Fragrance Is The New Secondhand Smoke | Eliminate Synthetic Fragrance To Improve Your Health
By Marilee Nelson |
You may be familiar with one of these scenarios...
You walk into a store full of scented candles. They smell so fresh and lovely, but a few minutes later, your nose starts to itch and you are starting to get a headache. You’re having a harder time focusing and start to feel light-headed. You buy a candle and leave, feeling better as soon as you walk out the door.
A few days later, the smell of your new candle is on everything: your coat, your car, the living room - even when it’s not lit. The headache just won’t go away.
Or...
You spray a fine mist of air freshener all over that musty pile of backpacks in the mudroom. Your second-grader grabs his bag, now slightly wet and sweet-smelling, and starts to do homework, but is having trouble focusing.
He’s getting a headache and starting to whine about wanting to play outside. Meanwhile, the fake scent of flowers dissipates as it numbs sensory receptors in your nose, driving your puppy a little crazy. Eventually, you can’t smell it anymore, but you’ve ingested it through your nose, lungs, and skin.
Fragrance Is the New "Secondhand Smoke"
If you’ve experienced anything like this, you know how insidious synthetic fragrance can be.
It’s only human to seek out pleasant smells and to try to eliminate unattractive scents from our environments. However, the immediate and long-term effects of synthetic fragrance exposure is hazardous to our health.
Simply adding a pleasant smelling synthetic chemical to our bodies and air will not only affect our own health, but the health of the people (and pets!) who share the air with us.
The History of “Fragrance"
Trying to link the past with the present fragrance industry unfortunately reveals a radical disconnect and departure from the original therapeutic purpose and use of pure essential oils.
Today’s synthetic fragrances are a far cry from the healing balms treasured so much by the ancient world that some were worth more than gold.
Instead of being medicinal, today’s fragranced products are associated with diabetes, obesity, autism, ADD/ADHD and hormone disruption.1 Sadly, the person wearing or using the fragrance is not the only one affected. Synthetic fragrance affects air quality for those sharing the space as well.
It is twisted irony that the word fragrance has now gained infamy as the new secondhand smoke when the etymology of the word perfume comes from the Latin phrase, “per” meaning “through” and “fumus” meaning “smoke”.
The emerging awareness of this very “volatile” situation reveals problems much more pervasive and dangerous than tobacco smoke.2
Even washing clothes in detergents and fabric softeners containing synthetic fragrances releases toxic synthetic chemicals onto the skin and into the air all day. At night, sleeping in pajamas and on sheets washed in the same toxic materials has the same effect. People are immersed in synthetic fragrances 24 hours each day.
For more information, read:
Secondhand Fragrance
When people go to a public place, they are sharing what is now being called “secondhand fragrance”.
This is the combination of synthetic chemicals being released into the public air space from air fresheners, cleaning products, and scented candles, plus all the products people are wearing (from hair spray, shampoo, clothes, to perfume, etc). Everyone is involuntarily breathing contaminated air even if they choose to not wear fragranced products.
It’s time to clear the air and prioritize human health, not economic interest. Already, cities like Detroit have created Fragrance Free Zones, where perfume and aftershave are discouraged.
There is a growing tension between two fiercely opposing camps: the National Perfumers Guild and Fragrance Houses versus the “Anti-Fragrance Activists.”3
What could be wrong with a beautiful fragrance? Nothing, if it is a genuine and authentic plant derived, unadulterated wildcrafted or organic essential oil processed without solvents. These oils have been effectively used for fragrance throughout history.
However, since World War II, inexpensive, synthetic chemicals can produce fragrances that are abundantly available and can be terribly toxic.
What’s Actually in A Fragranced Product?
Today, fragrance is the elephant in the room. “Fragrance” or “parfum” on an ingredient list actually represents a trade secret synthetic fragrance recipe that could be made up of not just one or two synthetic chemicals, but hundreds of synthetic chemicals.4
These synthetic chemicals are selected from a reservoir of 3,163 ingredients.5 And of this large number of ingredients, none of them actually have to be disclosed or tested for safety.6
According to an Environmental Working Group (EWG) study, 72% of products with the ingredient "fragrance" contained endocrine disruptors called phthalates.7
Phthalates have been linked to diabetes, obesity, liver and breast cancer, hormone disruption affecting fertility and development as well as linked to ADHD and Autism in first and third trimester prenatal exposure.
The National Academy of Sciences, working with an expert panel, stated that there may be cancer-causing ingredients in fragrance recipes.8 Unfortunately, because of secrecy and a lack of transparency in labeling, there is really no way for a consumer to make informed decisions about fragranced products.9
Up to 95% of the synthetic chemicals used to make fragrance recipes are derived from petrochemicals.10 These particular ingredients are known carcinogens (cause cancer), neurotoxins (cause nervous system disorders), asthmagens (cause asthma), obesogens (cause weight gain and metabolic disorders), endocrine disruptors, and cause birth defects, and allergies.11
To make matters even worse for the unsuspecting public, many products labeled as “unscented” are actually the fragranced product with the addition of another synthetic masking fragrance.12
What About Natural Fragrance or Essential Oils?
Unfortunately, "natural fragrance" or “essential oil” on an ingredient list does not necessarily mean it is safe.
In a study analyzing 25 top selling products, researchers found that the “green”, natural, and organic fragranced products emitted just as many hazardous chemicals as regular fragranced products.13 That’s because most essential oils in consumer products are processed with a toxic solvent.
In addition, essential oils containing terpenes such as pine and citrus oils react with ozone in surrounding air to create secondary pollutants such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, and ultrafine particles.14, 15
To ensure safety, essential oils in products should be verified as organic and wildcrafted and extracted without solvents. 16, 17
How Can We Help Protect the Public?
Fragranced products are harmful to our health. Babies, children, the elderly, and those with cancer or other chronic illness are particularly at risk.
The current demand for products that “smell good” reflects the misinformed innocence of consumers.
Awareness of this issue is in its infancy, but the good news is that action is already being taken to pave the way in educating and protecting the public.
The American Lung Association has created a fragrance-free policy for workplaces and for schools. Harvard University teaching hospital is a model for promoting fragrance-free policies in their hospital. Brigham and Women’s Hospital has even initiated a campaign for fragrance-free health care.
The best way for individuals to influence the fragrance industry is at the cash register - this will ultimately provide the impetus for change in the marketplace.
Be proactive and only buy products that are unscented or have pure, safe wildcrafted or organic essential oils processed without solvents.
Even just removing all products with synthetic fragrance as an ingredient will immediately improve air quality in your home. Take charge of your family’s health and wellbeing – ditch these synthetic chemicals.
Also: to have a healthy, fragrance-free home, it's important to use human-safe cleaning practices.
Check out Branch Basic's Premium Starter Kit to begin ditching the toxins in your home, and read about the cleaning tools you can use to create a happy, healthy household.
Marilee Nelson
Marilee Nelson is an Environmental Toxins expert who has spent nearly 30 years advocating for the chemically-sensitive and chronically-ill. She is a Board Certified Nutritionist, Certified Bau-Biologist and Bau-Biology Inspector and specializes in Food As Medicine. She has helped thousands of families and individuals identify, heal and recover from toxic exposures and is on a mission to revolutionize the way American families view their health.
