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Clinical Minute
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Clinical Minute

The Effects of Household Cleaners on Reproductive Health

Expiration Date: July 31, 2014

To participate in this activity learners should:

    • Read the CME information
    • Watch the video
    • Review the case vignette
    • Take the post-test

    This is an internet-based activity that should take 15 minutes to complete.

    Technical Requirements: Direct Internet connection with standard browser and Adobe Flash player 9 or 10 is needed. A broadband connection is recommended.

    Learning Objectives

    At the conclusion of this activity, participants should be able to:

    • Counsel patients about their specific risks and the steps they can take to reduce their risks
    • Refer patients for additional information about household cleaner exposure and reproductive health risks

     

     

     

     

     

    References

    • Women’s Voices for the Earth. What’s under your sink? potential hazards of home cleaning products. 2007. Available at http://www.womensvoices.org/science/fact-sheets/reproductive-harm/. Accessed April 5, 2012.
    • Dunagan SC, Dodson RE, Rudel RA, Brody JG. Toxics use reduction in the home: lessons learned from household exposure studies. J Clean Prod 2011;19:438-44.
    • Lau C, Anitole K, Hodes C, et al. Perfluoroalkyl acids: a review of monitoring and toxicological findings. Toxicol Sci 2007;99:366-94.
    • Diamanti-Kandarakis E, Bourguignon JP, Giudice LC, et al. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals: an Endocrine Society scientific statement. Endocr Rev 2009;30:293-342.
    • Swan SH. Environmental phthalate exposure in relation to reproductive outcomes and other health endpoints in humans. Environ Res 2008;108:177-84.
    • Maier, K. Green living: the best tips on green cleaning. National Geographic Available at http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/tips-green-cleaning-3169.html. Accessed April 5, 2012.
      Dunagan, et al.
    • University of California, San Francisco Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment. Toxic matters: protecting our families from toxic substances. 2010. Available at http://prhe.ucsf.edu/prhe/pdfs/ToxicMatters.pdf. Accessed April 4, 2012.
    • Women’s Voices for the Earth. Room-by-room chart for reducing exposure. Available at http://www.womensvoices.org/science/fact-sheets/chart/. Accessed April 5, 2012.

    Additional Resources

    Case Presentation

    Tasha is a 32-year-old woman who is six weeks pregnant. She is G2P1001. Her pregnancy with her last child was uneventful, full-term, and her son was born via spontaneous vaginal delivery. While there is no family history of developmental delays, Tasha’s 5-year-old son has cognitive delays, delayed speech, and psychomotor deficits. Tasha has read about environmental factors impacting brain development, and she wants to do everything she can to reduce the risk of her second child having similar developmental delays.
    In discussing lifestyle and practices at home to assess environmental risks, you learn that Tasha takes pride in keeping a very clean household just as her mother did. She does her best to avoid germs and illness because she does not want her son to miss school or his therapy appointments. You ask what products she uses to clean, and Tasha mentions cleaning floors and surfaces with bleach to kill germs and other disinfectant products that she uses to clean in the kitchen and bathroom.

    Discussion

    You first tell Tasha that an interaction of a variety of factors – genetic, environmental, and social – can lead to developmental delays. It’s impossible to know what directly caused her son’s issues. However, there are some steps she can take to reduce environmental risks at home by changing some of her cleaning practices. Exposure to strong chemical household cleaners, like bleach and many disinfectants marketed for use in the kitchen or bathroom are known to affect brain development.

    In order to reduce her family’s exposure to potentially harmful substances, you recommend that Tasha switch to less toxic cleaners.

    This case illustrates the importance of assessing lifestyle and environmental factors to assist health care providers in identifying risks and suggesting alternatives to reduce exposure to harmful cleaning products and improve women’s health and their birth outcomes.

    References

    Schettler T. Toxic threats to neurologic development of children. Environ Hlth Persp 2001;109:813-6.