Toxic Air Freshener – The ‘good smell’ is actually some pretty nasty chemicals that are bad for your health.
Seriously? The sad truth is we are voluntarily exposing ourselves to some very nasty chemicals everyday simply by ‘freshening’ up our homes, cars and workspaces. ‘Air fresheners’ are mostly a mixture of volatile toxic chemicals and neurotoxins including benzene, formaldehyde, naphthalene, toluene, xylene, acetone, benzaldehyde, methylene chloride … just to name a few. Your probably thinking “Surely the government wouldn’t let this happen to us. Don’t they monitor these things?” Unfortunately the answer is no, the true chemical makeup of ‘fragrance’ is tightly protected as a ‘trade secret’.
Want to know the worst part?
This poisonous ‘fragrance’ is not only present in ‘air fresheners’, it has worked its way into virtually everything. Most Shampoos, soaps, perfume/colognes, cosmetics, detergents, fabric softeners, cleaners, candles … etc, contain synthetic ‘fragrance’.
They’re everywhere, so what can we do?
It’s simple, try to buy ‘fragrance free’ products, or buy products that use natural ingredients to create their fragrance (ie. If the product smells like lavender, they actually use lavender). There are safe alternatives, you just have to know what you are looking for. Always check the labels of the things you buy and avoid the ones which contain fragrance and/or parfum. As for safe ‘air freshener’ you can also make your own, use google to find your favorite recipe (there are lots of them out there) or use this one from Life Hacker.
For more information have a look at these sites: