The May June 2015 issue of Costco’s magazine had an article about scent marketing.
The Economist had an interesting article in 2007 regarding manipulative chemical use.
Women’s Voices For the Earth has several reports about fragrances and the fragrance industry.
Why should you be concerned? Read on:
Posted in Air Quality, Brain, Environmental Health, Fragrance, Health, Human Rights, Neurotoxicity, Pollution, Public Health, Toxic Trespass
Tagged allergies, asthma, autism, cancer, Chemicals, child health, fibromyalgia, fragrance chemicals, hazardous air pollutants, IAQ, manipulation, marketing, MCS, petrochemicals, shopping
I can’t get this out of my mind, as it really brings into focus why so many people have become chronically ill, and are dying younger from devastating new health problems and increasingly early deaths (including suicides), because our true health and well-being is not profitable, and therefore what is needed is not available.
When access to safe, non-toxic, healthy air to breathe, water to drink, homes to live in, clothing to wear, health care, and other necessities of life are denied to so many people because everything that is manufactured now is made with so many toxic chemicals, including our food, because our current system allows corporations to pollute us for profit, without paying any of the costs (some of which are priceless), when the environment we depend on for life is destroyed and treated like a garbage dump, (as are our minds and bodies) then we are not going to survive as a species for much longer.
When 10% of the population is hoarding 87.7% of the global asset pie, and when 90% of us have just 12.3% of the pie, how many have no access to pie at all?
This has to change if we are to have future human generations on this planet, the only place which is uniquely suitable to provide what we need to live healthy, loving lives, if only we would respect and care for it and each other!
Think about this, over and over again, until it sinks in…
When 80 people own 50% of the world’s assets, then everyone else (the other 7.3 billion people who live on this planet) have to share the other 50%. (Oxfam, 2015)
That is, 7.3 BILLION people share 1/2 of the pie, while just 80 people share the other half… but it gets worse:
“Since the release of the Oxfam report in January, Credit Suisse released a new report validating the concern for the acceleration of global income disparity as the richest ten percent of people now hold 87.7 percent of all wealth.”
Meaning some portion of 90% of the population have 12.3% of the global pie…
This is a very graphic view of what is wrong in the world today, why so many people are seriously sick and dying at astonishingly younger ages (as several new reports this year show), and why so many of us don’t have access to even very basic needs.
I believe that we can work together to bring things back into harmony with each other and the planet that supports our lives and existence.
We have to act now to change this, and it starts with reconnecting with our hearts!
“Sensitive” humans are not defective or here to inconvenience you.
…
Some canary history:
“Carbon monoxide, a potentially deadly gas devoid of color, taste or smell, can form underground during a mine fire or after a mine explosion.
Today’s coal miners must rely on carbon monoxide detectors and monitors to recognize its presence underground. However, before the availability of modern detection devices, miners turned to Mother Nature for assistance.
Canaries — and sometimes mice — were used to alert miners to the presence of the poisonous gas. Following a mine fire or explosion, mine rescuers would descend into the mine carrying a canary in a small wooden or metal cage.
Any sign of distress from the canary was a clear signal that the conditions underground were unsafe, prompting a hasty return to the surface.
Posted in Air Quality, Chemicals, Ecocide, Environmental Health, Human Rights, Pollution, Public Health, Toxic Trespass
Tagged allergies, asthma, autism, canaries, cancer, environmental sensitivities, fibromyalgia, fragrance chemicals, IAQ, MCS, MCS/ES, multiple chemical sensitivities, multiple chemical sensitivity, petrochemicals, sensitive to pollution, wireless dangers
Smoke and chemicals (such as fragrances, air “fresheners”, laundry products, pesticides, and other VOCs) do not respect property lines as they travel throughout space, often making others quite sick, even disabling them in their own homes. This is especially a problem in multi-unit housing, and where housing units are built close together.
This is also a very serious accessibility issue for people with MCS/ES, as there are few affordable housing options available, and most of these put people at risk of further harm due to indoor air pollution issues, despite HUD and other federal agencies in the US and Canada recognizing MCS/ES as a disability that needs to be accommodated.
The following webinar is about addressing smoke, but the issues are applicable to other forms of indoor air pollutants as well. It should also be available as a podcast later.
For those of you who are interested and able, the webinar is being offered on Wed, Aug 5, 2015 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EDT by the Asthma Community Network
Breathing Easy at Home: Partnering to Increase Smoke-Free Policies in Federally Assisted Housing
More info: Continue reading
Here’s yet another scientific report about how dangerous chemicals and VOCs are being released from the everyday cleaning products most people use in their homes!
Environmental Defense (Canada) recently released their report THE DIRTY TRUTH, which found that products from some of the biggest cleaning brands (Mr. Clean, Clorox, Lysol, Windex, and PineSol ) pollute the air in Canadians’ homes with harmful chemicals. (Note that these products are not significantly, if at all different in the US, but the EU does have some bans on ingredient that are still allowed here).
ED’s The Dirty Truth follows hot on the heels of Women’s Voices For the Earth’s DEEP CLEAN report, and while both of these reports name names, they had a slightly different focus.
In Deep Clean, Women’s Voices For the Earth graded four major cleaning product manufacturers based on key indicators to expose their commitment to product safety: Product Ingredient Disclosure, Responsiveness to Consumer Concerns, Toxic Chemical Screening Process and Removal of WVE’s Chemicals of Concern.
Dr. Anne Steinemann’s research from earlier this year did not name product names, but she named numerous harmful volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) that the many popular products she tested do release into the air we breathe.
One has to wonder why this is allowed to be going on?
We should not be subjected to harmful industrial pollutants in our own homes!
.
“Our new report found that products from some of the biggest cleaning brands (Mr. Clean, Clorox, Lysol, Windex, and PineSol ) pollute the air in Canadians’ homes with harmful chemicals called Volatile Organic Compounds. These chemicals have been linked to respiratory problems such as asthma and lower IQs.”
.
Volatile Organic Compounds and Your Health
Posted in Accessibility, Air Quality, Brain, Chemicals, Environmental Health, Health, Pollution, Products
Tagged allergies, asthma, autism, cancer, cleaning, cleaning products, dangerous chemicals, hazardous air pollutants, IAQ, MCS, petrochemicals, science, toxic trespass, VOCs
If only the air was in the blue range all the time!
.
When air is polluted both indoors and out, when people use fragrances and other products with toxic chemicals, when we are made ill and disabled by the pollutants, then we can’t wait for better regulations to take effect, we need to do something to protect our health now.
Sometimes we can buy masks that work for us, especially if we tolerate synthetic materials, but sometimes making our own is the only way. When we make our own, we can use safe-for-us fabrics and even coordinate them to our outfits (if we’re lucky enough to have safe-to-wear outfits).
Some people use scarves as masks. You can sew a pouch on the inside to hold filtering Continue reading
Posted in Air Quality, Environmental Health, Fashion, Health, Pollution, Precaution
Tagged allergies, asthma, chemicals in clothing, DIY, face mask, filter, fragrance chemicals, fragrance-free, hazardous air pollutants, indoor air pollution, MCS, MCS/ES, multiple chemical sensitivities, petrochemicals, sensitive to pollution, sew, toxic chemicals, toxic trespass
Some of us have gone to great lengths to encourage others to use fragrance-free products, especially for laundry, as many of the chemicals in fragrances cause such disabling effects for us.
Not only that, but fragranced laundry products pollute entire neighbourhoods with hazardous chemicals when pumped out of dryer vents (which were designed to emit moisture, not toxic chemicals), meaning that we (and others with asthma, migraines, COPD, etc) can’t sit or work outside in our gardens, open our windows for fresh air, or go for walks safely when other people are doing laundry with regular commercial products (and when are they not?), because we could be felled at any time from the emissions.
Much to our chagrin, many of us have discovered that some fragrance-free products can also make us dizzy, cause breathing difficulties like asthma, create cognitive confusion and memory problems, give us headaches, chemical hangovers, and more.
This has caused all kinds of difficulties, not just for us, but for the people who switched products only to discover that their efforts were not “good enough” for us.
“Can’t they EVER be happy? Why are they still complaining?”
Anne Steinemann’s recently published research regarding VOCs emitted from regular personal care, cleaning, and laundry products, (the popular ones used by most people in the “developed” world) sheds some much needed light on the problems.
So what did she find?
Posted in Air Quality, Chemicals, Environment, Health, MCS/ES, Pollution, Public Health
Tagged allergies, asthma, carcinogens, chemical pollution, chemicals in laundry products, cleaning, confusion, dizziness, essential oils, fire hazard, fragrance-free, green, hazardous air pollutants, headaches, laundry, non-toxic, Products, rashes, toxic
Freshening the air is big business these days. Polluting the air is also very profitable. Sadly, it’s usually similar chemicals polluting the air as are in the substances sold to “freshen” it.
What does fresh air smell like?
Posted in Air Quality, Chemicals, Environmental Health, Fragrance, Health, Pollution
Tagged air purifiers, allergies, asthma, cancer, Chemicals, chronic health problems, environmental sensitivities, fresh, hazardous air pollutants, IAQ, indoor air quality, revolutionary, sensitive to pollution, toxic, toxic chemicals, toxic textiles
I have heard that new ads are out and insinuating people will somehow feel richer merely by inhaling mysterious blends of chemicals. Please don’t be fooled. Seriously.
“Unstopables … will add an indulgent level of luxurious scent to every load of your laundry. Add as much as you wish for up to 12 weeks* of scent enhancement so you can smell like the lifestyle you—and your wardrobe—deserve.”
They fail to mention that your neighbors who get migraines may think that the “scent enhancement” emanating from your dryer vent (which was designed to emit moisture, not chemicals) is not such a good thing for them, their asthmatic children, or for their aging parents who have lung disease and whose window is yards from your vent.
Apparently we also don’t deserve to know what we’d be inhaling if we use these things! P&G will only refer us to the self-regulated fragrance industry’s voluntarily disclosed list of over 3000 ingredients, most of which are petroleum derived. (Scroll down for a PDF of the list, which took quite a bit of sleuthing around their other website to find).
I’ve designed a few new ads for them, simplifying some of their marketing messages into plain English for you :
There’s more, much more…
Posted in Accessibility, Air Quality, Brain, Environmental Health, Fibromyalgia, Fragrance, Health, Human Rights, Indoor Air Quality, Pollution, Products
Tagged allergies, asthma, barriers to access, brain fog, brain injury, buzz, cancer, Chemicals, child health, cognitive problems, drugs, EDCs, Fragrance, fragrance-free policy, hazardous air pollutants, hormones, images, impaired, inhalants, laundry, luxurious scent, MCS, MCS/ES, petrochemicals, phthalates, toxic chemicals, toxic trespass
 | linda @ Seriously "S… on MCS/ES |
| linda @ Seriously "S… on The CDC and MCS |
 | Tabatha Schnorr on MCS/ES |
| Tabatha Schnorr on The CDC and MCS |
| linda @ Seriously "S… on MCS and Housing |
| linda @ Seriously "S… on Hospital Protocols for People… |
Seriously "Sensitive" to Pollution 