one of our VA clients. From SF’s Department of the Environment’s website: https://sfenvironment.org/sites/default/files/fliers/files/sfe_th_safer_products_and_practices_for_disinfecting.pdf and in regards to the cost and product details: https://sfenvironment.org/sites/default/files/fliers/files/sfe_th_the_real_costs_of_green_cleaning_v6.pdf Here is another site for good info on green cleaning: https://www.informinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/cleaning_for_home_health.pdf and a webinar from Responsible Purchasing Network’s site from the Baltimore Public Schools on cleaning: http://responsiblepurchasing.org/webinars/ see 3rd webinar down (plus notes) http://responsiblepurchasing.org/purchasing_guides/cleaners/index.php for more info. Best, Jean Hansen, FIIDA, LEED Fellow, WELL AP, CID, EDAC, AAHID D 415.546.4207 M 415.378.1525 hdrinc.com/follow-us From:

Bizarrely enough, my dentist recently recommended that bleach diluted with water makes a great non-alcohol-based mouthwash. I was speechless. -Kjell

Meredith, The bleach very well could be the problem. My son had “asthma” when he was an infant, but as soon as he moved out of the daycare infant room that used bleach and into a toddler room that didn’t use bleach, all of his issues went away within 5 days! Because the change happened so quick, everyone agreed that it was environmental and not just him growing out of it. However, he did develop “athletic induced asthma” as a freshman in HS, so he must have a predisposition to it. We weren’t able to identify an environmental factor for that. Jan Jana Silsby Principal PERKINS EASTMAN 20 Ashburton Place, Floor 8 | Boston, Massachusetts 02108 | US T. +1 617 449 4003 | M. +1 857 334 3139 E. j.silsby@perkinseastman.com www.perkinseastman.com From: Marti

I came across this info sheet from Clorox where they try to dispel the "myths" about bleach and asthma. It's interesting to see the arguments coming from the other side and the selective use of science.  https://cloroxhealthcare.ca/assets/Guides/clorox-healthcare-bleach-asthma-brochure-2015.pdf