The "Bleach Hypothesis"

THE DEBATE

Since the last week or so, healthcare journals are ablaze with stories of a new European study that purports to find a link between the use of bleach-based cleaning products & practically every respiratory disease from the flu to pneumonia. The study says that, while the link may not necessarily be causative, there is definitely a greater chance that babies & children who are regularly exposed to environments in which bleach-based cleaning products are used, are more likely to suffer frequent respiratory illnesses than their counterparts in whose homes (or schools), bleach-based cleaning products are not used.

While the researchers have not openly accused bleach of anything, their research has become the proverbial "fly in the ointment". While the great majority of housewives the world over probably haven't even noticed the stories as yet & doctors (my mother being one of them) have dismissed the bleach hypothesis as a mix-up of the results of the effects of (among other things) the PM2.5 scourge & the Sick Building Syndrome outbreak, the matter really should be analyzed before it starts to have an unjustifiably negative effect on the sales of perfectly-safe bleach products.

THE HISTORY OF BLEACH

Bleach refers to a specific group of chemicals that remove color, whiten or disinfect (usually through the process of oxidation). The first form of bleach as we know it - sodium hypochlorite - was invented in the 18th Century & marketed as Eau de Javel in Paris.

It was a big enough success that other formulas for bleach quickly followed until by the 20th Century, the line-up we know today was available in even the humblest Developing World general store. But it's main application lay in its disinfectant properties - which would never have been noticed if it made the children of its users sick!

REASONS FOR THE RECENT SPIKE IN RESPIRATORY ILLNESSES

According to the World Health Organization & independent health analysts, the responsibility for the sudden increase in illnesses in general in the last decade or so, lies with the emergence of high levels of toxic PM2.5 in the atmosphere & the appearance of an evolved form of Sick Building Syndrome. These two factors not only actually cause diseases themselves, they also aggravate the perfectly-manageable slight weaknesses occasionally present in some people.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF A MISCONCEPTION

Unless the authors of this study can prove a causative link between the use of bleach-based cleaning products & the increased incidence rates of childhood respiratory illnesses, they will not only disrupt the efforts to address legitimate health threats, they run the risk of negatively affecting the revenue rates of legitimate companies in the global bleach-based cleaning products sector.

For example, P&G currently markets (at least) 19 products that make over US$1 billion each in net sales annually. Two of those products are laundry detergents that are very well-known in Pakistan: Tide & Ariel. Tide was introduced into the world market in 1946 & Ariel in 1967. According to public record information, both list bleach as one of the chemicals in their formulas. Would it really have taken the world nearly 70 years to figure out that the laundry detergent in which they wash their clothes is making the kids sick? Anything is possible, but this is hard to believe.

Therefore, it is hoped that the relevant national & international authorities look into the "Bleach Hypothesis" before good people get neglected & profitable companies get bankrupted.