We Americans love to clean. We polish and deodorize and disinfect and freshen the air in our just-cleaned rooms. Manufacturers accommodate our desire to clean with a staggering 4,000 common household products. Chances are dozens of these products are under your kitchen sink, in your garage, in your bathroom, and on the shelves in your laundry room.
Do you know which products pose a potential health risk to you and your family?
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| Both photos from the Advertising Ephemera Collection, Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library |
The National Library of Medicine's (NLM) new online Household Products Database provides immediate and easy-to-understand information on the potential health effects of more than 2,000 ingredients contained in everyday products.
The Household Products site goes inside the user's home and provide information about common products and their potential health effects. The database is designed to help answer questions such as:
- What chemicals are contained in specific brands and in what percentage?
- Which products contain specified chemicals?
- Who manufactures a specific brand? How can I contact the manufacturer?
- What are the potential health effects of the chemical ingredients in a specific brand?
- What other information is available about such chemicals in the toxicology-related databases of the National Library of Medicine?
For example, a homeowner trying to decide which algae-killing product to use in her swimming pool could select the "Landscape/Yard/Swimming Pool" category in Household Products and click on "algaecide." She then could choose several brands to examine for chemical content and possible health hazards.
The record for each product would show her the ingredients from something called the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). Designed to provide workers and emergency personnel with the proper procedures for handling or working with a particular substance, these sheets are produced by the manufacturer of the product as required by Federal law.
NLM has provided an important set of databases for toxicologists and other scientists for many years. The Household Products Database allows the general public access to this information. Users can brose by product category, by alphabetical listing or by brand name. Products can also be searched by type, manufacturer, product ingredient, or chemical name.
Information in the database is provided to NLM under a collaborative agreement and is derived from publicly available sources, including brand-specific labels and information provided by manufacturers and their Web sites. According the the NLM, the list of products covered will be expanded, and information for products currently in the database will be updated at least annually.
Last year, the NLM unveiled Tox Town, a web site that introduces consumers to the toxic chemicals and environmental risks they might encounter in in everyday facilities like schools, office buildings and factories.
Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the National Library of Medicine, the world's largest library of the health sciences, is a component of the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services.
