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Noticed Faint Odor Of Cleaning Solution Coming From Baby's Dress. Will It Cause Cancer?

Posted on Thu, 22 Nov 2012

Question: Hi, in my daughter's day care I often smell an faint odor of the cleaning solution they use (diluted bleach and water). Sometime when she comes home I can smell the odor on her clothing. I am concerned that while she is in school breathing the air that she could be exposed to toxins that will cause her cancer. Is this a realistic concern? I am normally overly concerned so I wasn't sure if this is normal or something I sould be worried about. Thank you.

Answered by Dr. Robert Galamaga (10 hours later)

Hello and thank you for sending your question.

Your question is a good one and I understand why you are worried about your daughter.

I want to reassure you right now that I am not concerned that she is exposed to toxins which are going to cause any type of long-term health problem.

In order for these types of toxins to cause problems and individual would have to actually ingest them over a long period of time for your daughter while she has very limited exposure to this type of thing over a extremely long period of time I do not foresee this causing any issues.

If you notice that your daughter is having respiratory issues this would be something I would be more concerned about. Again I think she has such limited exposure to these things over the course of her school periods that it will not cause any types of issues.

Thanks again for sending your question. Again I understand why you are concerned. If you have any additional follow-up questions regarding this I would be happy to address them.

Sincerely,

Dr. Robert

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Robert Galamaga (13 hours later)

Thanks so much for your response. I am overly concerned about these types of things because I know little ones take in double the air then we do as grown adults. We re-finshed our hardwood floors a while ago and left the house for a week when we came back we stayed for 2 days but the smell was really strong so we left again for another 2 weeks. I continually worry that her smelling the off-gassing from the floors could have given her leukemia? So you are saying unless she was smelling these toxins for years and years she should be fine? Unless she had some immediate reaction with breathing/asthma, etc?

Answered by Dr. Robert Galamaga (2 days later)

Hello again and thank you for the additional question.

Yes you are correct in your interpretation of what I was describing. Your daughter would need prolonged excessive exposure to these types of fumes in order for any worrisome issues to possibly develop.

I do not think that she has any increased risk of leukemia or any other systemic illness at this point.

Thanks again for sending your person. Please let me know if I can help you with anything else.

Dr. Robert

Note: For further queries related to kidney problems Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar