Volatile chemicals in consumer products such as air fresheners, laundry detergents, fabric softeners, and dryer sheets may be hazardous.
Throw Household Products off the Scent
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In addition to meat, exposure to common household chemicals may exacerbate or induce allergies, asthma, and eczema. Researchers at Harvard and all around the world collected air samples from where children slept, and demonstrated for the first time that the bedroom concentration of propylene glycol and glycol ethers was significantly associated with an elevated risk of multiple allergic symptoms, runny nose, and eczema. This class of chemical compounds is found in cleaning fluids, paint, pesticides, PVC pipes, varnishes, and may be one of the reasons we’ve seen an increase in these kinds of diseases around the world over the last few decades.
Recently, researchers put a few consumer products to the test: air fresheners, a laundry detergent, fabric softener, dryer sheets—each with annual sales over $100 million. Six products; nearly a hundred volatile chemicals identified, though none were listed on the labels; it usually just says something like “fragrance.” And ten of the chemicals they found are regulated as toxic or hazardous—with three officially classified as hazardous air pollutants.
For example, the fabric softener they tested. On the label, it just says “biodegradable fabric softening agents.” And it even smells like mom, when she leans in for a good night kiss. But this is what they really found, including the carcinogenic hazardous air pollutant acetaldehyde.
What about if you just stick to the naturally scented products? Even products advertised as green, natural, organic emitted as many hazardous chemicals as standard ones. For example, a soap boasting pure essential oils and organic tea infusions also contained all of these.
Yeah, but what if you somehow know for certain it’s all just natural— like the limonene, right? That’s a real phytochemical found in real citrus. Until it photo-oxidizes with ozone in ambient air to form dangerous secondary pollutants, including formaldehyde.
When it comes to consumer products, the best smell is no smell.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by MaryAnn Allison.
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- Knutsen SF. Lifestyle and the use of health services. Am J Clin Nutr. 1994 May;59(5 Suppl):1171S-1175S.
- Choi H, Schmidbauer N, Sundell J, Hasselgren M, Spengler J, Bornehag CG. Common household chemicals and the allergy risks in pre-school age children. PLoS One. 2010 Oct 18;5(10):e13423.
- Steinemann AC. Fragranced consumer products and undisclosed ingredients. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 29 (2009) 32–38.
- Steinemann AC. 2009. From Shelf to Sound: Hidden and Hazardous Chemicals in Everyday Products.
- Potera C. Scented products emit a bouquet of VOCs. Environ Health Perspect. 2011 Jan;119(1):A16.
Image thanks to Avani Tanya via flickr. Image has been modified.
In addition to meat, exposure to common household chemicals may exacerbate or induce allergies, asthma, and eczema. Researchers at Harvard and all around the world collected air samples from where children slept, and demonstrated for the first time that the bedroom concentration of propylene glycol and glycol ethers was significantly associated with an elevated risk of multiple allergic symptoms, runny nose, and eczema. This class of chemical compounds is found in cleaning fluids, paint, pesticides, PVC pipes, varnishes, and may be one of the reasons we’ve seen an increase in these kinds of diseases around the world over the last few decades.
Recently, researchers put a few consumer products to the test: air fresheners, a laundry detergent, fabric softener, dryer sheets—each with annual sales over $100 million. Six products; nearly a hundred volatile chemicals identified, though none were listed on the labels; it usually just says something like “fragrance.” And ten of the chemicals they found are regulated as toxic or hazardous—with three officially classified as hazardous air pollutants.
For example, the fabric softener they tested. On the label, it just says “biodegradable fabric softening agents.” And it even smells like mom, when she leans in for a good night kiss. But this is what they really found, including the carcinogenic hazardous air pollutant acetaldehyde.
What about if you just stick to the naturally scented products? Even products advertised as green, natural, organic emitted as many hazardous chemicals as standard ones. For example, a soap boasting pure essential oils and organic tea infusions also contained all of these.
Yeah, but what if you somehow know for certain it’s all just natural— like the limonene, right? That’s a real phytochemical found in real citrus. Until it photo-oxidizes with ozone in ambient air to form dangerous secondary pollutants, including formaldehyde.
When it comes to consumer products, the best smell is no smell.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by MaryAnn Allison.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Knutsen SF. Lifestyle and the use of health services. Am J Clin Nutr. 1994 May;59(5 Suppl):1171S-1175S.
- Choi H, Schmidbauer N, Sundell J, Hasselgren M, Spengler J, Bornehag CG. Common household chemicals and the allergy risks in pre-school age children. PLoS One. 2010 Oct 18;5(10):e13423.
- Steinemann AC. Fragranced consumer products and undisclosed ingredients. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 29 (2009) 32–38.
- Steinemann AC. 2009. From Shelf to Sound: Hidden and Hazardous Chemicals in Everyday Products.
- Potera C. Scented products emit a bouquet of VOCs. Environ Health Perspect. 2011 Jan;119(1):A16.
Image thanks to Avani Tanya via flickr. Image has been modified.
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Title
Throw Household Products off the Scent
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
Check out my other videos on allergies as well as my other videos on asthma.
For more context, see my blog post: Mushrooms and Immunity.
2021 Update: You might be interested in my new video The Effects of Cleaning Products and Air Fresheners on Lung Function.
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