A few minutes of mopping indoors with a fresh-scented cleaning product can generate as many airborne particles as vehicles on a busy city street, according to a new study.
Cleanliness may be next to godliness, but a new study suggests it could have an unexpected downside: A few minutes of mopping indoors with a fresh-scented cleaning product can generate as many airborne particles as vehicles on a busy city street. The finding suggests custodians and professional cleaners may be at risk of health effects from frequent exposure to these suspended tiny particles, known as aerosols.
One molecule of concern is limonene, which is commonly added to cleaners and furniture polish to help remove oil and grease. The lemon-scented molecule reacts readily with ozone, an outdoor pollutant that is the main ingredient in smog. When ozone wafts into buildings, it reacts with limonene and similar molecules called monoterpenes, turning them into peroxides, alcohols, and other molecules that grow into airborne particles.
The researchers also detected short-lived molecules called radicals, like hydroxyl and hydroperoxyl, that are known to drive reactions that create particles outdoors. But the new research shows they can also form indoors, from reactions between monoterpenes and ozone. “The rate at which it occurs indoors is surprising,” says co-author Colleen Rosales, a postdoc at the University of California, Davis.