Pregnant women warned against chemical cleaners

Pregnant women are too freely exposing their unborn babies to household chemicals that could be damaging their lung development and making them vulnerable to asthma in childhood, a leading child health expert has warned.

Professor Peter Sly, a World Health Organisation collaborator with the Telethon Institute for Child Health in Perth, has told a European respiratory conference in Berlin that the dangers posed by common chemicals like oven cleaners and cockroach sprays are becoming clear - but parents are not responding.

"We have increasing evidence that everything from the pesticides used on roses to the bleach in the bathroom impact badly on the developing lungs of unborn babies but this evidence has yet to change behaviour in Australian homes,'' Prof Sly said.

"We need some strong public health messages around this so parents realise what they are doing.''

In-vitro exposure to smoking and alcohol are well known to harm unborn babies but evidence has been less clear around air pollutants and household chemicals.

A large British study of more than 14,000 mothers published earlier this year confirmed the chemical risk by showing children who were more exposed to everything from hair sprays to pesticides before birth had significantly higher rates of wheeze and worse lung function as eight year olds.

"That was the evidence we needed but still we have mothers-to-be using sprays of all types, and doing things like painting the nursery while they're pregnant without thinking about it,'' Prof Sly said.

He urged stronger public health messages that stress the importance of looking for non-toxic alternatives for use during pregnancy.

"Natural products your grandmother would have used, like bicarbonate of soda, lemon juice and vinegar, are going to be much better for developing foetuses.

"And contrary to all the ads on television, it's probably wrong to be obsessive about cleaning.

"I'm not saying we should all live in squalor but commonsense should prevail.''

Studies show rates of asthma and other allergic conditions are rising in the western world, with experts puzzled about the roles of genetics and the environment in fuelling the increase.