Nurses Exposed to Toxic Chemicals At Work

DogFlu.ca
Published December 12, 2007

Results of a new study by the Environmental Working Group and Health Care Without Harm, find that chemicals in cleaning products that are used to clean hospitals are putting nurses at an increased risk of becoming sick. According to the study, which was released Tuesday by the Oakland environmental group nurses are constantly being exposed to toxic chemicals while on the job. These can range from latex and cleaning sollutions, to chemotherapy drugs. For their results, which showed that nurses exposed to toxic chemicals at least once a week were at an increased risk of developing cancer, asthma and miscarriages the group used data collected from an online survey of 1500 nurses working in the US. Furthermore, the survey shoed that there was an exceptionally high rate of musculoskeletal defects in children of pregnant nurses. According to Jane Houlihan, vice president of research for Environmental Working Group and an author of the study many nurses are unaware of the fact that their working environment could be posing a risk to their health. "The biggest problem I see is that nurses don't know they're being exposed," said Lisa Hartmayer, a registered nurse at UCSF. "It's not like nurses are saying, 'I can't go to work because of chemical exposure.' It's more like they don't feel well, and they don't know why. I think the damage is being done quietly." "Generally, we think the cleaner the better - the cleaner something is, the safer it is. But that's not always the case," Hartmayer said. "We use everyday cleaners that have chemicals, there's soap we use on our hands. I don't believe there's strong enough research to tell us what happens with constant exposure."