Bleach increases respiratory illnesses

A new medical study has found that cleaning with bleach increases the chances of respiratory illnesses like flu and tonsillitis by nearly 20 percent in children.  It is something that my mother in law always warned me of whilst professing the benefits of cleaning with vinegar, and now it seems to be finding evidential truth.  Have you always been concerned about cleaning with bleach?

The study evaluated families that used bleach in homes in Spain, The Netherlands and Finland, to explore the respiratory impacts of cleaning with bleach.  It took into consideration the issues of age, smoking, sex of participants, presence of mould in the homes and the education levels of parents through appropriate controls and, in their data showed that cleaning with bleach at least once per week increased the risk of respiratory infections by 18 percent across the board.  And some diseases responded even more powerfully, with a 35 percent increase in recurrent tonsillitis and a reported 20 percent increase in the occurrence of the flu.

The study was published in the Occupational & Environmental Medicine journal, taking in a broad cross-section of 9102 participants.

Do you use bleach in your cleaning?  Do your children?  Do you worry about the impacts of it?

What alternatives do you prefer?