"A peculiar accident reported by National Safety Council involved two housewives in separate cases. Both were using an ordinary toilet bowl cleaner. Not satisfied with way it was removing stain, each one added some household bleach and stirred with a brush. One died quickly, other spent a long time in hospital."

Chlorine is a toxic, yellow-green gas that is one of today's most heavily used chemical agents. Serious risks to our health and health of environment are being caused by widespread use of chlorine. The use of chlorine in household cleaners has recently raised much controversy.

Many household cleaners contain chlorine but labels indicate alias names of "sodium hypochlorite" or "hypochlorite." Whether chlorine is found alone or in a mixture with other chemicals, household products that contain chlorine pose a number of serious health risks. Automatic dishwashing detergents, chlorine bleach, chlorinated disinfectant cleaners, mildew removers and toilet bowl cleaners are some of products of special concern.

The fumes of cleaners containing a high concentration of chlorine when breathed in can irritate lungs and be particularly dangerous for people who suffer from heart conditions or chronic respiratory problems such as asthma or emphysema. When fumes are emitted in small, poorly ventilated rooms such as bathroom, risks are increased. Chlorine is also a highly corrosive material which is capable of damaging skin, eyes and other membranes.

In Nancy Sokol Green's book, Poisoning Our Children, she cites a fifteen year study in which it was found that women who worked at home had a 54% higher death rate from cancer than women who had jobs outside home. In study it was concluded that increased death rate was largely due to daily exposure to hazardous chemicals found in ordinary household products.

According to EPA, if you buy major brands of household cleaners you have introduced hazardous toxins into your home. These hazardous toxins have created air inside our homes to be 3 to 70 times more polluted than air outside our homes. Another startling EPA discovery is that toxic chemicals in household cleaners are 3 times more likely to cause cancer than outside air. In average home today, more chemicals are found than would have been found in a chemistry lab at turn of century. The typical home contains 63 products which contain hazardous chemicals. Doctors and scientists are discovering that there appears to be a correlation between increased use of household chemicals and increased incidence of chronic illnesses in children such as cancer, asthma, attention deficit disorder, birth defects, and many other illnesses.

How do you define toxic? A toxic substance can be defined as any substance that is capable of harming a person if it enters body in a large enough dose. A toxic chemical is any chemical which through its chemical reaction on life processes can cause death, temporary incapacitations or permanent harm to humans or animals. There are virtually three ways in which toxins can enter our bodies: by ingesting, by inhaling or by contact with skin or eyes.

There are many chemicals in everyday household cleaners which pose potentially toxic effects to our bodies. Common everyday ammonia is considered a poison which can cause rashes, redness and chemical burns. The fumes from ammonia are very irritating to lungs and can be especially harmful to anyone suffering from respiratory illnesses. Ammonia can also cause grave eye damage.