Description

Ammonia is a gas with an extremely sharp, irritating odor. Ammonia is formed naturally, but is manufactured as well. Most man-made ammonia is used to make fertilizer. Smaller amounts are used to manufacture synthetic fibers, plastics and explosives. Ammonia is also used as an ingredient in cleaning products and smelling salts. Natural ammonia is formed when manure, plants and animals break down. It is a source of much needed nitrogen for plants and animals.

Humans are regularly exposed to small amounts of ammonia in water, soil and air. This low-level ammonia exposure is not thought to cause long-term health hazards.

In larger quantities, such as those found in household cleaners, ammonia fumes can pose an immediate hazard to the lungs and skin. Ammonia can cause even greater damage if it is mixed with chlorine bleach (or cleaners containing bleach). This mixture forms highly poisonous chloramine gas that cause coughing, choking and lung damage.

Ammonia fumes can also react with nitrates in the environment to form ammonium nitrate particles, which can linger in the home in dust, carpets, curtains and upholstery.

Children are most likely to be exposed to ammonia in household cleaners. Without adequate ventilation, ammonia fumes can build and pose a greater danger. Children with asthma may be particularly sensitive to ammonia fumes.

Health Effects

Immediate Health Effects

• If SWALLOWED, ammonia is Highly Toxic
• If ABSORBED THROUGH SKIN, ammonia is Not Available
• If INHALED (SNIFFED OR BREATHED IN), ammonia is Highly Toxic

Longterm or Delayed Health Effects

• This chemical may cause cancer.  It is considered a Possible Carcinogen by the World Health Organization, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or another agency.
• Asthma Trigger

Other

• Ammonia fumes are very irritating and corrosive to the eyes, nose and airways.  Fumes may cause a burning sensation, coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, laryngitis, rhinitis and watery eyes, even at low levels. People with asthma or other respiratory problems may be especially sensitive to ammonia fumes, as may individuals with corneal disease, glaucoma, or severe liver damage.
  
  
• Eye contact may cause severe eye burns, blindness, cataracts and glaucoma. High exposure to ammonia fumes may also cause temporary blindness and eye damage.
• Skin contact with low ammonia concentrations may cause skin irritation; high concentrations will cause burns and open sores if not washed away quickly.
• Breathing highly concentrated ammonia fumes may cause headache, loss of sense of smell, nausea, vomiting, increased heart rate, and high blood pressure. Breathing in very high levels may cause pulmonary edema, a medical emergency, with severe shortness of breath and a buildup of fluid in the lungs.
• If swallowed in household cleaning products, may cause burns in the mouth, throat and stomach.
• Repeated or prolonged exposure to high levels may damage the eyes, liver, kidneys, and lungs, and may cause bronchitis to develop, with cough, phlegm and shortness of breath.

How Exposures Occur

Naturally Occurring Ammonia

• Everyone is regularly exposed to naturally occurring ammonia in air, food, soil and water. Such exposures occur at levels that are too low to pose any health hazard.
  
  

Cleaning Products

• Children may be exposed to ammonia fumes that are strong enough to cause irritation when ammonia, or household cleaners containing ammonia (particularly glass, window, metal or oven cleaners), is used to clean the home. Exposure occurs from inhaling ammonia fumes, which can build up if the ammonia is not diluted with sufficient water or if ventilation does not prevent the build-up of fumes.
  
  
  
  Children could also come into contact with ammonia as a result of accidental spills, skin contact or ingestion. 

Cigarette Smoke

• Children can inhale traces of ammonia when exposed to secondhand smoke.

Fertilizers

• Children may be exposed to ammonia fumes when ammonia fertilizers are used on lawns or farms nearby. Skin contact could occur if they touch soil or grass where fertilizer has recently been applied; however, ammonia levels in soil decrease rapidly within a few days after application.

Animal Manure

• Children may breathe ammonia fumes from decaying manure if they live near large-scale hog, chicken, or cattle farms.

Waste Sites and Industrial Spills

• Children may be exposed to elevated levels of ammonia in the air, water and soil if they live near hazardous waste disposal sites, or near leaks and spills from production plants, storage facilities, pipelines, tank trucks and rail cars.

Significant Statistics

Ammonia ranks among the highest of all chemicals released into American waters, as reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxic Release Inventory, with 188 million pounds released to U.S. waterways between 1990 and 1994.

Dishonorable Discharge: Toxic Pollution of America’s Waters. Environmental Working Group.http://www.ewg.org/reports/dishonorable/ddweb.html

About 80% of man-made ammonia is used to make fertilizers. The remaining 20% is used in textiles, plastics, explosives, pulp and paper production, food and beverages, household cleaning products, refrigerants, and other products.

ToxFAQs for Ammonia. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, July 1999.http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts126.html

Ammonia is one of the primary gases released by animal manure “lagoons” on large-scale farms. The concentration of these gases, which result as animal waste breaks down, is toxic, oxygen consuming, and potentially explosive. People living close to giant hog operations have reported headaches, runny noses, sore throats, excessive coughing, respiratory problems, nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, burning eyes, depression and fatigue.

Cesspools of Shame: How Factory Farm Lagoons and Sprayfields Threaten Environmental and Public Health. Natural Resources Defense Council, Clean Water Network, July 2001.
http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/cesspools/execsum.asp

By volume, ammonia is the fourth largest industrial chemical produced. However, industrial ammonia production is dwarfed by the amount of ammonia produced naturally by the breakdown of organic matter in the environment.

Household ammonia contains 5-10% ammonia and is considered to be an irritant rather than a corrosive hazard, but even in low concentrations, the vapors can cause severe eye, lung, and skin irritation.

Ammonia. Hazardous Products in the Home. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University.

http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/~epados/waste/house/ammonia.htm

Solutions

How to detect ammonia

• Ammonia has a very sharp, irritating odor, which you will probably smell before you are exposed to a concentration that may harm you.  In fact, ammonia can be detected by its odor at concentrations about 10 times lower than the toxic threshold.
• Read labels. Ammonia is found in household cleaning products, including glass cleaners, metal cleaners, wax removers and oven cleaners. Household ammonia usually contains 5-10% ammonia (diluted in water), but even this amount can be enough to cause severe respiratory irritation.
  
  
  
  Any product containing 27-30% ammonia must carry the following health hazard warning: “POISON! DANGER! Corrosive alkaline solution. Causes burns to any area of contact. Harmful if swallowed, inhaled, or absorbed through skin.”
  
  
  
  Searching for ammonia in the National Library of Medicine’s Household Products Database will show a list of brands that contain it.

How to minimize exposure to ammonia

• If you or a family member has asthma or other respiratory illness, you should avoid using ammonia to clean your house as a precaution, if possible.
• Choose cleaning products that contain the lowest percentage of ammonia (5% or less) you can find.
• When using ammonia-based products:
  
  -Keep children away from rooms where the products are used until the fumes have dissipated.
  
  
  
  -Ventilate rooms well when cleaning with ammonia or ammonia-containing cleaning products by opening windows and using fans.
  
  
  
  -Avoid skin and eye contact by wearing protective clothing, including rubber gloves, glasses or goggles, and long sleeves.
  
  
  
  -NEVER mix products that contain ammonia with those that contain chlorine bleach!
  
  
  
  -If symptoms develop from inhaling fumes, immediately discontinue use and go outside into fresh air.
  
  
  
  -Always seal tightly and store any cleaning product out of reach of children.

Alternatives

• There are many safe and effective cleaners that do not contain ammonia or other corrosive ingredients, such as chlorine, acids or lye. Some are available at natural foods stores and supermarkets. See The Cleaning Blues.
• You may also make your own household cleaners with nontoxic ingredients such as vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice. See Recipes for Safer Cleaners.

For More information

Books, articles, factsheets and reports

Dickey, Philip. Safer Cleaning Products. Seattle: Washington Toxics Coalition.

http://www.watoxics.org/redirect/PUB_CLEAN.aspx?fromMenu=0&pos=3|0|0&name=PUB_CLEAN

Other government agencies

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Division of Toxicology
1600 Clifton Road E-29
Atlanta, GA 30333
800-447-1544,888-422-8737

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov

Nonprofit organizations

Washington Toxics Coalition

4649 Sunnyside Ave N
Suite 540
Seattle, WA 98103
206-632-1545

http://www.watoxics.org

Other websites

Environmental Defense Chemical Scorecard

http://www.scorecard.org

Pesticide Action Network Pesticide Database

http://www.pesticideinfo.org

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