The truth about all-purpose household cleaners
I multipurpose cleaners They are practical, effective and highly scented. The complex mix of chemical substances that makes them suitable for different surfaces, however, can hide several pitfalls: surfactants, solvents and fragrances can be dangerous to health – especially when we talk about everyday products.
In particular, frequent use of multipurpose detergents may lead to exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Considered very harmful. Not all multipurpose cleaners, however, are dangerous: several studies have shown that eco-friendly alternatives pose significantly fewer health risks. And the product format is much more important than you might think.
Multipurpose cleaners: pros and cons
I multipurpose cleaners They are omnipresent in our homes: we use them daily to clean floors, countertops, and washable surfaces of all kinds, especially in the kitchen and bathroom. According to the latest Cleaning Products Fact Sheet of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, the82% of people use them at least once a week – a success that is due to some indisputable merits:
- Flexibility, the feature that is also the raison d'être of multipurpose cleaners;
- Ease of use: compared to specific products, they are easy to handle and dose, and in most cases do not require rinsing;
- Format: whether it is spray, liquid or wipes, the multipurpose format is practical by definition;
- High performance: in addition to effectively removing dirt, these products must be easy to handle, compatible with frequent use and also scented.
Of course, there are also some drawbacks. First of all, multipurpose cleaners are designed for everyday cleaning, so they're not suitable for specific tasks like degreasing the oven or sanitizing bathroom fixtures. Just because they're suitable for different surfaces doesn't mean they're effective on all types of dirt. Although we tend to think of them as "universal" cleaners, these products also... can damage various materials, especially porous ones such as untreated wood and natural stone.
Finally, like the vast majority of detergents, multipurpose ones also contain ingredients potentially harmful to health – a particularly important issue when it comes to products we come into contact with every day.
Are multipurpose products harmful?
Since they are products that require very high performance (from cleaning power to good scent), multipurpose cleaners generally have a complex formulation, which almost always includes surfactants, complexing agents (sodium carbonate, polycarboxylate, citric acid/citrate), solvents, fragrances and preservatives.
Based on one 2018 study, among the most insidious substances contained in these products are precisely the fragrances: compounds such as the benzyl salicylate, widely used in all-purpose cleaners, are among the main causes of contact allergies. Often used to mask the odor of other chemicals, fragrances can potentially make products much more hazardous to your health.
Furthermore, several scientific studies demonstrate that multipurpose products contribute to exposure to numerous VOCs (volatile organic compounds) in indoor environments. VOCs are a thorny issue, especially because most of the substances detected in laboratory tests conducted over the years on detergents and other products they were not reported on the label (Nematollahi et al., 2018; Steinemann, 2009; Steinemann et al., 2011).
A research published in 2023 on Chemosphere he analysed 30 products for cleaning, including all-purpose cleaners and air fresheners. Researchers have identified well 530 VOC, of which 193 were identified as potentially capable of causing harm to health.
Exposure to these potentially harmful substances that disperse in the air depends not only on the ingredients used in detergents, but also by their use. Therefore, there is no unequivocal answer to the question of the possible harmfulness of multipurpose detergents: the potential danger of these products depends on several factors, starting from the format.
The format: liquid, spray, or wet wipes?
Let's start with the perhaps most underrated aspect: the detergent formatWhether they are multipurpose or specific, the way they come out of the packaging and come into contact with surfaces is of crucial importance when it comes to exposure to potentially harmful substances.
A Belgian investigation performed in 2022 on over 1.500 cleaning workers domestic workers, revealed that the use of multipurpose cleaners spray It is linked to at least four adverse health effects, including asthma, cough, and chronic bronchitis, as well as eye, nose, and throat symptoms. On the other hand, the use of products liquid It was associated with eye and throat symptoms, but not respiratory problems.
In this type of compounds, in fact, it is mainly the volatile ingredients (such as ammonia) and the reaction products that are inhaled, while sprays expose to a much wider range of compoundsWhen triggered, the sprays release chemicals in the form of gases and aerosols, which also contain non-volatile substances that are inhaled during the cleaning process and remain in the environment even afterward. That spray cleaners are associated with various adverse respiratory outcomes is a fact now supported by dozens of studies.
Yet even the liquid and multipurpose in the form of wet wipes They present some risks, primarily because cleaned surfaces are left to dry naturally, which prolongs exposure to various evaporating substances. This is especially true for wet wipes: they can continue to emit VOCs for as long as they are exposed to air.
Ingredients: What's in All-Purpose Cleaners?
Regardless of the format, an all-purpose cleaner is mostly made up of waterIn sprays and wipes, water can make up up to 95% of the package content, while in liquid products it can vary between 75 and 85%.
Then there are the surfactants, which can constitute up to 10% of the formulation, and the structuring substances (Sodium carbonate, Polycarboxylate, citric acid, etc.), which do not exceed 5% of the total. To enhance the cleaning effectiveness of multipurpose cleaners and stabilize the solution, they can be added hydrotropes e solvents: the latter, which are present in larger quantities (up to 15%) in sprays, are among the main suspects for the emission of VOCs.
Depending on the formulation, various additives may be found, such as food colors e scents, which we have seen to be among the sources of exposure to VOCs and allergens (d-limonene e linalool are used for example as fragrances in many products). In addition, detergents also contain a minimal amount of preservatives and, in the case of liquid detergents, also skin protective agents.
Multipurpose cleaners and your health: how to choose
The good news is that there is aecological and non-toxic alternative for each of these ingredients: the best known case is perhaps that of plant surfactants, but as we have seen, fragrances are equally important. The study cited above on VOCs in detergents seems quite clear on this: products labeled as eco-friendly emit about half the VOCs of traditional ones, but those scent-free They are definitely safer: traditional detergents emit an average of 22 VOCs classified as hazardous, “eco-friendly” scented ones 15, and fragrance-free ones only 4.
Read the label remains the best practice in this regard. Then there are certifications such as EU Ecolabel and Ecocert, which certify among other things theabsence of toxic substances and synthetic fragrances within the products. In essence, even a multipurpose cleaner can be—in addition to being effective and very easy to use—perfectly safe for everyone in the home. Even for those who use it every day.
