Air Fresheners

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Air fresheners contain toxic chemicals and can cause various symptoms.

“About 20 percent of the population and 34 percent of people with asthma report health problems from air fresheners. We know air freshener fragrances can trigger allergy symptoms, aggravate existing allergies and worsen asthma.”

Stanley Fineman, MD, ACAAI president-elect, American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) press release 6 November 2011 http://www.acaai.org/press/news-releases/news_releases/Pages/UnplugIndoorPollutantsforaBreathofFreshAir(November6,2011).aspx 

“Infant diarrhea and earache were statistically significantly associated with air freshener use, and diarrhea and vomiting were significantly associated with aerosol use. Headache experienced by mothers 8 mo after birth was significantly associated with the use of air fresheners and aerosols; maternal depression was significantly associated with the use of air fresheners.”

Farrow A, Taylor H, Northstone K & Golding J 2003, ‘Symptoms of mothers and infants related to total volatile organic compounds in household products’, Arch Environ Health. 58(10):633-41. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15562635

“We present a case of a patient who survived ventricular fibrillation after inhalation of Glade Air Freshener, which contains short chain aliphatic hydrocarbons (butane and isobutane).”

LoVecchio F & Fulton SE 2001 ‘Ventricular fibrillation following inhalation of Glade Air Freshener.’ Eur J Emerg Med. 8(2):153-4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11436914  

“A 44 year-old female was admitted under the care of the burns team following burns secondary to an exploding air-freshener canister. The patient sustained burns to the face, thorax and arms resulting in a seven-day hospital admission.”

Sarwar U, Nicolaou M, Khan MS & Tiernan E. 2011, ‘Air-freshener burns: a new paradigm in burns etiology?’ Int J Prev Med. 2011 Oct;2(4):291-3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3237275/  

For more information about air fresheners see:

Air Freshener Fact Sheet http://www.drsteinemann.com/Resources/Air%20Freshener%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

Toxic Chemicals in Air Fresheners and Health Effects http://www.drsteinemann.com/Resources/Toxic%20Chemicals%20in%20Air%20Fresheners.pdf

Journal articles: http://www.drsteinemann.com/obtain_articles.html

Environmental Working Group Air fresheners http://www.ewg.org/guides/categories/1-AirFresheners

Natural Resources Defense Council Toxic Air Fresheners?  http://www.nrdc.org/living/healthreports/hidden-hazards-air-fresheners.asp

Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER) Opinion on the report “Emission of chemicals by air fresheners: Tests on 74 consumer products sold in Europe” (BEUC report January 2005) http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_scher/docs/scher_o_026.pdf