Exposure to modern fragrance adversely impacts health

Posted on Jun 19, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Susie Collins

Several studies indicate that 15-30% of the general population report some sensitivity to chemicals, including fragrances, and 4-6% report that chemical intolerance has a major impact on their quality of life.

Healthy House Institute reports on scents and sensitivity with a well-researched, detailed article covering the problems with synthetic fragrance and the impact on health. The full article is well worth your time to read, and I think would be an excellent resource for you to show family, friends or co-workers who do not fully understand Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

While many people enjoy wearing perfumes and using scented products, there is a growing outcry from some people who claim that exposure to certain fragrances, including perfumes and scented products, adversely impacts their health. They report symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath, difficulty with concentration, and allergy-like symptoms. It has been shown that many asthmatic patients have adverse reactions to perfumes and other fragrances, and some researchers hypothesize that exposure to fragrance may actually cause asthma. People who suffer from multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), a health condition in which exposure to one chemical is thought to lead to adverse reactions to other chemicals, claim that exposure to fragrance triggers various symptoms, often to the point that sufferers are incapacitated or must forgo many of their usual activities to avoid exposure.

As information continues to surface on the issue of indoor air pollution, it appears that fragrances may represent part of the problem. Some researchers believe that exposure to the types of chemicals found in many scented products may contribute to the development and exacerbation of sick building syndrome, a health condition allegedly caused by indoor air pollution. The chemicals in perfumes, colognes, and deodorants worn by employees add to the chemical mixtures in indoor air, as do fragrances in cleaning products. In addition, some building owners pump certain fragrances–believed to evoke an emotional response that results in increased work productivity–through office ventilation systems.

Claudia Miller, an associate professor of environmental and occupational medicine at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio, says that several studies indicate that 15-30% of the general population report some sensitivity to chemicals, including fragrances, and 4-6% report that chemical intolerance has a major impact on their quality of life. Of these people, more than 80% report that exposure to fragrances is bothersome. Miller, who has conducted extensive research on MCS and coauthored the book Chemical Exposures: Low Levels and High Stakes, adds that many Gulf War veterans reported chemical intolerances since the war, including sensitivity to fragrances.

Link to full article.

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Tags: Air, Asthma, Chemicals, Children's Health, Environmental Health, Environmental Illness, Fragrance, Indoor Pollution, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Perfume, Personal Care, Products, Research, Sick Building, Stink, Toxic, Work

9 Responses to “Exposure to modern fragrance adversely impacts health”

Leslie

25. Jun, 2009

the only reason some people dont get noticably sick from perfume, has got to be because their system hasnt weakened all the way (retaining resistence), and also they have no clue what is actually causing their allergies , headaches, digestive probs, etc…
it’s a case where ignorance is not bliss.

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Susie Collins

25. Jun, 2009

Leslie, I was just talking about this with someone this morning. How often do you think people are feeling sick and not connecting it to their perfume or laundry products or other toxic chems in everyday products? That study cited above shows up to 30% of the population is having some sort of sensitivity to chemicals, esp perfumes. That’s a lot!

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- Melody Sokolow
  
  18. Apr, 2010
  
  Susie, how do I post a picture of myself on here?
  
  Reply to this comment
  - Melody
    
    18. Apr, 2010
    
    I think i figured out how to post my picture so at least you can have that to connect with me.
    
    Reply to this comment
  - Susie Collins
    
    18. Apr, 2010
    
    Melody, did you figure this out okay? Your profile photos look fine to me! Holler if you need more help. Susie
    
    Reply to this comment
- Melody Sokolow
  
  18. Apr, 2010
  
  Susie, can you help me do something so that my picture works. It keeps going to an empty “Facebook” non-working page.
  
  Thanks much,
  Melody
  
  Reply to this comment
  - Susie Collins
    
    18. Apr, 2010
    
    Melody, Did you figure this out? I emailed you with some instructions that might help. Sorry you had some difficulty, it can be humbug when first learning all the bells and whistles. Let me know if you need more help. Susie
    
    Reply to this comment
Melody

18. Apr, 2010

One would certainly have thought PORTLAND, OREGON, the land of green and clean, would certainly be less toxic than most everyplace else. But, NOT SO. Because I chose to utilize my Disability money for a suburban (rather than downtown) 1-bedroom so that I could have a built-in Washer and Dryer, I am subject to walking to the exercise room only to be overcome by a guy with a tank and wand using “RoundUp” on the plants with bark already around them.

Because when I await the MAX train (equivalent to a subway) for which I have a “Disabled Pass”, I breathe air exhaled by numerous cigarettes, tossed into the rails the moment the train doors open, so this air is literally POURED into the train for me to have to breathe for the rest of the enclosed trip.

As well as the God-awful cheaper perfumes, with much more difficult to metabolize (for me) bases in them, and everything runs together for me to make me cognitively disoriented as well as weakened and sick. Even tho, I have to use the train to get to a nice soft bark lined running park in the fresh, clean woods.

And THOSE WOODS that are so oxygenated by cedars, redwoods, ferns, lychen, and the like – well……….as I run by people rolling their stollers and such, the lingering scents of their perfume, deodorant and laundry softeners assault me while running out in the purest possible place I could think of.

it just amazes me. The power of suggestion by the media.
People buy what is presented to them as something to value and to take seriously. To “make them better” to enhance their quality of life. At the expense of poor souls like me, a once-strong 52 year old former ballerina, who suffers from the effects of toxic mold. And suffers and suffers and suffers.

What is that – I think – Biblical verse? (and I never quote the bible “He knows not what he does, who she hurts”
or whatever the saying goes.

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Dear Aunt Jobby: Colleague stinks so much she’s making me sick | Moms to Work - Jul. 02, 2009
[...] 4-6% report that chemical intolerance has a major impact on their quality of life,” reports Susie’s site. “This is an issue about the toxic chemicals in modern [...]