1. Bleach
Disinfectants such as bleach, ammonia, and chlorine can damage your lungs, especially if you have a per-existing lung disease like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Using these heavy-duty disinfectants on a regular basis could also cause asthma in people who never had it before. If you are dealing with a lung issue, you should definitely substitute these cleaning products for water and soap, says George Friedman-Jimenez, MD, DrPH, assistant professor at New York University School of Medicine.
“People usually assume germs around the house need to be disinfected, but in reality, soap and water, or even just water, remove a great majority of bacteria and viruses,” he says. So, if you want to kill the germs and bacteria that are spread all over the house, you should dilute that heavy-duty solution. It should be diluted somewhere between one part bleach to 10 or 100 parts water—most people use too strong of a solution, Dr. Friedman-Jimenez says.
