The Popular Disinfectant Spray You Might Want To Avoid Using

Germs can be deadly or cause serious illness, but so can the disinfectants that we use to kill them. While it's tempting to reach for the strongest cleaner possible, why use toxic household items when you don't need to, and when safer, more environmentally friendly alternatives exist that can do just as good a job? Lysol Disinfectant Spray is a classic case of overkill – unless you live in the infectious disease ward of your local hospital, there's likely no reason to use such a powerful household cleaner – and serious reasons not to use it.

Lysol Disinfectant Spray "kills 99.9% of viruses and bacteria," including cold and flu, the COVID-19 virus, and measles, according to the product's website. That sounds great, but it's the 0.1% that the disinfectant doesn't kill that should cause concern. What applies to humans also applies to germs: What doesn't kill them makes them stronger. Increasingly, bacteria have shown alarming resistance to common household cleaners, including quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), like those in Lysol Disinfectant Spray. One of those QACs, ammonium hydroxide, is "a known environmental hazard," according to the Lab for Health and Environmental Informatics at SUNY Polytechnic Institute. Those same compounds (and others) have led the Environmental Working Group (EWG) to give Lysol Disinfectant Spray an F for its safety. According to the EWG, the spray's mipo-borate shows clear evidence of endocrine disruption and may damage fertility and unborn children. EWG also gives D grades to other ingredients for being very toxic to aquatic life, for causing severe skin burns and eye damage, and for provoking allergic reactions.

If you're looking for the simplest homemade disinfectant, follow the recommendation of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): get out some hand soap and turn on your faucet. Soap and water are all-purpose disinfectants, breaking apart the molecules not just of grease and grime but of bacteria and viruses as well. You probably didn't need the CDC to tell you to wash your hands with soap and water to kill germs, but they have the science to back up your common sense. In most cases, soap and water will be enough to clean common germs on household surfaces. You'll only need a stronger disinfectant if someone in your home is sick. Even then, however, you don't need to resort to QAC cures.

If you'd like to make your own DIY disinfectant, you could start with a homemade cleaning vinegar. Simply mix 1 cup of distilled white vinegar and ½ cup of water in a spray bottle and shake thoroughly. You can also add any number of essential oils, which have their own proven disinfectant properties against, for example, the common bacteria Staphylococcus aurea and E. coli, as well as the virus that causes COVID-19. If you read the labels on many commercial cleaners, they might contain these oils as well. If you do add an essential oil, be sure to dilute it, as concentrated essential oils can cause eye and skin irritation. Keep pets away while using the oil, as it might be toxic to them.