On Thu, 11 Apr 2013 04:58:00 -0700 wrote:

Pure bleach out of the jug is powerful
and the damage is very likely done long before that amount
of time has elapsed.

That much is true!

Most of the tear damage to the bath towel happened in the wash
cycle - but certainly the bleaching of the color happened from
the time the bleach was on the towel.

One lesson learned is don't spill bleach!