Category Archives: Fragrance

Put Away Your Devices and Look Around

put away your devices

For some of us, this (electronic social media) is all we have to ease our isolation, not because people won’t put down their wireless devices (although this is a factor for reasons not brought up in the video), but because people won’t stop buying and using products made with fragrance and other toxic chemicals.

A lot of people and sites are sharing this video (it has been viewed over 17 million times in the week since it was posted, and with good reason). Too bad there is no mention of the adverse health effects wireless radiation can cause.

What else aren’t we seeing?

We Share the Air Canary

we share the air canary

Choose fragrance-free products. Clean air is fragrance-chemical-free. Fragrance chemicals create an invisible barrier to access for people who are disabled by pollutants and can cause health harm to everyone who breathes.

We share the air! Help keep it clean!

That fragrance? It’s not fresh!

eau de not fresh

That fragrance?  It’s not fresh!

Secret Scents How Hidden Fragrance Allergens Harm Public Health (WVE)

Toxic Chemicals in Fragranced Laundry Products and Health Effects

Toxic Chemicals in Air “Fresheners” and Health Effects

Fragrance Decision Undermines EPA’s DfE Program

Allergic to a World Full of Cats

(check the sidebar and tags for additional links)

Fragrance Decision Undermines EPA’s DfE Program

EPA’s Design for the Environment (DfE) Program (claims to) work “to reduce risk to people and the environment by finding ways to prevent pollution”, yet they recently began allowing DfE-endorsed products to contain fragrances.

Of the first 119 fragrance chemicals okayed for use, 93 have “hazard profile issues” such as being known sensitizers or lacking vital data!!!

“Researchers, pediatricians, and other health experts agree that “Scented chemicals increase risk that some per cent of exposed people will have allergic and hypersensitivity reactions. Allergic and asthmatic children are at especially high risk”

Those of us with MCS/ES, along with many others who now experience adverse or disabling health effects from fragrance chemicals rarely had them before being exposed to some supposedly safe petrochemicals (in everyday use) that tipped our bodies over an edge. For too many of us, it was from fragranced products that we first experienced and continue to experience chronic health problems.

So it is wonderful to see health experts formally urging the EPA to

SAY NO TO FRAGRANCES

No Fragrance

“Pediatricians and respiratory experts, including the American Lung Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, wrote to the EPA Administrator today raising concerns about the health impact of the recent decision of the US EPA’s Design for the Environment program to allow fragrances.”

it is standard environmental health practice to discourage the use of air fresheners, scented products, and fragrances in homes and other indoor spaces.

We were surprised and deeply disappointed to learn that the Agency’s Design for the Environment program (DfE) created a “fragrance” category of chemicals for commercial and consumer cleaning products. The vast majority of chemicals listed — 93 of the 119 total — have “hazard profile issues” because they are identified in one of
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In the News: Toxic Troubles

 

toxic troubles in the news

The evidence (and casualties) are piling up

– Articles about the neurotoxic pandemic
– From Harvard… on Everyday Toxic Trespass
– Powerful article about perfumes  for children
– Pesticides in flea collars harm children too
– Important news about ALL pesticides
– Someday there will be less toxic clothing
– Driveway sealants are bad for Your health
– Doctors can’t be counted on to help treat oil related illnesses
– Illnesses linked to toxic chemicals increase health care costs
– Chemically injured woman has to sleep in a tent
– Some Things We Can Do

Why do we need much better laws and regulations to protect us and future generations?  Have a look at the following articles:

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Allergic to a World Full of Cats?

Warning: This post contains many photos of cats.

What follows is something I thought was a great response by Kristine Kruszelnicki  to someone who trivialized her MCS and compared it to his cat allergy

(shared with her permission, and with many photos of cats added by me):

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How to Enforce a Fragrance-Free Policy

How to Enforce a Fragrance-Free Policy

“Make it clear that the policy applies to everyone”

effective enforcement

WHY?

Fragranced consumer products: exposures and effects from emissions

“Overall, 34.7 % of the population reported one or more types of adverse health effects from exposure to one or more types of fragranced products.”

“72.6 % were not aware that even so-called natural, green, and organic fragranced products typically emit hazardous air pollutants.”

“20.2 % of the population reported that if they enter a business, and smell air fresheners or some fragranced product, they want to leave as quickly as possible.”

“Significantly, 15.1 % of the general population reported that exposure to fragranced products in their work environment has caused them to become sick, lose workdays, or lose a job.”

 

Health and societal effects from exposure to fragranced consumer products (AU)

…”Finally, for public officials, the problem of “secondhand scents,” or indirect exposure to fragranced products, has parallels to secondhand tobacco smoke. Prevention from fragrance product exposure will enable individuals to work in their workplaces, attend school, and function in society without suffering involuntary harm.” …

 

More Resources:

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AXE (LYNX) Axed From Another School!

Children of all ages, as well as teachers, require healthy environments to thrive in. Schools, unfortunately, have notoriously poor indoor air quality.

One thing that contributes to poor IAQ is the use of fragrance chemicals in cleaning products, as well as in personal care and laundry products.

These chemicals do nothing to enhance the air quality, and much to induce cognitive and neurological impairments, sperm damage and respiratory problems.

Boys who overused sprays such as Axe Body Spray have prompted the Brandon School Division to ban perfumes and colognes.

Boys who overused sprays such as Axe Body Spray have prompted the Brandon School Division to ban perfumes and colognes. (Canadian Press) / via CBC

Over-use of these products is not the real problem.

The real problem is that these products contain toxic chemicals and serious allergens, and these chemicals and allergens do not respect personal boundaries or property lines, but trespass into everyone’s air, brains and bodies.

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Video: Secret Toxic Chemicals From the SC Johnson Family to Yours

GREAT spoofed commercial here! Telling it how it is!

Secret Toxic Chemicals: From the SC Johnson Family to Yours

For more info and action you can take:
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The Marketing of Febreze

The Marketing of Febreze
(and Other Ways We’ve Been Had)

The commercials and advertisements we see are almost all carefully crafted by teams of “scientists”so that they have the greatest impact possible, resulting in people believing that we NEED to buy and use these products for our lives to be complete.

Here’s how Febreze was marketed and we the people have been manipulated into buying and using an unnecessary and toxic product.

Some excerpts from an article well worth reading:

Febreze

How Companies Learn Your Secrets

By CHARLES DUHIGG

… “When they got back to P.& G.’s headquarters, the researchers watched their videotapes again. Now they knew what to look for and saw their mistake in scene after scene. Cleaning has its own habit loops that already exist. In one video, when a woman walked into a dirty room (cue), she started sweeping and picking up toys (routine), then she examined the room and smiled when she was done (reward). In another, a woman scowled at her unmade bed (cue), proceeded to straighten the blankets and comforter (routine) and then sighed as she ran her hands over the freshly plumped pillows (reward). P.& G. had been trying to create a whole new habit with Febreze, but what they really needed to do was piggyback on habit loops that were already in place. The marketers needed to position Febreze as something that came at the end of the cleaning ritual, the reward, rather than as a whole new cleaning routine.

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