True Left

Researchers say wipes contain chemical group called ‘quats’, which are linked to serious health problems

Since the pandemic’s outset, the global use of disinfectants has gone through the roof. Clorox dramatically boosted production of its wipe packs to 1.5m a day by mid-2021, and an industry trade group said 83% of consumers surveyed around the same time reported they had used a disinfectant wipe in the last week.

But as schools reopened, a group of toxic chemical researchers grew concerned as they heard reports of kids regularly using disinfectant wipes on their classroom desks, or teachers running disinfectant foggers.

The researchers knew the disinfectants did little to protect consumers from Covid, and were instead exposing kids at alarming levels to what they say are a dangerous chemical group – quaternary ammonium compounds, also known as QACs, or “quats”.

Quats are common components in popular disinfectant wipes and sprays, especially those that claim to “kill 99.9% of germs”. But in a new peer-reviewed paper, the researchers assembled the conclusions from a fast-growing body of quat studies that point to several main issues: the chemicals are linked to serious health problems, they contribute to antimicrobial resistance, they pollute the environment and they are not particularly effective.

The chemicals “might not be efficacious, but also might be harmful”, said Courtney Carignan, a co-author on the paper and toxicologist at Michigan State University...

Effect on sewage systems

Water management companies ask people not to flush wet wipes down toilets, as their failure to break apart or dissolve in water can cause sewer blockages known as fatbergs.[16][17]

Since the mid-2000s, wet wipes such as baby wipes have become more common for use as an alternative to toilet paper in affluent countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. This usage has in some cases been encouraged by manufacturers, who have labelled some wet wipe brands as "flushable". Wet wipes, when flushed down the toilet, have been reported to clog internal plumbing, septic systems and public sewer systems.[18][19][17] The tendency for fat and wet wipes to cling together allegedly encourages the growth of the problematic obstructions in sewers known as "fatbergs".[20][21] In addition, some brands of wipes contain alcohol, which can kill the bacteria and enzymes responsible for breaking down solid waste in septic tanks.[22] In the late 2010s, other alternatives such as gel wipe had also come on to the market.[23][24]

In 2014, a class action suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio against Target Corporation, and Nice-Pak Products Inc. on behalf of consumers in Ohio who purchased Target-brand flushable wipes. The lawsuit alleged the retailer misled consumers by marking the packaging on its Up & Up brand wipes as flushable and safe for sewer and septic systems. The lawsuit also alleged that the products were a public health hazard because they clogged pumps at municipal waste-treatment facilities.[25] Target and Nice-Pak agreed to settle the case in 2018.[26]

In 2015, the city of Wyoming, Minnesota, launched a class action suit against six companies, including Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, and Nice-Pak, alleging they were fraudulently promoting their products as "flushable".[11][27] The city dropped the lawsuit in 2018 after concluding that the city had not experienced damage to its sewer systems or a rise in maintenance costs.[28] Upon announcement of the withdrawal of the suit, an industry trade group representing the manufacturers of the wipes released a statement that disputed the claims that the products are harmful to sewer systems.

    The withdrawal by the City of Wyoming and last year's settlement terms of the Perry litigation corroborate what years of testing and field collection studies have shown: flushable wipes are not causing municipal clogs or increased maintenance. To date, despite sensational headlines, no wastewater operator has offered any public evidence that its maintenance issues are impacted by wipes marketed as 'flushable' and passing the industry assessment tests.
    — David Rouse, president of INDA, Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (August 2018)[28]

In 2019, the industry body Water UK announced a new standard for flushable wet wipes. Wipes will need to pass rigorous testing in order to gain a new and approved "Fine to Flush" logo. As of January 2019, only one product had been confirmed to meet the standard, although there were about seven others in the process of being tested.[29]