Cleaning Products, Environmental Awareness and Risk Perception in Mérida, Mexico

Ruth Magnolia Martínez-Peña,Stephen J Rothenberg,María Dolores Cervera-Montejano,Julia G Pacheco-Ávila,Almira L Hoogesteijn

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0074352

Abstract

Cleaning products are associated with many health and environmental problems. Contamination of water resources by cleaning products is more likely to occur with septic tanks as sewage treatment systems especially in karstic terrains. We explored women’s ideas about water sources and the risk cleaning products pose to health and sewage in Mérida, a city in the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico. Women were unaware of the city’s water management system. We found a positive and statistically significant association between risk perception and environmental awareness, education level and employment status. We suggest developing education and risk communication strategies to inform residents about the hydro-geological features in the Yucatán, the vulnerability of its karstic aquifer and the health and environmental risks associated with cleaning agents.

Highlights

Cleaning has been a common activity in an historical context, it is since the 19th century that complex mass marketed cleaning products form part of our cleaning habits [1]
Advertising of cleaning products has been mostly directed at women and is supported by the idea that cleaning is synonymous with happiness [3] and health
The aim of this paper is to analyze the answers of 739 women in Mérida, the capital city of the state of Yucatán (Mexico), which explored their knowledge of water sources and sewage treatment in the city and the effect of environmental awareness on perceived environmental and health risks related to household cleaning products

Summary

Introduction

Cleaning has been a common activity in an historical context, it is since the 19th century that complex mass marketed cleaning products form part of our cleaning habits [1]. During the last century thousands of different cleaning products have been produced, generating phenomenal global growth in the industry [2]. Advertising of cleaning products has been mostly directed at women and is supported by the idea that cleaning is synonymous with happiness [3] and health. Studies have identified the adverse consequences of cleaning products on human health [4] and the environment [5]. Contact dermatitis [6], asthma [7] and other respiratory disorders [8], poisoning [9] and bacterial resistance [10] have been associated with the use of cleaning products. Endocrine disruption has been associated with exposure to cleaning products [11]. Adverse consequences in the environment include eutrophication [12], anatomical and physiological changes in aquatic and terrestrial fauna [13], the elicitation of estrogenic response in mammals and fish [14], the facilitation of the adsorption of pharmaceutical compounds such as acetaminophen and carbamazepine by aquifer materials and sediments [15], and the creation of waterrepellent soils due to irrigation with gray water which contains surfactants [16]

Objectives

Methods

Results