Sunday was a glorious start to British Summertime here, and a fantastic day for putting my washing outside to dry.
The article in this weeks Observer made me think that there is no excuse not to change our habits.
The article in this weeks Observer made me think that there is no excuse not to change our habits.
There was an article on how household cleaning products are creating a bacterial time bomb in our drains and rivers. The warning has been made by Birmingham and Warwick university scientists, who say disinfectants and other products washed into sewers and rivers are triggering the growth of drug-resistant microbes.
In the article Dr William Gaze of Warwick University says that "every year, the nation produces 1.5m tonnes of sewage sludge most of which is spread on farmland". He explained that the sludge contains antibiotic-resistant bacteria whose growth is triggered by chemicals in detergents.
In their study, the scientists looked at quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC’s), which are used in many household cleaning goods. Every day huge volumes of these chemicals are flushed from homes and factories into sewers and rivers. In high concentrations, QAC’s kill bacteria. However, in sewage, these chemicals become diluted and bacteria have evolved resistance to them.
In the future this could pose all sorts of problems. For instance it may enter the bodies of agricultural workers or people who use the land recreationally or get into the food chain.
Nothing beats the smell of freshly laundered washing, but natural cleaning products using essential oils instead of chemicals are kinder to the environment and will still give you that freshly laundered smell.
There are also Ecoballs (laundry kit) and anti-bacterial cleaning cloths containing silver that won’t flush chemicals into the water.
If we don’t clean up our act the environment is going to pay a high price for our cleaning habits.
You can find out more about drug resistance
Planetearth.nearc.ac.uk
