So what's the deal with Febreze? Risky or safe?

[truedelphi]

Just from poking around on "google," I found more than 2 dozen sites where asthmatics complain about Febreze. I know I can't tolerate it. I know my mom's neighbor used towels heavily dosed with Febreze to wash off the drool of her beautiful Newfoundland dogs, and the dogs always ended up dying in ways that vets couldn't explain: entire body systems would suddenly shut down, including the desire to eat and the ability to pee and poop. (Which is how poisons work, folks!)

But here is a site that has information from the Environmental Working Group about Febreze. Apparently there are eighty seven separate noxious chemicals and none of them sound too helathy.

Also note that at one point, Time Magazine managed to overlook these chemicals and instead mention to its large audience of readers that the National Defense Council had found less pthalates in Febreze than in many other household products. Talk about a nice spin on a dangerous product.

As a society, we will probably not have much TRUTH about these types of products, as our news media is controlled by its station and corporate chain owners, all of whom salivate over the earning they receive from the advertising monies that Proctor and Gamble and other companies shower on them. Like our previous fight with Big Tobacco, I don't think the public will become aware of the dangers of these products until the ad money is cut off.

Her eis the article I am referencing"
http://www.chemicalsensitization.com/2011/07/80-chemical-ingredients-in-febreze.html

1] Denatured Alcohol, aka methylated spirits. This is ethanol mixed
with a poisonous additive that makes the alcohol unable to be con-
consumed without very ill effects. Originally, it was 10% methanol
(CH3OH.) Today, denatured alcohol might contain methyl ethyl
ketone, acetone, methyl isobutyl ketone, or denatonium benzoate.
Protector and Gamble's people think nothing of you spraying this
in a home of pets, children, and asthmatics.

2] Acetaldehyde. Refer to: Airway obstruction induced by in-
haled acetaldehyde in asthma.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12371536

3] Alpha-pinene. It's a confirmed allergen. See: Gas chromatogra-
phy: an investigative tool in multiple allergies to essential
oils.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12534533

4] Benzaldehyde.

<snip>

8] Benzyl Acetate. Produces respiratory tract irritation. Continued.
exposure to ambient levels of this compound at 50 parts per million
will cause kidney damage. Cats have died from this, at 180 parts
per million.

####

In terms of number eight - the article mentions a Univ of Calif. study that finds evidence linking Benzyl Acetate to pancreatic cancer. The article lists another 79 various chems we don't need in our body. Remember, often, whoever in the home does the housecleaning is not simply using Febreze on house cleaning day. but also furniture polishes, oven cleaners and bug sprays. And then people wonder why our cancer rates are sky high!

The World Health Organization mentioned over a decade ago that most air fresheners and air "sanitizers" contain either ethers, benzene or formaldehyde. And since companies use products they sell us as a way to "dump' chemicals they should sending off to a Super Fund site, essentially getting us to pay to consume their trash products, I didn't find that surprising in the least.

[DeSwiss]

1. K&R n/t

[eyewall]

2. The label says it's safe for cats and dogs

but that it's not safe for use around birds. We were warned to not use it in the room with our parrot, that it would kill him. The one time I did try it in the back of the house where there is a litter box, the smell was almost instantly in all the rooms in the house, I assumed because of the heater ducting.

That was the last time I used it, I thought it was too unsafe with the bird in the house, but I've been tempted to try it again with the furnace turned off. Thanks for this info, I won't try using it again.

[left on green only]

3. Until I read your thread and then used Google to find out what Febreze is...

I had never heard of it. What is wrong with me? Especially since I share an apartment with house rabbits who have been trained to use a litter box. The apartment doesn't smell, unless their dad needs to empty the litter box; but when it has gone past the time for it to be emptied, there is no getting around the smell. Point is, because I am sensitive to the smell of their litter box when it is past time for it to be emptied, I am therefore quite certain that I am not so crass as to have become accustomed to their smell all of the time.

Your presentation of the research in your thread is indeed convincing as to the dangers posed by this product; however my contention is why do we allow the marketers of these products convince us that we have a need to buy their products when in reality we probably do not. The power of advertising and its' hold over the unsuspecting public is a direct threat to our civilization in more ways than just the pollution of our immediate environment. For this reason, along with many others, I am offended by the way that advertising attempts to infiltrate my life.

[Voice for Peace]

6. all these products - like febreze, air fresheners, fabric softeners

smell really good. I'm very fussy about smells, and not in favor
of such products -- but they provide a powerful pleasurable sense
sensation and I have to remind myself they're toxic.

So that's the appeal, more than stinky necessity, & that's how
it's all advertised on tv ... sniff 'n bliss.

[truedelphi]

17. Many cleaning products and air fresheners have ammonia in them

A person can make the argument that ammonia is necessary for cleaning, and it is true the chem has traditionally been used for that.


But the only reason I can think of to put ammonia into "air fresheners", "fabric softeners" and "air disinfectants" is for the same reason that the Big Nicotene companies used to put it in tobacco products - ammonia ends up intoxicating the person using it, and they end up more addicted to a product that has the ammonia then one without it.

[Voice for Peace]

26. ammonia is intoxicating?

never heard this before.

[truedelphi]

28. At least one documentary made about the sins of

Big Tobacco made the claim and substantiated it, that companies like RJ Reynolds deliberately added ammonia to the cigarettes so that they would be more addictive.

As someone who used to smoke both Mainsteam cigs and "Native Spirit," which has no ammonia, I can say there is a clear difference. The corporate tobacco products do give more of a rush.

And I have had friends who simply cannot give up their Mainstream Cleaning Products that have ammonia. I'll see if I can find some links on this.

[truedelphi]

29. Here is the discussion off CNN 1998 archives:

Expert: Ammonia added to cigarettes
TOBACCO COMPANIES
February 04, 1998

Pointing to internal company documents, Channing Robertson, testifying on behalf of the state on Wednesday, said that in 1965, scientists at R.J. Reynolds, trying to find out why their Winston brand was losing ground to Philip Morris Marlboro brand, discovered that Marlboro contained ammonia compounds.

Robertson, a Stanford University professor of chemical engineering, said ammonia increases the nicotine potency of cigarettes by increasing the amount of nicotine contained in the vapor smokers inhale.

In the 1970s, Reynolds started adding ammonia and slowly but surely, everyone fell in line, he said.

[Voice for Peace]

30. it says the ammonia increases the nicotine potency

so it would be the additional nicotine, not the ammonia itself, that is addicting? I am not sure how this relates to ammonia in cleaning products -- it has such an intense smell, it's not pleasant to use.

[truedelphi]

31. I have noticed that girlfriends who used perfume with heavy

Ammonia content were far more likely to wear more perfume than necessary. And quite unable to ever stop wearing perfume.

I used to have a booklet that described the chem content of various perfumes. It was lost when I moved in 2005. So I can't detail which perfumes had the high am. content.

I think ammonia does tend to make other chems more enticing to some people.

I do understand you about how my specific reference only states that ammonia makes nicotine more potent.

[truedelphi]

18. I am glad I helped get you to consider this issue.

Here's an assignment for yuou - next time an ad comes on for any of these products, note that it is never said that these things are safe to use around our pets and our children.

Back in the nineties, Attorney General for New York Elliot Spitzer was able to bring a lawsuit against RoundUp producer Monsanto. In part, Monsanto had made the claim that RoundUp is safe to be used around children and pets. They were fined for this treachery. (Though no where near enough; I think it was a mere $ 50K fine.)

So now NO company is stupid enough to say that. However they do remember the proverb "A picture is worth one thousand words." So they imply it by having these wonderful little cartoon birdies and kitties and puppies in the area. Or they show the person using the air freshener using it on the crib. The Glade commercial shows the Glade airwick product being in the nursery.

Then we wonder why infants and toddlers are dying of SIDS. And why in the world does one in four children under the age of five need to have asthma medications?

[left on green only]

27. Assignment complete

Deception as used in advertising I believe has been responsible for the moral decay of our society to the point where lying has become an accepted way of life for us. Even the most mentally challenged among us are aware on some level that they are being lied to and manipulated regularly when they are exposed to advertising. Sometimes it is subtle (such as when advertisers put the cute little pictures of happy pets on the labels for their products), and sometimes it is more blatant (such as when politicians tell us that Iran will become a nuclear armed nation if Obama is reelected president). But it is all contrived to influence our conscious as well as our sub conscious minds.

Deceptive Ad campaigns are mounted which result in the companies who propagate them becoming successful. As a result, a segment of our society begins to think that deceit is not only acceptable, but also any easy way for them to succeed in their own lives. As you have stated above, our government although attempting to control this treachery through the imposition of fines, does not prosecute the offenders nearly as often, or with nearly the impunity that they deserve. From this, I guess you could infer that our government is in the pocket of big business.

[truedelphi]

33. Can't say I disagre with a single word you say.

And thank you for the response. Sorry I didn't see it till just now.

[Tunkamerica]

4. risky. pthalates and who knows what else.

[Voice for Peace]

5. I think cumulatively all this stuff is deadly

all the airwicks and fresheners, stuff we spray around.

I heard or read some time back about a kind of relatively 'new' lung cancer that more and more women were getting. People who had never smoked.. Something else getting to the lungs.

[truedelphi]

16. I know. When I heard that Chris Reeves' wife

had died from that new form of Cancer, I immediately thought of how sick Chris had been, and how exposed his family was to the aerosol "disinfectants" that would be sprayed by hired help to make sure Chris didn't get any infections.

(It may not be a "new form" of lung cancer, but what is new is the aggressiveness of the cancer, and the fact that so many women in their thirties are ending up fighting the disease. Even though they have never smoked.)

[Voice for Peace]

23. ah, didn't realize that about her

half the commercials on tv are for airfresheners of one sort or
another. I used to use that stuff a long time ago, but now I
don't want to even walk down the aisle in the grocery store,
it all smells poisonous to me.

Then there are the deodorants, and hair products, esp sprays
of all kinds. That stuff is deadly and sticks like glue.

[truedelphi]

32. Hair Products often have formaldehyde in them - and that

Chemical is the worst thing you can do to someone with MS. It is not called formaldehyde though. I think the word that is used is Quaternium or some such.

Some of the gels and mouses have butane in them! People do not realize that anyone can put anything into personal care products - so they are more dangerous than many pesticides.

At least pesticides have safety sheets you can refer to, and they are overseen by the EPA.

The labels of the personal care products need to be carefully examined before purchasing, especially given that we put pesticides on our lawn, but the personal care products go on our bodies.

[michaz]

7. I am not allergic to anything and the stuff choked me at work.

The cleaning lady had used something with Febreeze in it and I could hardly breathe in my office. It burned my nose and throat and I had to leave. It had not bothered me before when I used it at my house quite a while ago so I didn't know if they had changed it or not. Trust me, I don't go near the stuff now.

[HockeyMom]

8. They are putting that Febreze in other products now

Like floor cleaners. I do not want to use anything like that around my cats. Walk on the floors and then lick their paws??? I don't think so.

[truedelphi]

13. I had been contacted by two different individuals in Marin County

When I was an indie reporter. And both of them had lost dogs to "Swiffer" products. Apparently the main ingredient in the Swiffer products is glycol ether - in other words, you are scrubbing your floors in anti freeze.

This has implications for anyone with kids under the age of ten, as well as those who have pets.

I am very sad to hear that the Febreze gunk will be put into other products. We now have 90,000 chems in our household and personal care and yard products, only 400 of which have been tested fully as to their health.

And only two dozen or so have been tested in conjunction with their health risks when involved with one or two other chems.

So basically we are living in a time when we are not allowed information as to what is in a product, and even if we ferret out what's in it, we have no studies to refer to if the chems are used together!

[HockeyMom]

19. I generally use vinegar and baking soda to clean

if not, I use 7th Generation products with things like evergreen fir and oranges. I myself have a lot of allergies. I cannot go anywhere near bleach without my skin almost bleeding. Forget all these other chemcials.

There are a lot of natural ingredients that can be used to clean, and are a lot cheaper. If I can eat or drink it, it isn't go to be dangerous to use on my floors, clothes, or near my animals, or children.

[truedelphi]

20. The power of baking soda -

I had the nastiest stain by the front door. And a friend suggested the following:

1) get the area in question a bit wet
2) apply a generous portion of baking soda to the area
3) pour a bit of hydrogen peroxide over the stain and b. soda
4) cover with a paper towel (or small real towel) and let sit

24 hr later, and the spot is gone. I cannot believe it. Whether it was mud, oil, or something else, I have no idea. But I cannot believe it is gone in entirety.

[LiberalEsto]

9. I have mutliple chemical sensitivity

and although it's not as bad as in some people I know, anything with fragrance bothers me. Febreze makes me ill.

What I really hate is the laundry detergents that put fragrance into clothing that can't be washed out. I've bought a couple of things at yard sales that had to be discarded because of this.

Usually I get by with simply avoiding the things that bother me, but it's getting more difficult every day.

Thank you for posting this. Now I can show the information to my daughter, who insists on using Febreze in her bedroom, even though she has a small dog that will probably be harmed by the chemicals.

[truedelphi]

11. Like you, I have multiple chemical sensitivities - an illness that some

Main Stream doctors say doesn't exist.

I belonged to a group of such sufferers in the San Francisco Bay area. It seemed the number one complaint among us was the fabric softeners. They are formulated with a chemical that actually seals itself into the lining of your lungs. So when you inhale any air containing the product's chems, you can be affected for hours.

And it can be irrelevant if you and/or your neighbors avoid using Fabric softeners - the chems can travel on the breezes and get you even from miles away.

Later today I will post an article about the fabric softeners, including their implication in sudden infant death syndrome.

[LiberalEsto]

14. Fabric softeners are nasty

I can't believe there are still medical people who doubt the existence of MCS.

I have a friend who is a biochemist and developed MCS from his work. He's kind of an expert about MCS.
Now he has to work from home because being in the office can literally make him sick. He gets ill if even one person in our congregation is wearing fragrance, so he never goes to services. Such an exposure can land him in the hospital, whereas it might only give me a headache and make my eyelids swell.

The number of contortions he has to go through just to survive are unbelievable. When he bought a new TV, he asked his brother to keep it for two years to allow it to offgas before it could safely be brought into his home.

Looking forward to reading your info.

[HockeyMom]

21. You can use baking soda on your furniture

and vacuum it off to get smells out. You certainly can use it in your fridge. That is a given. I use it mixed with water to clean out my fridge.

Long time ago when my cats had fleas I took them to the Vet to get dipped. One almost died. I later learned putting brewers yeast in their food would keep the fleas away. Appparently, fleas don't like the smell of it. It's used in BEER. Carpets? I used Borax and swept it into the carpet. It killed the fleas by dehydrating them. Then just vac it out. No problems with chemicals with my cats. I also had young children at the time and it didn't bother them either.

There are books out which you can get which list all the Naural, or Old Wives, Remedies for just about everything.

[mimitabby]

10. soapy hot water

Sorry, i don't allow any of those things in my house. if something smells bad, wash it. if it needs airing out, put it out in the sun for a few days. If that doesn't work, throw it away.

[truedelphi]

12. Boy am I ever in agreement with you on that. n/t

[hedgehog]

15. Spraying Febreze around reminds me of the stories of people

using perfume instead of bathing! My house doesn't always smell fresh - when I'm not doing well I don't keep up with the cleaning as much as I'd like. But spraying extra chemicals around - that can't be good!

[Warpy]

22. As always, these things are calculated risks

I wouldn't want to soak pet bedding with the stuff, but a light spray that dries before the dog or cat is allowed back onto the furniture or bedding is not going to do harm. Ditto the droplets hanging in the air. If it stinks enough for you to soak the stuff down with Febreze, maybe it's time for either the laundromat or new stuff.

As for the MEK and other aromatics, we kids who built models in the 50s and early 60s used those as gateway drugs, a few hours of gluing plastic together with the glues available at the time in a tiny bedroom or hobby room being a delightfully heady experience. Yes, it probably cost us a few brain cells here and there, but most of us would say it was worth it. It was always a letdown when the model was finished.

Our cancer rates are sky high because more of us are living past our 50s and into our 60s, 70s and 80s and even upward from there. Our bodies are programmed to fail, fuck up and conk out after a certain period of time and cancer is one of the major mechanisms for that.

Yes, we're living in a chemical soup that our bodies weren't designed to confront. However, most of it doesn't seem to decrease our lifespan appreciably and if you compare us in the chemical laden first world to Kalahari bushmen, I think you'd find we're living quite a bit better than the stone age, hunter gatherer lifestyle would afford, tooth decay, smoke inhalation and osteoarthritis being the things that wipe them out.

[truedelphi]

24. I guess you missed the posts upthread about the new epidemic hitting

Women in their thirties.

Chris Reeves' wife was one casualty of this aggressive form of lung cancer. Women who had never smoked, or who had only been exposed to second hand smoke decades earlier, are getting an aggressive form of lung cancer and they are dying from it.

Cancer rates for Japanese women in 1900 were one in 65. Now women get breast cancer (depending on who you talk to) at the rate of one in six, or even one in four.

Researchers who have looked at the Japanese cancer stats realized that one factor is that women in Japan at the turn of the Twentieth Century ate a diet high in seaweed and sea veggies, fish, and vegetables. When researchers followed the lives of Japanese women who moved to the USA, within twenty years their cancer stats for breast cancer were only slightly lower than American women.


And I am glad you are not someone who experiences the living hell that is Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS).

But the fact you are free of the problem doesn't guarantee a lifetime immunity. A friend who scoffed at the disease ended up working at a hospital the day that roofers tarred the roof. He couldn't handle the fumes and asked to go home. He wasn't allowed to. Now he too understands the implications of the disease of Chemical Sensitivities. He needs to stay home during windy weather if people use pesticides near his farm. He uses only baking soda and water and vinegar for most cleaning chores. If it weren't for Disability Payments, he'd be dead.

Most people are just one exposure away from being a member of the MCS group.

[Voice for Peace]

25. I don't think our bodies are programmed to fail from cancers

or suffocation from too many refined foods. I think our bodies
are programmed to survive and thrive and adapt. They just
get worn out, or they get damaged. Our society and environment
is highly damaging, it shows on people's skin; people do not
remain radiant as they naturally are, they become gray and
pockmarked and misshapen by stress and fat. Of course we
don't see it on tv but sometimes it amazes me when I see
a city crowd, how ill people look. Even young people, the shit
in their diets.

Cancers in nature I think are an anomaly, not the norm.*

*this subjective fact is based purely on personal speculation