Air fresheners contain toxic chemical

Posted on Jul 06, 2008 by Susie Collins in Blog, Research, Susie Collins

This is absolutely no surprise to anyone with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: The Natural Resources Defense Council found that 12 out of 14 popular air freshener products contain a harmful chemical. Phthalates, known to cause reproductive problems & hormone disruption, were found in virtually all air freshener brands, including several Walgreens-branded air fresheners that the popular retailer has now pulled off its shelves.

Neither the FDA nor the EPA conducts any safety testing or spot checking of toxic chemicals in air freshener products. Essentially, consumers could be exposed to any number of toxic airborne chemicals from air freshener products, with no warning whatsoever. The safety of chemicals used in these products is utterly ignored by the FDA in much the same way that perfumes and cosmetic products containing cancer-causing chemicals are routinely ignored by the agency.

The FDA makes virtually no effort to protect American consumers from cancer-causing or hormone-disrupting chemicals in tens of thousands of consumer products, and were it not for the efforts of consumer advocacy groups and environmental protection groups like the NRDC, no one would be protecting consumers at all. (U.S. government agencies usually have to be sued by groups like the CSPI or Public Citizen before they will take any pro-consumer action…)

Only two products tested by the NRDC — Febreze Air Effects and Renuzit Subtle Effects — contained virtually no detectable levels of phthalates, yet the twelve other products tested positive for the chemical even though some were labeled “unscented” and none of them listed phthalates as an ingredient. Some products were even labeled “All natural!” (Which just goes to demonstrate, yet again, that the “All natural” claim is meaningless.)

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