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[The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.]
Laundry detergents and air fresheners have long promised to keep your house and clothes smelling sunshine fresh and rain shower clean. But what they haven't said is what exactly you're sniffing when you snuggle up in your just-washed sheets. After hearing from people who said strong scents made them sick, University of Washington researcher Anne Steinemann scratched the surface and found almost a hundred chemicals that weren't listed on the labels. According to her report in the journal Environmental Impact Assessment Review, plug-in air fresheners, scented sprays, dryer sheets and detergents all contained a mixture of volatile organic compounds.
Since manufacturers aren't required to list their ingredients for such consumer products, the boxes only admitted to containing a "mixture of perfume oils." But five out of the six products Steinemann tested emitted one or more so-called hazardous air pollutants, which are carcinogens determined to have no safe exposure level by the EPA. While the study did not test for any human health risk from exposure to these chemicals, Steinemenn says the next time the air in the house smells stale, maybe you just open a window.
—Adam Hinterthuer
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12 Comments
Add CommentAnd don't even ask about that stuff you spray on your cats and dogs!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAbout ten years ago, my brother-in-law had the carwash spray extra freshner in his car, then drove in the car with the windows up on his way home for a good thirty minutes. He got sick that night and had serious problems with his lungs every day for the rest of his life, most of which had him on oxygen round the clock. In fairness, this probably aggrevated other health issues with him, but the first point is that the chemicals had a serious, visible, immediate impact on his lungs. The second point is that this isn't new. When my sister investigated she found that people were complaining then about the chemicals involved. How far back do the complaints go? And why are there still no regulations? Where are the lawyers? I can't believe they are missing this opportunity to act on the behalf of the welfare of the public. =)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is a matter for the FDA U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Protecting and Promoting Your Health) -.Not for attitudes precipitated and biased induced for one fashionable "study". What about ours minds? Are we presupposed hippies? (No artificial scents! No civilization!) We are minds free for accept healthier products and reject the bad ones. However, who can say us, and in what bases, it is good and it is not? We need objectives and clear orientations, not embark in least insinuations of studies . Nevertheless, the effort scientific to comprehend our world is valid, we not can permit that something bad explained take us in attitudes like Mary go with others .
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am severely allergic to most laundry detergents, as is my father and both of my kids. When we try to get details from the producers about what is in them, we are stonewalled by the excuse of "proprietary information." So we use only one detergent and hope that it never goes out of production. There is no way for us to know if we are allergic to a main ingredient or one of the hundreds of possible additives.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisyea too bad the FDA doesnt care about anything except its own pockets and status. If they go against big pharma they will lose their jobs, like if you are a supreme court judge and dissagree with what the bush administration says, you get "removed" from duty. So yea FDA has never and will never protect the people, but rather push its own agenda (which is usually backed up by millions $$)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is a sick industry , too bad all other industries are the same as this. American people are sicker than ever, and it is because of these publicly "unknown" (yet privately known but not discussed due to the implications it would have for said companies product.) Basically noone wants their product pulled off shelves cus that means no revenue and isnt revenue all life is about? And if you say no its because you do not work for a large corporation and have a executive position.
Sad and abrasileirosilva defends this crap....just cus they "approve" things, doesnt mean they are safe for us. The word SAFE has a definition, which you can get around, and still use the word. (American law and legallity is a magical thing that can be shaped into whatever you want for the right price (the right price buys the right congressmen/senators/officials. Heck you can even become president of the united states if you have enough connections and money! .)
And there is nothing you or i can do. You will have to sue them for anything to happen. Their lawyers will prolong the case for 10 - 15 years if they dont get you to settle for 5 million in cash, which to them is like leaving 3 pennies at the local food mart.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLook at Exxon, the Valdez spill was so horrendous! They lost in court, had to pay BILLION!!!! its been 15 years or something? THey have not paid a PENNY of that to this day. A few months ago or a year ago they went back to court, pleaded to the judges for leniency, and it was dropped to like 27 million dollars.....They make 40 million dollars a day or something rediculous like that. They are raising our GAS to astronomical prices. The more oil they get, the more they raise prices... and the government does not care, because most politicians are invited to extravagant balls for these industries and recieve compensation in the form of donations for their support. And its legal, completely legal in our government system. It is no longer the democracy it was ... since 1940's the elite have realized that if Hitler can take over so many people, why cant they? The Bush family has been in business since the early 1900's and even back then they publicly pushed for a greater government and expansion of the US way of life. Not only as freedom, but as assimilating the world. The system is rigged, to holy hell. They keep using believing what they wnt, not what is happening. THey tell us we are helping people when we are mudering and destroying peoples homes and ancestry. For you to have a banana 10 africans had to die in a labor camp. But thats fine because you get to have your banana and you dont need to know how it got there.
Basically until you want to stop the evil bullcrap in the world, getting rid of sprays and aircans and air freshners that cause harm is only a tiny branch ont he tree. And each branch protects the other. Because in the end they all stem from the same roots and the same group of people that control the whole system. Dont believe it, but look at all the coincidences, of vietnam, 9/11, so many things that are not publicly known because CNN sputters the same crap of russia attacking georgia first when in truth it was georgia that fired upon the russian embassy. They use TV as a form of brain washing, since you only hear one side of the story, as did the germans that we call nazis, who did not fight but were at home working and living without any of this affecting them, except the fact they lived in that country and had nazi flags up on their walls, patriots!
just makes me sick and scared because there is nothing i can do, there is nothing you can do. There is nothing anyone can do. This will keep happening long after were all dead, and the new generations take control. All we can do is hope that someone sees through all the bullshit and decides to make a change with the power that they have, the power that can so easily be taken away (the kennedys, martin luther king.)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPower is having people side with you, people are power.
That is the only thing they fear, that is why they control what we can watch and make you believe what you read on the internet is not true, because they cannot control it!
Be smart, make your own decision! Dont let someone else do it for you, no matter what they show you or say, do research on it!
could you post some of the chemicals contained please?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCan I excerpt this article to my blog?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSpam99 - Wow! Do you wear foil on your head to keep the aliens out? There has long been a gap in protective coverage between the FDA and the EPA and ATFA. People are aware of it and are working to divide up the responsibility properly. The reason this moves slowly is that the solution has to be based on facts and not spastic rumor mongering. There is something anyone can do - don't use suspect products. I don't use dryer sheets or airfresheners. You can stop using them too. Talk to your federal level legislators about your concerns. Stop being a defeatist loser.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisabrasileirosilva - Please hire a translator. Your post completely failed to convey meaning. I think you were saying that it is ok if products kill people as long as the people don't mind. That is one of the stupidest things I've ever read so I'm sure it can't be what you meant.
All you excuse-me for my faulty English. I like am using it very much. However, like said the president of the US, excusing himself, when criticized for his faulty Spanish: one language need to be used. His reply was in a tone very sympathetic, and I appreciated it. In Brazil, we speak Portuguese nevertheless. I like America too, for all it has of good. America is about Capitalism, towing Democracy, Freedom of Speech, Rights of Consumers, Progress and Work, Science and Technology, and much more. America has great institutions, among others FDA, Congress, Supreme Court, the Press, etc. Say it for me is normal and I not consider ask permission to nobody for that purpose. Corruption? It is an evil all over the world! Perfection? Perhaps you should encounter it in the paradise, if you have religious faith! Permit say to all you that I think my English is faulty but incomprehensible it is not. One thing more: we need open minds and good judgments for not act like Mary go with others (precipitated) when confronted with novelties in the press, notwithstanding it is a scientific study. Thanks to Scientific America for the space; thanks to you readers for the attention, and excuses for not intended bad comprehension.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI cannot handle any kind of fragrance because I am chemical sensitive, better known as multiple chemical sensitivity. Some people don't believe anything about this stuff. That air fresheners, fabric softener sheets and all the other products out there can cause health problems. Almost anywhere I go, someone has a fragrance in their place. And I have preached about the chemicals, but some don't think it is harmful. I really wish we can do something about this.
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