(Ivanhoe Newswire) – No one wants to go to a hospital that isn’t clean and sterile. But could the very products being used to achieve those goals be putting people’s health at risk?

Yes, report Massachusetts researchers who looked at the composition of cleaning fluids used in six hospitals and the way these fluids are used in these facilities. They find hospital cleaning fluids contain a complex mixture of chemicals with the potential to impact the respiratory system. Many also affect the skin.

Among the most concerning are those containing quaternary ammonium chlorides, glycol ethers, ethanolamine, benzyl alcohol, ammonia, and phenols. All are known to irritate the respiratory system, the skin, or other parts of the body.

The most hazardous use of these chemicals occurred in small spaces with poor ventilation, such as bathrooms. Both the hospital workers using the chemicals to clean and the patients using the facilities are considered at risk.

“Cleaning products may impact worker, and possibly patient, health through air and skin exposures,” study author Anila Bello, from the University of Massachusetts Lowell Sustainable Hospitals Program, was quoted as saying. “Because the severity of cleaning exposures is affected by both product formulation and cleaning technique, a combination of product evaluation and workplace exposure data is needed to develop strategies that protect people from cleaning hazards.”

SOURCE: Environmental Health, published online March 26, 2009