BOSTON -- A report released Tuesday by a coalition of Massachusetts health organizations points blame at common household cleaners for a variety of health problems, including asthma.

The study, titled Household Hazards was released by the Alliance For A Healthy Tomorrow, a Massachusetts coalition of over 150 organizations, including health professionals and labor unions, that are calling for alternatives to toxic chemicals.

The report details specific ingredients in household cleaners that could pose harm -- particularly to children, women and workers -- and calls for greater regulation of cleaning products sold on store shelves.

“High asthma rates in Massachusetts affect our children’s health and learning. Hazardous cleaning products in our homes, schools and day care centers are making a bad problem worse,” said Jean Zotter, director of the Boston Urban Asthma Coalition. “While parents should opt for safer cleaning products in their homes, the state should mandate that all public buildings use safer cleaning products as one way to protect children's health,” she said.

The report reviews information from more than 100 scientific studies and reports about hazardous chemicals in cleaning products and specifically discusses what it has determined are five common hazardous ingredients:

monoethanolamine (MEA),

ammonium quaternary compounds,

glycol ethers,

alkyl phenol ethoxylates and phthalates.

The report found that exposure to toxins in cleaning products is pervasive throughout homes in the United States and that children are especially vulnerable to the chemicals' harmful effects.

Study authors say infants' exposure can be particularly high because they crawl on the ground and put their hands in their mouths, ingesting chemicals from floor and carpet finishes and cleaners.

Frequent use of hazardous cleaning chemicals is associated with persistent wheezing among pre-school-aged children, and increases the likelihood of asthma attacks among children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 8.5 percent of school-age children in Massachusetts have asthma.

The report states that women are also more highly exposed than men, since they do, on average, over 70 percent of the housework.

Coalition members plan to testify at the Massachusetts State House in support of legislation requiring safer cleaning products in schools, day care centers, hospitals, and other public facilities throughout Massachusetts.

One of the groups is promoting the Safer Cleaning Products Act, which would require that only cleaning products approved by the Department of Public Health be used in public schools, hospitals, health care facilities, day care centers and public housing common spaces. The bill will have a hearing before the Joint Committee on Public Health on Wednesday, July 25.

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