Mixing Bleach With Pretty Much Anything
If your mother told you not to mix bleach with ammonia, listen: The two combine to create a toxic gas called chloramine, which at low levels causes wheezing, coughing, nausea and watery eyes, and at higher concentrations can do<a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199909093411115" target="_blank"> irreversible damage to the lungs</a>. But mixing bleach with any acidic cleaner (<a href="http://www.idph.state.ia.us/eh/common/pdf/hseess/cleaning_product_danger.pdf" target="_blank">regular old vinegar as well as many drain cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, dishwasher rinses, rust removers and more</a>) is just as dangerous. It also produces a toxic gas, chlorine, which can cause <a href="http://today.uchc.edu/headlines/2011/feb11/bleach.html" target="_blank">dizziness, coughing, and burning in the nose or eyes</a> when you're exposed to a small amount and can be fatal at higher levels.
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