Pandemic products and volatile chemical emissions
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Pandemic products and volatile chemical emissions Anne Steinemann 1,2 & Neda Nematollahi 1 & Behzad Rismanchi 1 & Nigel Goodman 3 & Spas D. Kolev 4 Received: 30 July 2020 / Accepted: 17 August 2020 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract The recent pandemic (COVID-19) has seen a sweeping and surging use of products intended to clean and disinfect, such as air sprays, hand sanitizers, and surface cleaners, many of which contain fragrance. However, exposure to fragranced cleaning products has been associated with adverse effects on human health. Products can emit a range of volatile chemicals, including some classified as hazardous, but relatively few ingredients are disclosed to the public. Thus, relatively little is known about the specific emissions from these products. This study investigates the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from “pandemic products” that are being used frequently and extensively in society. In addition, among these emissions, this study identifies potentially hazardous compounds, compares so-called green and regular versions of products, and examines whether ingredients are disclosed to the public. Using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, 26 commonly used pandemic products, including 13 regular and 13 so-called green versions, were analyzed for their volatile emissions. Product types included hand sanitizers, air disinfectants, multipurpose cleaners, and handwashing soap. All products were fragranced. The analyses found the products collectively emitted 399 VOCs with 127 VOCs classified as potentially hazardous. All products emitted potentially hazardous compounds. Comparing regular products and green products, no significant difference was found in the emissions of the most prevalent compounds. Further, among the 399 compounds emitted, only 4% of all VOCs and 11% of potentially hazardous VOCs were disclosed on any product label or safety data sheet. This study reveals that pandemic products can generate volatile emissions that could pose risks to health, that could be unrecognized, and that could be reduced, such as by using fragrance-free versions of products. Keywords Pandemic . Coronavirus . Fragranced consumer products . Volatile organic compounds . Emissions . Cleaning . Disinfectants . Hand sanitizers
Introduction
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-020-00912-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Anne Steinemann [email protected] 1
Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
2
College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4814, Australia
3
School of Property Construction and Project Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
4
School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
Cleaning and disinfection products are common in society, especially with increased frequency
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