Mixing cleaning products together can be fatal. Every year, people really do die as a result of mixing cleaning liquids that created and released toxic gases. The most dangerous mixtures usually include bleach. When you mix bleach with certain other cleaning liquids, like ammonia, it can release chlorine gas. Just how dangerous is chlorine gas?

World War 1. The Battle of Ypres. In April, 1915; the Canadian First Division arrived in the trenches on the Western Front near the town of Ypres in Belgium. Most of these Canadian soldiers were 18 to 22 years of age. None of them had any prior military experience. They knew nothing about poison gas, and they did not have gas masks. Ypres was quiet when the Canadians arrived. The reason it was quiet was because the Germans were waiting for the wind to change direction. Normally, the wind in Europe blows from west to east, just as it does in the United States. The Germans were waiting for the wind to blow west, towards the Allied lines. On April 22, the wind started blowing westward, and as soon as it did, the Germans opened the valves on 5,700 cylinders of chlorine gas. Within seconds, a billowing green cloud began rising from the German lines and started moving towards the Allied trenches. Since the Canadians had never seen poison gas before, they mistakenly thought this was a smokescreen designed to conceal a German assault. The Canadians prepared for an assault, but an assault did not come. Instead, the green cloud moved slowly forward and then fell into the Allied trenches. Chlorine gas is heavier than air. Even though there was a breeze blowing, the Canadians began choking to death. That is because chlorine gas is toxic even when highly diluted. At only 1 in 10,000 parts of air, chlorine gas can be fatal. When chlorine gas gets into your lungs or eyes, it forms hydrochloric acid. In the first 10 minutes of the attack, over 6,000 French and Canadian soldiers died of asphyxiation. Thousands more were blinded. Tens of thousands were dead, blind, or incapacitated by the end of the day. Ironically, hundreds of German soldiers were also killed when the wind changed direction and blew some of the gas back into the German’s own trenches! Chlorine gas was used by both sides during World War 1. (You see, not all of my little stories are amusing.) I hope you will think about this depressing story the next time you are considering mixing bleach with other cleaning agents!