Cleaning Products
"We don't look at petroleum-based products as being necessary or really even useful—we have found better products that are bio-based and that's what we prefer."
- Patrick Pizzo, Ph.D., Director of Facilities, East Meadow Public Schools
The increasing incidence of environmentally mediated illness in children, combined with emerging science that links many of these illnesses with exposures to chemical toxins, has precipitated an increased interest in “green” cleaning products for use in schools and other facilities where children spend time. As a result, green cleaning programs using bio-based or water-based cleaning products have become standard at many schools.
Traditional petroleum-based cleaning products often contain chemicals known to exacerbate asthma and cause other health problems. Since schools are generally cleaned every day, the cleaning process can leave behind chemical residues on surfaces and harmful particles in the air to which children are exposed.
Learn more about green cleaning. Watch time 6:39
The ChildSafe Guidelines
The identification and selection process for “green” products for use in children’s environments is complicated by optional disclosure requirements for manufacturers and an absence of national standards. Decision makers, when confronted with this task, must seek out the most protective criteria for children, recognizing that these requirements will necessarily be more stringent than those for adults.
Please see our ChildSafe Guidelines for cleaning products used in schools.