TOXICS INFORMATION PROJECT (TIP)

P.O. Box 40572, Providence, RI 02940

Tel. 401-351-9193, E-Mail: TIP@toxicsinfo.org

Website:  www.toxicsinfo.org

(Sharing Information on Toxics in Everyday Life

& Providing Healthier Alternatives)

 

No Perfume Means Healthier Air!

 

http://www.ourlittleplace.com/noperfume.html

 

Perfume today is not made from flowers but from toxic chemicals. It's about as romantic as hazardous waste.

More than 4,000 chemicals are used in fragrances. Of these, 95% are made from petroleum.

No agency regulates the fragrance industry, yet perfume chemicals are as damaging to health as tobacco smoke.

 

Some toxic chemicals found in fragrances:

Toluene, ethanol, acetone, formaldehyde, limonene, benzene derivatives, methylene chloride, and many others known to cause cancer, birth defects, infertility, nervous system damage, or other injuries.  The EPA found chloroform as well in fabric softeners.

 

As Romantic as Hazardous Waste

Toluene was found in every fragrance sample collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a 1991 report.   "Toluene was most abundant in the auto parts store as well as the fragrance section of the department store."  Toluene has been proven to cause cancer and nervous system damage and is designated as hazardous waste.

 

Not Just in a Perfume Bottle

There is a dramatic increase in people who are made sick by fragrances because so many products are now scented.  Babies and children are even more vulnerable, as are people who are trying to recover from cancer and other illnesses.

Chemical fragrances are present in most laundry detergents, fabric softeners, anti-cling products, dish-washing liquids, disinfectants, soaps, shampoos and other hair products, deodorants, cosmetics, suntan/sunscreen lotions, aftershaves, colognes, incense, analgesic creams, and lip balms.  Even products marked "unscented" often are falsely labelled and actually contain toxic fragrances.

 

Perfume Pollutes

Using environmentally-safe products is as important as recycling.   If everyone stopped buying unsafe, chemically-scented products, companies would stop making them, ending a lot of unnecessary pollution.

 

Scents and Illness

Exposure to scented products can cause exhaustion, weakness, "hay fever" symptoms, dizziness, difficulty concentrating, headaches, rashes, swollen lymph glands, muscle aches and spasms, heart palpitations, nausea, stomach cramps, vomiting, asthma attacks (inability to breathe), neuromotor dysfunction, seizures, and loss of consciousness.

MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivities) is caused by overexposure to toxic chemicals.  Even if you don't feel the effects yet, your health is still being damaged, and you will develop MCS or other illnesses if you continue to be exposed to toxic chemicals.

If you aren't already sick from chemical exposure and you're still using scented products, do you want to gamble on how much longer you have before your body can no longer cope with the toluene and other poisons in them?

 

DON'T LET YOUR INABILITY TO ELIMINATE ALL TOXINS FROM YOUR LIFE STOP YOU FROM DOING WHAT YOU CAN.  

If you are still healthy, efforts you make now can help you prevent getting chronically ill or getting MCS yourself.  And you will save money by not using products that are unnecessary.