A recent peer-reviewed scientific report published in British Medical Journal’s Occupational and Environmental Medicine has found that exposure to bleach used to domestically clean and disinfect is linked to higher incidences of infections.

The study concluded that participants who “regularly used bleach to clean the home were more susceptible to the flu, tonsillitis and other infections.” The risk of contracting the flu was 20 per cent higher for those where bleached was used. The report also found that exposure to bleach was potentially detrimental for the health of children, with the risk of recurrent tonsillitis as 35 per cent higher for children whose parents regularly used bleach to clean than for children whose parents did not.

According to the researchers, these findings reinforce the harmful and possibly hazardous consequences of bleach use, with “previous studies linking [bleach] cleaning products with respiratory symptoms and inflammation”.

More information:

http://oem.bmj.com/content/early/2015/02/20/oemed-2014-102701.abstract

http://news.sky.com/story/1458125/bleach-linked-to-child-infections-study