[Pharmwaste] Fresh scent may hide toxic secret

[DeBiasi,Deborah]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/371779_toxicfragrance23.html

Fresh scent may hide toxic secret 
Innocuous-sounding 'perfume' in detergents, air fresheners made with
dangerous chemicals

Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Last updated 12:04 a.m. PT

By LISA STIFFLER
P-I REPORTER

The scented fabric sheet makes your shirts and socks smell flowery fresh
and clean. That plug-in air freshener fills your home with inviting
fragrances of apple and cinnamon or a country garden. 

But those common household items are potentially exposing your family
and friends to dangerous chemicals, a University of Washington study has
found.

Trouble is, you have no way of knowing it. Manufacturers of detergents,
laundry sheets and air fresheners aren't required to list all of their
ingredients on their labels -- or anywhere else. Laws protecting people
from indoor air pollution from consumer products are limited. 

When UW engineering professor Anne Steinemann analyzed of some of these
popular items, she found 100 different volatile organic compounds
measuring 300 parts per billion or more -- some of which can be
cancerous or cause harm to respiratory, reproductive, neurological and
other organ systems. 

Some of the chemicals are categorized as hazardous or toxic by federal
regulatory agencies. But the labels tell a different story, naming only
innocuous-sounding "perfume" or "biodegradable" contents. 

"Consumers are breathing these chemicals," she said. "No one is doing
anything about it." 

Industry representatives say that isn't so. 

"Dr. Steinemann's statement is misleading and disingenuous," said Chris
Cathcart, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Consumer Specialty
Products Association, in a statement. 

"Air fresheners, laundry products and other consumer specialty products
are regulated under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act and
subsequently have strict labeling requirements," he said. "Companies
producing products that are regulated under FHSA must name on the
product label each component that contributes to the hazard." 

Millions are spent annually to ensure that fragrances in the products
are safe, according to a joint statement from the Fragrance Materials
Association, which represents fragrance manufacturers, and the Research
Institute for Fragrance Materials, which works closely with the
association. 

Ingredients are routinely tested, and chemicals that are considered
dangerous are present at levels much too low to cause harm, according to
the groups. 

But there are numerous reports of people -- particularly those with
asthma, chemical sensitivities and allergies -- having strong adverse
reactions, researchers said. 

That's a problem when public restrooms in restaurants or airplanes use
air fresheners, or when hotels wash towels and sheets in scented laundry
supplies. And even when the concentrations are low in individual
products, people are exposed to multiple sources on a daily basis. 

Aileen Gagney, Asthma and Environmental Health Program manager with the
American Lung Association in Seattle, herself an asthma sufferer, has a
rule of thumb to help avoid exposure: "If it smells bad, it's bad; if it
smells good, it's bad."

But even that won't always work. 

According to Steinemann, even products labeled "unscented" sometimes
contain a fragrance and a "masking" fragrance to make them odor-free. 

People, Puget Sound at risk?

For Steinemann's research, published Wednesday in Environmental Impact
Assessment Review, she selected a top-selling item from six categories
of products: dryer sheets, fabric softeners, detergents, and solid,
spray and plug-in air fresheners. 

Then she contracted with a lab to test the air around the items to
identify the chemicals people could be breathing. 

Ten of the 100 volatile organic compounds identified qualified under
federal rules as toxic or hazardous, and three of those -- 1,4-dioxane,
acetaldehyde and chloromethane -- are "hazardous air pollutants"
considered unsafe to breathe at any concentration, according to the
study. 

The labels gave no indication that the irritating and potentially
dangerous chemicals were present, so Steinemann checked the product's
Material Safety Data Sheets. These technical documents provide
ingredient information for the safety of workers and emergency
responders. They, too, disclosed little detail, mostly citing
ingredients such as "essential oils" and "organic perfume."

"It's a reasonable expectation to think that laundry products and air
fresheners would be free of chemicals that can cause cancer," said Erika
Schreder, a staff scientist with the Washington Toxics Coalition. 

"But as this UW study shows, it's disturbingly easy to find toxic
chemicals in everyday products like these because companies don't have
to say what's in their products." 

Cathcart, of the Consumer Specialty Products Association, said the
information's not on the package because the "chemicals are not present
in the products at levels deemed hazardous under the law. Given the
limited space on product labels, it is important to include the relevant
information consumers need to make intelligent use, storage and disposal
decisions."

The threat isn't limited to people. Steinemann and others worry that the
chemicals in consumer products flow from homes to the outdoors. 

"These chemicals get into our water systems and into Puget Sound," she
said. They are "extraordinarily hard to get out of the environment."

Steinemann's research was paid for using discretionary money awarded to
her as a UW professor; she wanted to avoid any appearance of a conflict
of interest. She has also submitted for publication a study that goes
further to examine ingredients in cleaning and personal-care products.


Regulatory gaps

With fears growing over chemicals in consumer products -- lead in toys,
bisphenol A in plastic baby bottles, phthalates in shower curtains and
cosmetics -- environmentalists and health advocates are calling for
stricter regulations of chemicals in everyday goods. They also want
shoppers to have more readily accessible information.

Manufacturers and trade groups representing consumer products routinely
counter that there's plenty of testing and oversight from within the
industries and from government regulations to ensure safety. 

In the fragranced-products arena, they point to industry Web sites with
information on product ingredients and suggest contacting companies with
specific questions. 

Critics maintain that's not enough. 

"There's obviously a loophole," said Michael Robinson-Dorn, a UW law
professor who aided Steinemann's research. "We regulate many of these
chemicals in other circumstances, yet when they're in products that
we're in contact with daily, in some cases, we don't wind up finding out
about them."

He said the items can slip between regulatory cracks by falling into the
jurisdiction of multiple government agencies, none taking ownership. 

"Any time you have a product that is regulated by many different
agencies, it's easy for them not to react," he said. 

In the absence of strong laws, the marketplace is starting to regulate
itself. 

After the Natural Resources Defense Council last fall found troubling
levels of phthalates -- plasticizing chemicals that can potentially harm
developing babies -- in air fresheners, Walgreens pulled the products
from its shelves.

Last month, NRDC and other environmental groups sued the Environmental
Protection Agency to force manufacturers to test air freshener safety
and label products with a full ingredient list. 

Steinemann's study could push the process along. 

"Consumer demand for less-toxic products will encourage companies to
reformulate their products," she said. "This is a case where a little
information could have a great public benefit."



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P-I reporter Lisa Stiffler can be reached at 206-448-8042 or
lisastiffler at seattlepi.com. Read her blog on the environment at
datelineearth.com.

(c) 1998-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer



Deborah L. DeBiasi
Email:   dldebiasi at deq.virginia.gov
WEB site address:  www.deq.virginia.gov
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
Office of Water Permit Programs
Industrial Pretreatment/Toxics Management Program
PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents
Mail:          P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA  23218 (NEW!)
Location:  629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA  23219
PH:         804-698-4028
FAX:      804-698-4032