Las Vegas, Nevada – Janitors who clean California’s leading supermarkets rallied today outside the 2009 National Grocers Association Convention today, held at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. Joined by protesters dressed up as fruits, vegetables and toxic cleaning chemicals, janitors questioned the safety of chemicals used to clean supermarkets and the potential dangers to workers and consumers.

“We are out here to publicize the hazardous chemicals that are currently being used to clean supermarkets and raise questions around the potential dangers to workers and consumers,” said Jorge Roman, one of the protesters dressed as a fruit. “We hope to send a clear message to the National Grocers Association that supermarkets should have higher standards for the chemicals used near fresh produce and other foods.”

Irresponsible supermarkets and cleaning contractors continue to use toxic cleaning chemicals that are harmful to the janitors using them. Many of these chemicals have caused skin burns, rashes long-term respiratory diseases, headaches and body pains for the workers. In addition, janitors object to the lack of training or safety equipment offered to them when using these hazardous chemicals.

These toxic cleaning chemicals are also potentially dangerous to the food and produce in the aisles. Many public institutions across the country, like schools and jails, have begun using less hazardous cleaning materials. This raises the fundamental question: why are these cleaning chemicals, which are harmful to our environment and the health and safety of workers, still being used in our supermarkets when safer alternatives are available?

“These chemicals really eat into our skin,” said Fernando Sapon, a janitor cleaning a leading California supermarket for the last ten years. “If just the vapors of these chemicals are doing this to my skin, I worry about what they are doing day-in and day-out to the fruit and meat and vegetables in the market that I work in.”