The hidden health-economic externalizations of hazardous chemicals in household cleaning and consumer care products in India

Title : The hidden health-economic externalizations of hazardous chemicals in household cleaning and consumer care products in India

Abstract:

Mass-market household cleaning, disinfection, laundry, and air-care products are used daily in most Indian homes. Yet researchers rarely quantify the chemical hazards embedded in their formulations and the downstream costs those hazards impose on the health system together. This review consolidates an original hazard-classification survey of 34 widely sold product formulations with market, expenditure, and health-financing data to produce a first-order estimate of the health-economic externality attributable to this product class in India.

Product formulations spanning nine functional categories were screened against declared and literature-reported constituents and mapped to ten toxicological hazard endpoints (carcinogenic, neurotoxic, endocrine-disrupting, reproductive, hepatotoxic, respiratory-sensitising, allergic/dermatological, haematotoxic and genotoxic). Household expenditure was drawn from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2022-23 and 2023-24; health-financing context from the National Health Accounts (NHA) 2022-23. A transparent attributable-fraction (AF) model was applied to four disease groups (respiratory, cancer, dermatological, and antimicrobial-resistance-related) under conservative (1%), central, and high (up to 10%) scenarios to bound the total externality cost (TEC).

Carcinogenic (17/34), allergic-dermatological (16/34), endocrine-disrupting (16/34) and respiratory-sensitising (14/34) endpoints were the most frequently flagged. The modelled TEC ranged from Rs 6,899 crore/year (conservative) to Rs 59,029 crore/year (high), of which an estimated 43.7% - Rs 3,015 to Rs 25,796 crore/year would fall on the public exchequer, given the current government share of total health expenditure. Even the central estimate (Rs 30,444 crore/year) is material relative to peer-reviewed Indian cost-of-illness values, where a single cancer or COPD episode already imposes Rs 20,000-Rs 57,000 in out-of-pocket cost per patient.

The chemical hazard load of everyday consumer-care products represents a plausible, under-recognised and partly avoidable driver of health expenditure in India. The estimates are deliberately conservative and are constrained by the absence of India-specific exposure and dose-response data - a gap this review maps explicitly. The findings support precautionary reformulation, ingredient-disclosure standards, and targeted epidemiological research.

Keywords: household chemicals; consumer-care products; endocrine disruptors; respiratory sensitisers; externality cost; cost of illness; out-of-pocket expenditure
 

Biography:

Safal Jung Thapa, a PhD student in Water Research at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Water Research, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, India. his research focuses on environmental health, particularly the health and economic impacts of hazardous chemicals in household cleaning and consumer care products in India. his doctoral research investigates the potential health risks associated with exposure to chemicals commonly found in household products, with a particular interest in understanding their relationships with different diseases and the broader implications for public health. his aim to contribute to a better understanding of how everyday chemical exposures may affect human health and to generate evidence that can support safer consumer products, effective chemical management, and informed public health policies.his hold a Master of Science in Public Health (Epidemiology) from Kathmandu University and a Bachelor's degree in Public Health from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. His academic background has strengthened my interest in epidemiological research and the relationship between environmental risk factors and disease outcomes. Beyond his doctoral research, his interests include environmental epidemiology, water surveillance, infectious disease epidemiology, climate change, and One Health. Through interdisciplinary research, his aspire to contribute to evidence-based solutions that reduce harmful environmental exposures, prevent disease, and promote healthier and more sustainable communities.