Shame on you Clorox: Bleach Doesn’t Belong in our Homes
According a Clorox commercial on TV today (during a baby show, meaning lots of Moms saw this ad) you should sanitize not only your child’s toys but also their BOTTLES and SIPPY cups in a bleach and water solution.
Are you freaking kidding me?
Bleach is a huge cause of calls to the poison control center, and the makers of Clorox Chlorine Bleach want us to soak young children’s food containers in it?
These are just some of the oh so useful suggestions found on Clorox.com under AMAZING USES. Heh… the only amazing thing about bleach is its ability to strip fabric of all colors and eat through fabric when used repeatedly or in higher concentrations (and that SMELL!)
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Chlorine bleach is bad for the environment and more importantly, it is bad for the health of our families and our homes. While traditional household concentrations of bleach won’t cause any life threatening reaction if ingested, it is still a toxic chemical, one that our homes should be free of.
The MSDS for Clorox Regular bleach states: “DANGER: CORROSIVE. May cause severe irritation or damage to eyes and skin. Vapor or mist may irritate. Harmful if swallowed. Keep out of reach of children.”
I’m just absolutely shocked at the recommendation to clean an infants bottles and sippy cups with a bleach solution. For one, WHY do we need to sanitize to the level of killing all bacteria (good and bad)? If for some reason, sanitation is required, boiling water works wonders without chemicals. Many dishwashers on the market today have a sanitation cycle, you can stick lots of toys, bottles and sippy cups on the top rack and they come out sparkling clean.
According to Clorox, one should mix one tablespoon of bleach with a gallon of water and soak prewashed bottles in the solution for two minutes. Then you should pour the solution through the nipples and drain dry. They don’t even recommend a final rinse.
I’d like to think that we are well beyond the days of feeling like we have to sanitize our children’s bottles. But if you do want to or have been advised to by a Doctor, then use boiling water (you know, the old fashioned method our parents used when we were infants). There are also options on the market for microwave sanitation.
Microwave to sanitize????? Really I though better advice would have been given by this website. DO NOT USE A MICROWAVE!!!
bleach water is required to be used in the food industry and in childcare! Its one of the finaly stages when cleaning anything. And your not allowed to wipe it off or rinse it off our it deplites the purpose. Bleach water drys and isn’t harmful or they wouldn’t make it reguired!
Laura- most American’s have a microwave in their homes and several companies make microwave sterilization kits for baby bottles. Our home is microwave free, but I recognize that most people do use one.
SJ- Bleach water is NOT required in my state for childcare, it is RECOMMENDED. There is a difference. Believing that governments will only require or recommend an item that is SAFE is incorrect and unsafe thinking. The FDA has proven this many times over. I am a Registered Childcare provider and I do not use chlorine bleach in my home for anything. My inspectors are aware of this. I use hydrogen peroxide or diluted lemon juice or diluted tea tree oil in a spray bottle to disinfect after I clean. It is a safer option for home and the earth.
I just was cleaning for many hours with straight bleach. Now I can’t stop coughing, today, my eyes keep watrering & I keep sneezing, I feel all stopped up in my nose, & I just plain can’t breath very good. What the heck is going on. And what do I do about this. ?? TY. Concerned. Now I feel like I am getting a headache, as well.
Sherry- I would advise lots and lots of fresh air and a call to the Doctor. If you start experiencing respiratory distress, then go to the ER. I’m not a Doctor, but I do know that inhaling chemicals esp. at full strength can be dangerous.-Jamie Ervin
I think some people have chosen to go without Clorox because of the adverse affects that they have experienced after using it incorrectly. I think that Clorox when used with the proper ratio to water is an excellent way to clean and disinfect. I personally use it to keep dirt from collecting in the cracks/scratches in my Corelle dinnerware. It makes them like new. If I were working for Clorox I would advise them to sell their bottles with a smaller pouring spout. I really don’t believe that people use the correct measurements as they say they do. Perhaps people are just pouring straight from the bottle and not paying attention to how much has spilled out. Over pretention makes for overdose.
It is amazing that all these people, except for the ones who have spring or well water, use water all the time that has chlorine in it. The snacks and drinks that kids get cause more problems than chlorine bleach used correctly. Can you find a product today that does not have horrible warnings on it. Do you not have a place to safely store products away from children? Do you have only child safe prescription drugs in your home? Use common sense and get a life.
Nothing is funnier to me than reading chemistry lessons from the completely clueless and uneducated public. This entire thread is stupid. Maybe when your baby comes down with H1N1 this fall you will feel differently.
Clorox bleach is the only cleaning agent that will get a stain out when everything else fails. I have tried all sorts of combos-lemon, vinegar, peroxide, sunlight etc. At the end, a few drops of Clorox and the stains vanish.As far as disinfecting items like toys and baby bottles, use your common sense.If you feel there is mold or certain dirt,put the bleach into hot water,rinse and air dry. Stop whining and talking stupid!!!
You do know that bleach is added to lake and stream water to make it drinkable in primitive situations, don’t you? They sell the tablets at any camping/outdoors outfitter. The same tablets are distributed to disaster areas as well. Chlorine is added to our drinking water to kill germs that get through the filtration process. Restaurants use it to clean and disinfect. In every situation it is always diluted.
Lemon juice, vinegar and baking soda do NOTHING to disinfect! They can be used as cleaners, but they do not kill microorganisms.
There is never a reason to sanitize baby bottles. That’s an old wives’ tale that hasn’t gone the way of the dinosaur. Hot, soapy water works perfectly well for washing them.
In fact, disinfecting everything leads to weaker immune systems in people, and stronger, more-resistant germs. That’s why we now have flesh-eating bacterias, and antibiotic-resistant infections. We created the problem through our obsession with killing all germs.
Common sense, people. Common sense.
Bleach evaporates– that’s why you have to keep putting sanitizing chemicals into a swimming pool!
The directions to clean toys and bottles in bleach are to soak in a dilute solution (1:10 solution). This will sanitize surfaces after a short period of immersion, but the bleach will evaporate from the surface after being allowed to thoroughly dry.
Do some research before you take any one person’s blog entry as truth. People DO get paid to blog about specific products, you know! That’s why there are numerous advertisements on this page you’re reading.