PERFUME
If perfume companies were forced to list ingredients you might see about 800 different chemicals in any given scent. And many products (shampoos, deodorizers, lotions, soaps, detergents, etc) have perfume as an ingredient. The EPA (environmental protection agency) considers Toluene to be hazardous waste, yet they found toluene in every perfume product sampled in their 1991 study. Of the 4000 chemicals used to make fragrances 95% of these are made from petroleum products which are known to be carcinogenic. Even some unscented products contain “masking” chemicals to hide the smell of the product itself. Many of these are just as harmful as fragrances. Acetone acts primarily as a central nervous system depressant and inhalation can cause dizziness, tremors and in severe cases , coma. Limonene may cause skin and eye irritation, abdominal pain, burning mouth , kidney damage, birth defects, convulsions and death. Benzaldehyde has been linked with kidney damage and terpenene has induced asthma. These are just of the few more commonly used chemicals. Synthetic freagrances are known to cause headaches, rashes, dizziness, coughing, nausea, vomiting, allergic sensitzation, depression, central nervous system problems, hyperactivity, irritablily and other behavioral disturbances. In one scientific study mice were subjected to 5 common perfumes both expensive and inexpensive brands. Severe respiratory problems, neurological damage, facial edema, paralysis, coma and death were some of the results. The word Fragrance on a label could mean hundreds of carniogenic and toxic chemicals in the product.
