When it comes to cleaning, one may have thought that mixing household cleaning products such as bleach and detergent together can provide a better result. Unfortunately, it is could be the biggest mistake one could do.
In a recent statement shared by The National Poison Centre of Malaysia on their official Facebook account, a housewife from Malaysia suffered from severe poisoning after mixing bleach and floor cleaning liquid together.
Apparently, mixing bleach which contained Sodium Hypochlorite with floor cleaning liquid that contained Hydrochloric Acid had led to a dangerous chemical reaction.
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The mixture of two liquids together had produced a highly toxic chlorine gas which the housewife had inhaled when she mixed the bleach with the floor cleaning liquid.
The greenish yellow gas could cause pose severe health risks to those who inhale it such as heavy coughing, breathing difficulty, pain in chest and throat, nausea, vomiting, and severe headache.
The gas could also be lethal when it is inhaled by a person for a long time or when they are an enclosed space like a storage room or a bathroom.
Following the incident, The National Poison Centre of Malaysia has urged the public to not simply mix household cleaning products together especially bleach as it may cause an unwanted and dangerous chemical reaction.
However, there is an exception when it comes to this. According to Rick Sachleben, a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), laundry detergent is generally safe to be mixed with bleach.
“Laundry detergent is formulated to be safely mixed with bleach,” he told Huffington Post.
However, he recommended for consumers to use household cleaning products according to the instruction.
“The companies selling household products spend a lot of money formulating them for exactly the right job,” he said, adding that the best way to avoid any problems is to “buy the product labeled for the job you need, and use it as the label describes.”
