Ulterior Health

The other title:Preserve That Fresh Smelling Room and Your Body Prior to Your Death at a Fraction of the Cost of Embalming with Air Fresheners

One of the most basic underlying or ulterior causes of health problems is foreign substances the human body is exposed to.

This briefly looks at fragrances in air fresheners, the health risks, the chemicals and potential chemical reactions to ambient substances. Links to the original paper and how to find what chemicals are in your fragrances or soaps.

A recent University of Washington Toxic Chemical Paper had some eye opening information. When you click on the link you can down load the paper in PDF form.

An overview…
The first landmark studies were in 1991-2.

The study analyzed 31 fragranced products like perfumes, deodorants, soaps, fabric softeners, and air fresheners found . The most common risk exposure was found in more than one-third of the products. The chemical list was quite long. It included ethanol, limonene, linalool, ?-phenethyl alcohol, ?-myrcene, benzyl acetate, benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, ?-terpineol, ?-citronellol, and ?-
pinene.

That was over 20 years ago. In a 2001 study analyzed 59 consumer and occupational products. The list included soap, laundry products, dish washing detergents, and cleaners. The study looked at 19 target fragrance compounds.

Of these, the most common chemicals in more than one third of the products, were limonene, linalool, citronellol, eucalyptol, geraniol, and ?-pinene.

But wait… this is not whats interesting.

What is interesting is what the study founds happens to some of these chemicals.

The chemicals were not bad enough on their own. Some of these chemicals can react with normal every day things that may already be in the air we breathe.
When combined, a secondary pollutant can be created.

Without getting into the geekey stuff, air freshener chemicals can combine with ozone to create aldehyde, also known a formaldehyde.

They have also been associated with asthma and asthmatic exacerbations (although other studies deny this finding) and allergic contact dermatitis.

Note…My personal thoughts…Hmmm, breathing in toxic chemicals does not cause asthma problems so they must be safe for asthmatics.

It gets better…the article indicates that the US manufacturers of these products do not need to disclose all ingredients.

Note…If you would like to find out what chemicals are in your fragrances all you need is a MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) This has the product safety information sheets prepared by manufacturers and marketers of products containing toxic chemicals. You do have to join to access the information. It is free.

So, you have a choice. Go ahead and assume they are safe because the government is taking such good care of us, surely they would tell us if these were dangerous. Who knows, maybe science will find that breathing in formaldhyde will preserve you alive even though you die.

Or, become an educated consumer. Avoid the ulterior health risks.

There is one other protection we can take. Since these are everywhere, boosting our bodies detoxifying mechanism will help remove the toxins we take in. The best way to do this is to boost your glutathione.