Parents Should Avoid Using Chlorine at Home

Chlorine is dangerous for a child’s health, as scientists from Belgium have found. The children living in super-clean homes are 20% more likely to experience flu, tonsillitis, and pneumonia.

Many parents regularly use chlorine to fight bacteria and to make their homes shine with cleanness. Indeed, chlorine kills pathogens, but Belgian researchers have found that this chemical makes children more vulnerable to flu, tonsillitis and other infections.

They have discovered a direct link between the use of chlorine for cleaning the house every week and the frequency of childhood infections, particularly affecting the respiratory system. The researchers concluded that passive exposure to chlorine increases the risk of influenza during the year by 20%. In addition, this household chemical increases the likelihood of recurrence of tonsillitis in children by 35%.

Taking these data into account, the experts urge to limit the use of chlorine. Scientists have traced the potential impact of cleaners on the health of more than 9,000 schoolchildren aged 6 to 12 years, living in the Netherlands, Finland, and Barcelona. 72% of the households in Spain are actively cleaned with chlorine, but in Finland there are only 7% of such houses. All Spanish schools are cleaned with chlorine, and Finnish schools are not.

This is what could explain the marked difference in the incidence of influenza, tonsillitis and pneumonia in Spanish and Dutch children. One possible explanation for this may be the fact that the composition of chlorine cleaners includes special components, causing damage to the surface of lung cells, leading to inflammation and facilitating the appearance of childhood infections.