Quaternary Ammonium Compound shortly called as Quats. Quats are nothing but the chemicals, which are used in various personal care products. They can give your skin and hair a smooth feel by acting as conditioning agents. You can find quats in fabric softener, disinfectants, and pharmacy intermediates. The fabric softener containing quats make the clothes feel softer after the wash. Quats is also used as a phase transfer catalyst. Different Quats molecules are created by using the basic molecule of Quats.

Quats are nitrogenous organic compounds found in,

Even though you can find quats in these compounds, but still it cannot be said useful as there are so many risks associated with quats. On a product label, quats can be listed as catatonic surfactants or biodegradable fabric softening agents. Therefore, by reading the product label, you can find whether the product has quats.

Quats loses its effectiveness when it is mixed with organic matter. The ineffectiveness makes Quats a disinfectant in certain circumstances, where urine, blood, soil or fecal matters present. Quats also loses its effectiveness when it is mixed with hard water.

Quats is ineffective to kill negative bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli. The progress of the Quats is limited and the Quats should not be used to kill these bacteria unless it is certified and permitted to do so.

If you use the personal care items, which contain Quats, then you may receive allergies and irritation. The allergies include skin allergies, lung allergies, and eye allergies.

Soaps and other cosmetics containing Quats can cause contact dermatitis. The disease can be treated but it can be uncomfortable. A study has revealed that Quats causes 13 to 34 percent of contact dermatitis.

Farmers who regularly use the disinfectants containing Quats can experience asthma. Quats can cause asthma to the cleaning workers too.

Disinfectant containing Quats can cause fertility issues in mice. If mice exposed to disinfectants containing quats, then they may take a long time to get pregnant or may experience frequent miscarriages.

Using Quats-based cleaners will result in neural tube birth defects in mice. It can be dangerous to humans as well.

For these reasons, Quats is still a controversial chemical element.

I hope that I have conveyed handy and useful information on Quats. If you want to avoid using Quats-based compounds, then you should pay close attention to the label of the products to confirm the presence of Quats.