Fresh scented products may be toxic.

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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/...9_toxicfragrance23.htm

The scented fabric sheet makes your shirts and socks smell flowery fresh and clean. That plug-in air freshener fills your home with inviting fragrances of apple and cinnamon or a country garden.

But those common household items are potentially exposing your family and friends to dangerous chemicals, a University of Washington study has found.

Trouble is, you have no way of knowing it. Manufacturers of detergents, laundry sheets and air fresheners aren't required to list all of their ingredients on their labels -- or anywhere else. Laws protecting people from indoor air pollution from consumer products are limited.

When UW engineering professor Anne Steinemann analyzed of some of these popular items, she found 100 different volatile organic compounds measuring 300 parts per billion or more -- some of which can be cancerous or cause harm to respiratory, reproductive, neurological and other organ systems.

Some of the chemicals are categorized as hazardous or toxic by federal regulatory agencies. But the labels tell a different story, naming only innocuous-sounding "perfume" or "biodegradable" contents.

"Consumers are breathing these chemicals," she said. "No one is doing anything about it."

Industry representatives say that isn't so.

"Dr. Steinemann's statement is misleading and disingenuous," said Chris Cathcart, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Consumer Specialty Products Association, in a statement.

"Air fresheners, laundry products and other consumer specialty products are regulated under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act and subsequently have strict labeling requirements," he said. "Companies producing products that are regulated under FHSA must name on the product label each component that contributes to the hazard."

Just when you were close to thinking everything is toxic.... you were probably close. I find this disturbing that the things we have used to make things smell clean and actually clean are toxic. How does something like this go unnoticed for so long? How can we even know anymore what is toxic and what isn't if it smells lemony fresh? Apparently this applies to a wide variety of fragrant's in products as well. That bit I bolded should be looked at again by someone to make them report things like this.

Is this even something that's lawsuit worthy? Perhaps if they knew it was toxic, but that would take some investigation I assume. Anyways, thoughts?

 

[StageLeft]

Doesn't surprise me in the least at all. I kind of assume we have all known this for a while. Most of the chemicals we use all the time don't really have a ton of research behind what happens in exposure levels over multiple decades.

Lawsuit worthy, no, we live in modern society full of synthesized crap that somebody threw together in a lab and put into products, what do we really expect?

 

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[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Doesn't surprise me in the least at all. I kind of assume we have all known this for a while. Most of the chemicals we use all the time don't really have a ton of research behind what happens in exposure levels over multiple decades.

Lawsuit worthy, no, we live in modern society full of synthesized crap that somebody threw together in a lab and put into products, what do we really expect?

Precisely.

My nose has told me for years that all of those scented products are probably terrible for you. I always use unscented products. People just need to use some common sense.

 

[CPA]

OP did you miss this part of the article:

"Air fresheners, laundry products and other consumer specialty products are regulated under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act and subsequently have strict labeling requirements," he said. "Companies producing products that are regulated under FHSA must name on the product label each component that contributes to the hazard."

I'm not sure what the issue here is. The professors make a broad statement, but then don't follow up with specifics, such as how much parts per billion would be enough to cause harm?

 

[Theb]

I dislike strong flowery/perfume smells. Aren't middle-aged cat ladies the only people that use the sprays and plugins anyway?

 

[5to1baby1in5]

Originally posted by: Theb
I dislike strong flowery/perfume smells. Aren't middle-aged cat ladies the only people that use the sprays and plugins anyway?

I see one every time I take a crap at work/bar/grocery store.

 

[CycloWizard]

Originally posted by: CPA
I'm not sure what the issue here is. The professors make a broad statement, but then don't follow up with specifics, such as how much parts per billion would be enough to cause harm?

Only OSHA is legally allowed to specify exposure limits (which it has probably already done for the identified components). All the paper has done is identify that these compounds are in these products at certain concentrations. It doesn't look like they tried to quanitfy how much was present in the air during use, only in the whole product. Thus, it's impossible to draw any useful conclusions. The authors said what they did because you have to try to maximize the impact of your research to get published and secure future funding. The ignorant journalist then took it out of context and made it into something it probably wasn't.