How Choosing Independently Certified Cleaning Products Can Reduce Allergens and Support Healthier Indoor Environments
May is Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month, designated by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) since 1984 to raise awareness about the wide impact of asthma and allergies and to highlight the importance of diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing management of these conditions. With more than 106 million Americans affected by asthma and allergies, and with symptoms often peaking in spring, May is a meaningful moment to consider how the everyday products we use shape the air we breathe at home.
Across this Awareness Month series, we have explored how paint, HVAC filters, portable air cleaners, and bedding all contribute to indoor air quality (IAQ). Cleaning products are another essential piece of that picture. They are central to managing allergens and maintaining a healthy home environment, especially for those with asthma or allergies, but the products themselves can also influence air quality, for better or worse.
Choosing Certified Asthma & Allergy Friendly® cleaning products and maintaining an effective cleaning routine can significantly improve IAQ, helping to reduce allergens and potentially harmful chemicals that can trigger asthma attacks and allergic reactions. In this article, we explore how cleaning products and whole-home solutions impact IAQ, why choosing science-backed products matters, and we introduce our Certified cleaning product partners.
Why Cleaning Matters for Better Indoor Air Quality
We spend the majority of our time indoors, so the quality of the air we breathe at home is essential to our wellbeing. Poor IAQ can be caused by common allergens like dust mite allergen, pet dander, and pollen, as well as chemicals from cleaning products themselves. For individuals with asthma or allergies, exposure to these airborne pollutants can trigger symptoms such as sneezing, coughing, or difficulty breathing. Even for those without respiratory conditions, long-term exposure to poor IAQ can lead to headaches, fatigue, and other health concerns.
Reducing allergens and avoiding harmful chemicals in cleaning products can improve IAQ and create a healthier environment for everyone in the home.This is especially relevant when you consider that research has consistently identified harmful chemicals, including flame retardants and phthalates, in the vast majority of household dust samples tested across U.S. homes, and that indoor air pollutant levels can be 2 to 5 times higher than outdoor levels.
How Effective Cleaning Routines Affect Indoor Air Quality
Maintaining a regular cleaning routine is fundamental for improving IAQ by eliminating dirt, dust, and allergens that accumulate on surfaces. Cleaning for health, not just appearance, is key.
Regular dusting with a moist cloth helps remove dust and allergens from hard surfaces without redistributing them into the air. Vacuuming with a validated high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter is also essential for reducing allergens from carpets and floors.
Proper ventilation is important during and after cleaning to help ensure harmful chemicals and particles do not remain in the air. Following the manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning products can also help avoid the release of pollutants caused by chemical reactions.
In addition to regular cleaning, preventing mold growth is crucial for maintaining good IAQ. Mold can thrive in damp environments, making it essential to remove any mold-damaged materials and thoroughly clean affected areas.
Reducing clutter is another important step, as clutter can harbor dust and allergens, making cleaning more difficult and allowing particles to become airborne. By decluttering and organizing your space, you make it easier to clean effectively and reduce potential allergens in your home.
How Cleaning Products Impact Indoor Air Quality
Cleaning products can impact IAQ in two main ways: through the removal or redistribution of allergens, and through the release of chemicals, particularly volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Allergen Removal: Cleaning products remove allergens from surfaces such as countertops, floors, and fabrics. Effective products capture and remove allergens without sending them back into the air.
Chemical Emissions: Many cleaning products release VOCs into the air, which can contribute to poor IAQ. VOCs are chemicals that easily become gases and can lead to both short-term and long-term health concerns.
Hard Surface Cleaning Products
Hard surface cleaning products are commonly used to clean areas such as kitchen counters, bathrooms, and floors. However, not all cleaning products are created equal in terms of their impact on IAQ. The Asthma & Allergy Friendly® Certification Program certifies hard surface cleaning products that meet stringent standards, making them a more suitable choice for those with asthma and allergies, and a wise choice for better indoor air for the whole family.
To achieve Asthma & Allergy Friendly® Certification, hard surface cleaning products must meet the following criteria:
Allergen Removal: The product must remove over 85% of allergens from hard surfaces, ensuring that allergens like dust mite debris, pet dander, and pollen are effectively removed.
Air Quality: The product must clean surfaces without increasing the amount of allergen and dust in the air above certification thresholds, ensuring that allergens are removed rather than redistributed.
Ingredient Review: All ingredients in the product are reviewed to ensure that any sensitizing chemicals are either not present or present at levels low enough not to cause concern.
VOC Emissions: The product’s VOC emissions must be below the certification limits, ensuring minimal impact on IAQ.
What does it take for a hard surface cleaner to become Certified Asthma & Allergy Friendly®? It must pass rigorous testing for allergen removal, ingredient safety, and VOC emissions to support healthier indoor air.
Laundry Detergents
Laundry detergents also play a central role in IAQ, especially as fabrics can trap allergens like dust mite allergen and pet dander. The Asthma & Allergy Friendly® Certification Program subjects laundry detergents to biological, physical, and chemical testing to ensure they are effective in reducing allergens without contributing to poor IAQ.
Certified laundry detergents are tested for the following:
Allergen and Dust Removal: Laundry detergents are assessed for their ability to remove allergens from fabrics. This involves testing fabrics seeded with allergen-containing dust and comparing them to unwashed controls to ensure significant allergen reduction post-washing.
Ingredient Review: The chemicals used in the laundry detergent are carefully reviewed to ensure they are non-sensitizing and non-allergenic.
VOC Emissions: Laundry detergents are tested in an environmentally controlled chamber to measure the VOCs released over a 14-day period. Certification requires VOC levels to remain below strict certification limits.
Post-Wash Analysis: After washing, the levels of any residual allergenic, irritant, or banned chemicals left on the fabric must be either not present or at low enough levels not to be of concern.
How does laundry detergent become Certified Asthma & Allergy Friendly®? It must pass strict scientific testing across four key areas to support healthier homes
Handheld Dusters
Handheld dusting products and wipes are another cleaning tool that can influence IAQ. Dusting can often release particles into the air, but Certified Asthma & Allergy Friendly® handheld dusters are scientifically tested to remove allergens while minimizing airborne dust. Certified handheld dusters must remove allergens from surfaces effectively, maintain low airborne particle concentrations during use, contain constituents that are as low as possible in allergenic and sensitizing chemicals, and not emit VOCs above strict certification limits.
A Whole-Home Approach to Cleaner Indoor Air
While surface cleaners, detergents, and dusters are central to allergen reduction, other Certified household products also play important roles in maintaining cleaner homes and healthier indoor air. The Asthma & Allergy Friendly® Certification Program now spans a wide range of products that, used together, support a whole-home approach to IAQ. Certified vacuum cleaners help capture allergens from carpets and floors using proven filtration, preventing particles from becoming airborne during cleaning. Certified portable air cleaners and whole-home air cleaners remove allergens and pollutants directly from the air, with strict limits on harmful ozone production. Certified HVAC filters reduce allergens and irritants from the air circulated through heating and cooling systems, with rigorous standards for allergen reduction, minimal fiber shedding, and effective sealing. Certified bedding helps reduce exposure to dust mite allergen and chemical residues in the bedroom, where we spend roughly one-third of our lives.
By expanding the range of Certified solutions across surfaces, fabrics, and air, the Asthma & Allergy Friendly® Certification Program empowers consumers to address allergens and chemicals throughout the entire home, not just in one room or one product category.
Our Certified Cleaning Partners: Renegade Brands and Guardsman
We are proud to work with Renegade Brands and Guardsman Dusting Cloths as Certified cleaning product partners. Both are committed to improving IAQ through scientifically validated products.
Renegade Brands: A Certified partner since 2021, Renegade Brands has continued to expand its range of Certified products over the past five years. Renegade Brands achieved an important milestone with the certification of Pro-Clean Pure Pro Laundry Detergent, the first commercial laundry detergent to earn the Asthma & Allergy Friendly® Certification. This is significant for facilities in healthcare, hospitality, and senior care, where indoor air quality and allergen reduction are especially important.
Guardsman Dusting Cloths: Guardsman has been a leader in furniture care since 1915 and has offered Certified Asthma & Allergy Friendly® dusting cloths since 2018, making them an established partner in the program. Guardsman cloths effectively remove allergens from surfaces while emitting extremely low levels of VOCs during use, helping to reduce allergen concentrations in the air. This makes them a great choice for individuals with asthma and allergies, and for any home where indoor air quality is a priority.
The Importance of Third-Party Certification
In a market flooded with cleaning products, it is important to be aware that not all claims about health and indoor air quality are backed by science. Terms like “hypoallergenic” are often used as marketing tools, but they are largely unregulated and can be misleading. Manufacturers are free to use the term without needing to prove their claims.
This is where third-party certification becomes invaluable. Independent certifications, such as the Asthma & Allergy Friendly® Certification Program, go beyond marketing claims by subjecting products to scientifically rigorous testing against published standards. By choosing products that are independently tested and certified, consumers can trust that they have been proven to perform as advertised.
Conclusion
Cleaning products are a fundamental part of maintaining a healthier home, but the products we choose matter just as much as the routines we follow. Effective allergen removal, low VOC emissions, and carefully reviewed ingredients all contribute to a cleaning approach that supports better indoor air quality rather than working against it.
By choosing Certified Asthma & Allergy Friendly® products from trusted brands like Renegade Brands and Guardsman, alongside Certified solutions across vacuums, HVAC filters, air cleaners, and bedding, you can take meaningful steps toward reducing allergens and improving indoor air quality throughout your home. As we observe Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month, informed choices like these can make a real difference for the millions of people affected by asthma and allergies.