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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, OCTOBER 23, 2002

STUDY RECOMMENDS WAYS TO PROTECT JANITORS AND BUILDING OCCUPANTS FROM TOXIC CLEANING CHEMICALS

PROVIDES A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO SELECTING “GREENER” CLEANERS

New York, NY – October 23, 2002 – INFORM, the national environmental research organization, announced today the release of Cleaning for Health: Products and Practices for a Safer Indoor Environment, a groundbreaking guide to improving the safety of indoor janitorial cleaning. With information applicable to all building types, the study is designed to assist those who wish to improve indoor air quality and worker health by choosing the safest available cleaning products and adopting new methods to prevent exposure to toxic cleaning chemicals.

“One study found that six out of every 100 janitors are injured on the job each year,” said Alicia Culver, director of INFORM’s Chemical Hazards Prevention Program and a co-author of the study. “Twenty percent of those injuries are severe chemical burns to the eyes and skin,” she added, “and janitorial cleaning chemicals can also trigger asthma and other health problems in building occupants, especially children.” In addition, many commonly used cleaning products contain ingredients that can cause birth defects, damage to the reproductive organs and kidneys, and cancer. “All of these effects are avoidable,” Culver said, “and this study explains how they can be prevented.”

Cleaning For Health details how the use of “greener” cleaners by numerous states and local governments throughout the United States and Canada has resulted in fewer health complaints from janitorial workers while maintaining a high level of performance.

“The products that are typically used to clean office buildings, schools, hospitals, and hotels are threatening the health of tens of thousands of janitorial workers as well as millions of building occupants,” said Joanna Underwood, president of INFORM. “As the purchasers whose innovative cleaning practices profiled in this report demonstrate, less-toxic cleaning products have proven to be effective and affordable. It just makes sense to use them.”

The findings of this research are helping INFORM and the Center for a New American Dream bring these green cleaning pioneers together with other government agencies and businesses to promote a uniform standard capable of motivating manufacturers to make environmentally preferable cleaners more widely available. “As we began to work with purchasers seeking a single standard, we found INFORM’s technical expertise on this subject to be incredibly valuable,” noted Center president Betsy Taylor. “Cleaning for Health will be an important resource as we continue to broaden this growing coalition.”

One business that is currently testing environmentally preferable cleaners is Citigroup, the world's leading financial services company headquartered in New York City. “Citigroup is strongly committed to helping preserve the environment for future generations and has found Cleaning for Health to be an excellent resource; we are confident that others will as well,” said Iris Gold, vice president of environmental affairs at Citigroup.

The other co-authors of Cleaning for Health are Marian Feinberg, David Klebenov, Judy Muskinow, and Lara Sutherland. The full text is available online at http://www.informinc.org/cleanforhealth.php.