Can Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products Benefit Children with Asthma?

December 16, 2021 Leave a Comment

The negative impact of traditional cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting products on people, pets, and the environment has been an issue for several years now. Over the past decade or so, many companies have begun to market "green" products to lessen the strain on our eco-system. Many of these products live up to their claims and do reduce the potential damage to the environment. These same products, according to Healthy Green Purchasing for Asthma Prevention by Maia Gokhale, MPH, LEED Green Associate can help "reduce the environmental triggers that may put children's airways in danger." This is not a new concept. The EPA has released similar findings in a curriculum for green cleaning in schools, indicating that as much as "30% of childhood asthma is related to chemical exposures," much of it due to cleaning products that use toxic chemicals. Because children are younger and have more time to develop these illnesses, the EPA suggests practicing a "precautionary principle" to protect children from potential health effects, even if some cause and effect relationships are not yet fully proven.

Chemicals to Be Aware of When Choosing Cleaning and Sanitizing Products

While there are a lot of chemicals to be found in traditional cleaning and sanitizing products, experts from the Green Science Policy Institute have identified six classes of chemicals that are especially harmful to human health. These include PFAS (man-made chemical), antimicrobials, flame retardants, bisphenols+phthalates, solvents, and some metals. Most of these, except for flame retardants and PFAS, have been noted to cause respiratory health issues in the upper respiratory and bronchial areas. They have also been shown to cause asthma symptoms to worsen, particularly in children.

In addition to the EPA, many other health organizations, including the American Lung Association and the World Health Organization, all agree that there are inherent dangers in the majority of the cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting products purchased on the store shelves. Commercial-grade products in the cleaning industry, like those used in schools across the country, present an even larger threat. These health organizations reinforce the information provided in the Healthy Green Purchasing for Asthma Prevention and make it clear that we not only need to be aware of these dangers, we need to take steps to change the way we approach cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting. Eco-friendly products can be a huge part of the process going forward.

Comprehensive Toolkit for Returning to School

Healthy Green Purchasing for Asthma Prevention is a comprehensive toolkit that outlines best practices for schools and districts when it comes to purchasing products that are safe for people and the environment. While the guide is recommended for use anytime, there is a strong emphasis on returning to school with COVID-19 in mind. Many of the recommendations in the guide are measures that can help reduce the threat of germs and bacteria as well as providing a safer, cleaner environment for students and staff alike. The guide covers everything from the use of eco-friendly products to proper filtration systems to best practices regarding cleaning and sanitizing routines. It brings great value to school systems and can be used as a practical guide year-round, even without a pandemic. "With an estimated 6 million kids under 18 affected each year, asthma is the leading chronic illness among children." These measures can go a long way toward making the environment safer and less devastating for children with asthma.


GenEon with it's on-site generation technology, and advanced systems for cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting is committed to sustainability for our schools and other facilities. Our cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting products are made using nothing more than water, electricity, and natural minerals. They deliver 80 to 200 times the sanitizing power of bleach and can kill most germs and bacteria in seconds, including Listeria, MRSA, Staph, VRE, Pseudomonas, Norovirus, H1N1, Salmonella, and E.coli O157:H7 bacteria, in seconds. Best of all, there is no harmful chemical residue, no harmful fumes, and no potentially hazardous VOCs.

Our products are made using a technology known as on-site generation using our Instaflow and Immerse-A-Clean system. This allows consumers to create sustainable cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting products as needed, resulting in less waste and overall savings on maintenance costs each year. On-site generation also eliminates the need to keep harmful chemical-based products stored in your facility.


At GenEon, our advanced delivery systems let you sanitize and disinfect large open areas or hard-to-reach areas that are often overlooked. Because there is no chemical residue left behind, you can freely distribute our cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting products over every surface in the school without causing harm to students or staff. GenEon is proud to be able to bring powerful cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting products to the market that consumers can depend on for quality and cost-effectiveness.

If you want to learn more about getting GenEon products into your school or business, fill out the form here on our website. A representative will be happy to get back to you.


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