FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Brian Sansoni, The Soap and Detergent Association, 202-662-2517, Bsansoni@cleaning101.com

Asthma Study Analysis Sends Wrong Messages About Beneficial Cleaning Products

British Observational Study Draws Overly Broad Conclusions, Says SDA

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 23, 2004 - Media coverage of a British study on children and asthma wrongly links the use of cleaning products to asthma suffering - and ignores the health benefits of responsible product usage, according to The Soap and Detergent Association (SDA).

Newspaper stories that have attacked the use of cleaning products and hygiene in general are based on an observational study published in the British journal Thorax. The initial interpretation of the study - based on answers to a questionnaire - presumes that usage of chemicals in household cleaning products leads to wheezing and asthma suffering in children.

SDA, which represents the makers of cleaning products and their ingredients, reminds consumers that the proper use of cleaning products is an effective and efficient tool in combating the triggers that lead to asthma and allergy suffering.

"As we have long maintained, when it comes to combating asthma, cleaning products are part of the solution," said Ernie Rosenberg, SDA President and CEO, who suffered from asthma as a child. "Using cleaning products as directed is a powerful ally in eliminating or reducing the triggers that lead to asthma suffering, including dust and dust mites, animal dander, insect droppings, and mold and mildew."

"Suggesting that cleaning is detrimental to one's health sends the wrong message to parents," said Rosenberg. "For children already suffering from asthma, reducing allergens in the home through routine cleaning is critically important."

According to an initial review of the study published in Thorax, the UK Cleaning Products Industry Association finds:

"Valid conclusions can only come from studies of this kind if there is an accurate measurement of exposure to the supposed cause. Questionnaire answers on frequency of use can only give an extremely crude picture which may be wholly inaccurate. A meaningful measure of exposure needs to reflect both duration of use, mode of use, route of exposure (e.g. through the air or on the skin) and - most critically - the nature of the chemicals in the formulations to which people are being exposed. In this context, the idea of calculating some generic 'chemical burden' as the authors seem to have done has no clear scientific basis."

"Based on the information currently available in the new study, and given the number of other factors that need to be taken into consideration, the correlations reported cannot be said to show household chemicals to be a cause of wheezing, let alone a 'rise in asthma'."

"In very simple terms, good hygiene saves lives," added SDA's Rosenberg. "And those who would use this report to allege 'we're too clean' ignore comprehensive scientific reviews that say otherwise."

A landmark 2004 report by the London-based International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene (IFH) on the so-called hygiene hypothesis finds "no justification" for claims that cleaning and hygiene contribute to an increase in allergies.

The IFH report, available online at http://www.ifh-homehygiene.org/2003/2hypothesis/hh.htm, notes there is evidence that changing exposure to microbes may be a factor in the rise of allergies. But it finds "no evidence that cleaning habits prevalent today are to blame" and "firmly dispels the notion that we are living in super-clean, germ-free homes."

SDA provides free educational materials for families and educators on cleaning to control to control asthma and allergy triggers on its website, www.cleaning101.com/asthma.

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SDA ( www.cleaning101.com ), the Home of the U.S. Cleaning Products and Oleochemical Industries^SM, represents manufacturers of household, industrial, and institutional cleaning products; their ingredients; and finished packaging; and oleochemical producers. SDA members produce more than 90 percent of the cleaning products marketed in the U.S. SDA is located at 1500 K Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005