Put down that deoderant/perfume/cologne! We should ban it!

Chemical Sensitivities and Perfume

Did you know that perfume is made of toxic materials that can injure your health? Many of the chemicals in perfume are the same chemicals in cigarette smoke, and yet there is no regulation of the fragrance industry.{“Health Risks of Perfume,” www.ourlittleplace.com - April 2002}

Fragrance is a common indoor air pollutant, and synthetic fragrance compounds accumulate in human tissue and are found in breast milk. The Institute of Medicine placed fragrance in the same category as secondhand smoke in triggering asthma in adults and school age children. According to the latest information from the National Institute of Health, 26.3 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with asthma.

Fragrances are now used in almost every cleaning, laundry, and personal-care product on the market. Since people have been using perfumes for hundreds of years. It’s reasonable to wonder why the problem of using scents has surfaced only recently. Until the 20th century, perfumes were made from natural ingredients derived directly from plants and animals, and as fragrances became cheaper and more widespread, they also became more synthetic. The National Academy of Sciences reports that 95% of the chemicals used in fragrances today are synthetic compounds derived from petroleum, including known toxins capable of causing cancer, birth defects, central nervous system disorders and allergic reactions. We have been brainwashed by the industry to feel we must cover up our natural scents with toxic chemicals. Many of the same chemicals in perfumes are the same chemicals that are in cigarette smoke.

Many migraineurs are so sensitive to fragrance that people wearing perfumes and colognes around them trigger an immediate and severe migraine attack. You can make your house a fragrance-free zone, and if you have a visitor who is either not aware of this or forgets, most of the fragrance can be removed with alcohol wipes if it has been put on the skin and not the clothing.
{“Fragrance Triggers,” Teri Roberts: Beating Headaches, on Headaches/Migraines on About.com - Dec. 2001}

Fragrance free or unscented does not guarantee they do not contain fragrance chemicals: they imply they have no perceptible odor. A product labeled “unscented” may contain a masking fragrance. If fragrance is added to a product to mask or cover up the odor of other ingredients, it is not required to be put on the label. A product must be marked “without perfume” to indicate that no fragrance has been added. Ninety-five percent of the chemicals used in fragrances are petroleum-based synthetic compounds. Here are some principal chemicals found in scented products and the health risks that can be involved: {“Fragrance Sensitivity,” allergies.about.com - Sep. 2001}

Studies in California could not find an air filter able to remove perfume particles from the air and have been able to prove that everyone in the building was reacting in some manner to the elevated chemical levels. Studies such as this are revolutionizing people’s ideas about safety and personal hygiene. It is no longer what you choose to do or use, it is what other people are forcing on you through the environment.
{"Recognition of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity," MCS - Immune, 1996}

Perfume is composed of many of the same toxic chemicals found on the EPA’s and CERCLA’s hazardous waste lists, and one or all of which in combination with one another, cause when inhaled: “ventral nervous system disorders, dizziness, nausea, lack of coordination, slurred speech, drowsiness, irritation to the mouth, throat, eyes, skin, lungs and GI tract, kidney damage, headache, respiratory failure, ataxia, and fatigue, among other symptoms and illnesses,” Material Safety Data Sheets on each chemical confirm these findings. Many of the chemicals in perfumes have been shown to cause serious health problems and death in animals.

In 1989, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health recognized 884 poisonous substances (many synthetically derived from petrochemicals) from a list of 2,983 chemicals used in the fragrance industry capable of causing cancer, birth defects, central nervous system disorders, allergic respiratory reactions, skin and eye irritations. According to the National Institute of Health, in view of the escalating incidence of cancer, as well as a 58% increase in asthma over the past decade, this information is crucial.

Did you know that benzaldehyde, a chemical known to cause kidney damage in humans is used in fragrances, and that benzyl acetate used in fragrances is linked to a cause of pancreatic cancer? That ethyl acetate is on the EPA Hazardous Waste list known as a carcinogenic, causing kidney and liver failure and it is used in fragrances?
{“Food For Thought, Colognes - Perfumes - Pesticides, Are They Slowly Killing You?" by columnist David Lawrence Dewey, www.dldewey.com/columns/perfumef.htm - Oct. 1999}

Several studies indicate that 15-30% of the general population reports some sensitivity to chemicals, including fragrances, and 4-5% report that chemical intolerance has a major impact on their quality of life. Of these people, more than 80% report that exposure to fragrances is bothersome.

A study, published in the March-April issue of Archives of Environmental Health showed that the emissions of the fragrances produced various combinations of sensory irritation, pulmonary irritation, decreases in expiratory airflow velocity, and alterations of the functional observational battery indicative of neurotoxicity. Neurotoxicity was more severe after mice were repeatedly exposed to the products.

Children may be more susceptible to the effects of fragrances because of their smaller size, their higher respiratory rate, and their thinner skin. Some patient groups claim that during the next decade, the issue of fragrance will be as controversial as today’s tobacco smoke issue. They say the debate over people’s right to smoke versus others’ right to breathe clean air could also be applied to fragrance.

{“Scents and Sensitivity,” Environmental Health Perspectives, the research journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, www.herc.org - Nov. 1998}
Source: United States 39 Code 3001g, Postal Bulletin - Bulletin no. 21969, pg. 26}

Studies show that fragrance chemicals can cause health effects, primarily the skin, lungs, and brain. Some data suggests that as many as 75% of known asthmatics (approximately 9 million people in the U.S.) have asthma attacks that are triggered by perfumes. Fragrance chemicals have the potential to affect, and possibly damage, brain tissue. For example, linalool, the most abundant chemical in perfume and fragrance products is known to cause lethargy, depression, and life-threatening respiratory effects.

A parent who wears perfume or uses scented products may well be poisoning the air their children breathe. Exposure to fragrances may result in the child having difficulty concentrating, learning disabilities, hyperactive behavior, and even growth r****dation and seizures in extreme cases. It is prudent to avoid fragranced products as much as possible until the time when they have all been tested and the harmful ones removed.
{“Sweet Poison: What Your Nose Can’t Tell You About The Dangers of Perfume,” by Andrea DesJardins, Health Environmental Resource Center, www.herc.org - 1997}



http://allnaturalbeauty.us/chemicalsensitivities_jrussell.htm

 

It's coming. I'm just finding a little psuedo scientific background first.

Can I get an AMEN, brother! Of course, a good bartender should be emptying the ashtray at regular intervals.

 

It's coming.

Radio DJ wins $10.6 million in stink over perfume

WYCD personality claims she was fired after co-worker's scent made her sick.

By David Shepardson / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- A former top-ranked radio host, who claims she was sickened by a colleague's use of a perfume described as "romantic, sensual, emotional," won $10.6 million in a federal court lawsuit Monday.

Erin Weber, who was on the air at WYCD-FM (99.5), contends in her suit that she was fired in 2001 after she complained about being exposed to Tresor perfume, which sells for $45.50 a bottle and is described by Lancome as a combination of ingredients such as rose and lilac. She said she was sickened by the fumes, a condition that began when a co-worker exposed her to spilled nail-polish remover in the country music station's Southfield studio. The perfume was worn, her suit said, by another radio personality, Linda Lee, whose legal surname is Bullock. "I'm thankful that the jury took so much time to come to the right conclusion," Weber, 43, of Cleveland, said after the verdict. "It's a great day." The verdict awarded her $7 million in punitive damages, $2 million in mental anguish and emotional distress and $1.6 million for past and future compensation after a six-woman jury in U.S. District Court in Detroit spent eight days deliberating. Weber claimed exposure to Tresor caused her to lose her voice and take lengthy absences from work. She also said she once "felt an electric shock quell through my entire body" and required heavy medication to combat the effects. Weber's lawyer, Raymond Sterling, said his client doesn't have problems with "natural smells" but does with the chemical basis of the perfume -- a fact he says was confirmed by three doctors at the weeklong civil trial.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/business/0505/24/A01-191461.htm

 

Fragrance free or unscented does not guarantee they do not contain fragrance chemicals: they imply they have no perceptible odor. A product labeled “unscented” may contain a masking fragrance. If fragrance is added to a product to mask or cover up the odor of other ingredients, it is not required to be put on the label. A product must be marked “without perfume” to indicate that no fragrance has been added. Ninety-five percent of the chemicals used in fragrances are petroleum-based synthetic compounds. Here are some principal chemicals found in scented products and the health risks that can be involved: {“Fragrance Sensitivity,” allergies.about.com - Sep. 2001}