Researchers at the University of Bergen studied the lungs of over 6,000 women and men over the course of 20 years. Their findings, published in the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, show that women who cleaned with spray or liquid cleaning products around the house once a week had 'accelerated' decline in lung capacity. They say the drop in lung function is essentially the same thing that would happen to a person who smoked a pack a day for 10-20 years. No effect was found on the lungs of men in that study.

Researchers are using this data to strongly encourage people to stop using stop using harsh cleaning chemicals like bleach.

 

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