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All-Purpose Cleaner:
What is it?
An All-purpose cleaner is a kind of cleaner which can be used for many different kinds of clean-up jobs around the house. All-purpose cleaners are used to clean windows, mop floors, or to clean kitchen and other appliances in your house. All-purpose cleaners are usually kept in the kitchen, but they can also be found in other parts of the house such as the bathroom, basement, or garage.
What's in it?
All-purpose cleaners may use many different kinds of ingredients, such as detergents, grease-cutting agents, solvents, and disinfectants.
All-purpose cleaners can contain hazardous chemicals such as:
- Ammonia
- Ethelyne glycol monobuytl acetate
- sodium hypochlorite
- trisodium phosphate
If you "Read the Label First", it should tell you if any of these chemicals are part of the all-purpose cleaner used in your home.
What health and safety precautions do you have to think about when using all-purpose cleaners?
Depending upon the ingredients used, all-purpose cleaners can irritate the skin, eyes, nose, and throat. They can be highly poisonous if swallowed. Some of these chemicals have a sweet smell which attracts animals and which can poison them, too.
When using all purpose cleaners, follow these safety steps:
- Wear rubber gloves to protect your skin
- Be sure that there is good air circulation in the room. Open several windows or keep a fan running.
- NEVER mix two cleaners of different kinds together, especially if one contains ammonia and the other contains chlorine. This can produce a gas called chloramine, and breathing its fumes could be fatal.
What do you do if you or someone you're with has an accident with household products?
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