Have you ever taken a deep breath of noxious fumes while cleaning and thought, “How many brain cells did I just kill?”

 

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The truth is, different cleaning products can enter your body through a variety of avenues and affect your health in at least as many ways — or not at all. Some absorb through the skin; some enter by inhalation. Some can affect your internal organs; others can cause headaches or nausea; some are merely external irritants. Many are naturally more dastardly if accidentally swallowed.

What you may not know is that not all of this information is necessarily on the label. Manufacturers do often publish it, however, in the form of a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). You can write to a product’s maker to obtain the MSDS.

That would be the slow way.

The fast way is to look up your product on the Web at the Household Products Database, hosted by the National Library of Medicine. The site has already compiled information from the MSDS, product labels and manufacturer Web sites for more than 4,000 products.

In addition to health data, you may also find first aid information or instructions for handling, such as recommended use of gloves or how to dispose of the bottle when it is empty.

For your peace of mind, take a few minutes to make a list of the products under your sink and in the garage. Then go on a virtual tour of the Household Products Database to discover the not-so-obvious traits of your cleaning supplies.