Behind the Label: Air Fresheners
Do you like to freshen up your house with a good squirt of air freshener or get your elbow behind some spray polish? Beware, that waft of scent can mask a multitude of harmful ingredients.
Not all labels are easy to look behind. Household products such as cleaners, polishes and air fresheners are not obliged to list their ingredients and from a health perspective this maybe a costly omission.
In spite of their name, air fresheners do not freshen the air. Instead strong long-lasting perfumes mask odours while other chemical ingredients alter your sense of smell making it less acute.
In Britain, our air fresheners generate sales of around £300 million annually. In America, 80 per cent of households use ‘home fragrances’ regularly and spend around $8.4 billion (£4,700 million) a year. SC Johnson (Glade), Sara Lee (Ambi-Pur) and Reckitt Benckiser (Air Wick) are the market leaders around the globe.
30 – 40 per cent of air freshener purchases are driven by what marketeers call “home cleaning replacement”. Timestrapped, people clean less often or less thoroughly, and so use air fresheners to give a ‘just-cleaned’ impression. The promise of luxury and a quick-fix mood enhancement also boost sales.
Yet in 1999 a British survey of 14,000 pregnant women concluded that frequent use of household aerosol sprays and air fresheners was making women and babies ill.
The study, reported in New Scientist, found that women who used aerosols and air fresheners most days suffered 25 per cent more headaches and 19 per cent more postnatal depression than those who used them less than once a week; their babies had 30 per cent more ear infections and more frequent diarrhoea. The same scientists updated their findings this year in the Archives of Environmental Medicine, with much the same results.
Earlier this year the Bureau European des Unions de Consommateurs (BEUC) published a comparative study into home fragrances and measured the concentration of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and aldehydes in the air after their use. VOCs and aldehydes are potent neurotoxins that attack the central and peripheral nervous systems. The study found that air fresheners released toxins such as acetaldehyde, styrene, toluene, glycol ethers, phthalates and artificial musk into the air. Traces of formaldehyde and benzene were also found.
In many cases levels of potent toxins such as acetaldehyde, styrene, toluene, chlorobenzene, glycol ethers, phthalates and artificial musk into the air were much higher than the ‘safe’ VOC dose of 200 µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre). In some cases they were as high ash 4000– 5000 µg/m3. Traces of formaldehyde and benzene were also found.
The report had a profound effect on consumers. So much so that Sara Lee took the BEUC to court claiming a 30 per cent drop in sales. The Dutch courts accepted Sara Lee’s claim that amounts of each chemical in individual products were low and that ‘normal use’ of air fresheners was not a health risk.
Sara Lee’s argument, of course, failed to take into account the cocktail effect of different VOCs in a single product, the specific vulnerability of children and pregnant women or the persistent nature of many of these chemicals. It also failed to take into account the changing definition of ‘normal use’ from an occasional spray to continuous release devices or the sheer volume of ambient fragrances we come into contact with each day.
Sidebar: Common ingredients
Acetaldehyde
Fragrance constituent, also known as ethanal
Eyes, skin and respiratory irritation; probable carcinogen; flammable. Acetaldehyde is also emitted by cars, factories and cigarettes.
Styrene
Solvent, fragrance constituent
Skin and respiratory irritation; depression, poor concentration, muscle weakness, tiredness, nausea; liver and kidney damage. Reproductive toxin in animals, leukaemia with occupational exposure. Probable human carcinogen.
Toluene
Solvent, fragrance constituent, also known as methylbenzene or phenylmethane
Intoxicating, nausea-inducing. Chronic or frequent inhalation can lead to irreversible brain damage. Flammable.
Chlorobenzene
Fragrance constituent
Anaesthetic effects and impaired liver and kidney function; central nervous system damage.
Solvents
Dissolve, dilute and mix together fragrance chemicals
Liver and kidney damage; birth defects and nervous system disorders; increased risk of Parkinson’s disease. All solvents are hazardous; problems develop slowly over time with chronic low-level exposure. Common fragrance solvents include acetone (see also ketones) or ethanol.
Formaldehyde
Preservative
Alters sense of smell. Ear, nose and throat irritation; skin rashes, headaches and persistent flu-like symptoms. Wheezing, asthma and chronic bronchitis, especially in children. Insomnia, impaired memory and poor concentration, nausea and menstrual irregularities. Suspected human carcinogen.
Glycol ethers
Solvents, also known as cellosolves
Dermatitis and hyperpigmentation; oedema; photosensitization. Common glycol ethers in air fresheners include diethylene glycol ethyl ether and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether.
Benzene
Solvent, fragrance constituent
Eye, nose and throat irritation; headaches, loss of appetite, loss of coordination, drowsiness, nervousness and psychological disturbances. Frequent inhalation can lead to cataracts and blood disorders (such as anaemia), and lymphatic as well as bone marrow diseases such as leukaemia in animals. Mutagenic (capable of causing DNA mutations).
HCFCs (hydrochlorfluorcarbons), propane, butane, isobutane
Propellants
Nervous system disorders, skin, eye, throat and lung irritation and liver damage. Highly flammable.
Phthalates
Fragrance constituents
Hormone disrupting reproductive toxins; early puberty in girls, late puberty in boys. Potential carcinogens.
Artificial musks
Fragrance
Hormone-disrupting, reproductive toxins; persistent, bio-accumulative; hazardous to wildlife and aquatic organisms.
NOTE: Space restrictions prohibit full referencing, however Behind the Label draws on data from published studies and reports in medical, scientifi c and trade journals, government sponsored databases (e.g. the US National Library of Medicine) and relevant Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS).
Sidebar: Alternatives
You don’t need air fresheners and the best alternative is not to buy them at all. Simply keeping your home clean and well ventilated solves most odour problems. If you absolutely must spray then make sure you are using natural essential oils and pump, rather than aerosol, sprays:
Oshadhi Home Fragrances
www.oshadhi.co.uk
Greenfibres home fragrances
www.greenfibres.com
Mother Earth Room sprays
www.theremustbeabetterway.co.uk
Molo Africa Natural Room Spray
www.auravita.com
Air Scense
www.21stcenturyhealth.co.uk
This article first appeared in the Ecologist December 2005/January 2006 edition.
