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Date: 23 January, 2002
Who would think that fragrances and perfumes...and thousands of other personal care products...represent an environmental health hazard? Flowers and herbs have pleasured the olfactory senses for thousands of years. Today, however, sweet smelling fragrances are typically made from a caldron of synthetic compounds - usually derived from petroleum - including known toxins capable of causing cancer, birth defects, central nervous system disorders and allergic reactions. Personal care might more accurately be called 'chemical care.' Few products have been tested for safety, products need not carry warning labels, and health risks to the people exposed are typically dismissed.
What can't be dismissed, however, are the unsettling facts. There are upwards to 5000 chemical materials used in fragrances; less that 1500 have been safety tested by industry. According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, 884 toxic substances used in the fragrance industry are capable of causing breathing difficulty, allergic reactions and multiple chemical sensitivities. Scents can also be particularly troubling for asthma sufferers; toulene (methyl benzene), known to trigger asthma attacks, was detected in fragrance samples collected by the EPA in 1991. Toulene, listed by the Household Hazardous Waste Project (Springfield, MO) as a "hazardous waste," is "volatile, flammable...and attacks the central nervous system, eyes, blood, liver, kidneys, and skin." Methylene chloride, listed by the EPA as being among the twenty most common chemicals found in thirty-one tested fragrance products (also found in septic tank cleaners and pesticides!), is a known animal carcinogen and a suspected human carcinogen.
'Chemical care' fragrance products impact users for sure. Like second-hand smoke, moreover, fragrances also affect others in everyday indoor environments. According to the latest information from the National Institute of Health, 26.3 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with asthma, and up to 72% of asthmatics report their asthma is triggered by fragrances. Air fresheners, too, can cause adverse health reactions. Ironically, according to the Household Hazardous Waste Project, air fresheners do not freshen the air at all. Instead, they mask one odor with another, coat our nasal passages with an undetectable oil film, or diminish your sense of smell with a nerve-deadening agent.
Thoughtful consumers will learn to read labels, to boycott products with harmful ingredients, to choose products with few ingredients, to petition the FDA for safe products (for example, http://www.ehnca.org/www/FDApetition/bkgrinfo.htm), and to encourage family and friends to do the same. We all live downwind, so challenge the odors coming from the chemical industry. Help put an end to nonsense scents.
Act today on this EcoAlert and thank you for your environmental responsibility.
NEW Address:
American P.I.E.
Public Information on the Environment
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