Why smelling good could come with a cost to health
About 4,000 chemicals are currently used to scent products, but you won’t find any of them listed on a label. Fragrance formulations are considered a “trade secret” and therefore protected from disclosure – even to regulators or manufacturers. Instead, one word, fragrance, appears on ingredients lists for countless cosmetics, personal care and cleaning products. A single scent may contain anywhere from 50 to 300 distinct chemicals.
Three-quarters of the toxic chemicals detected in a test of 140 products came from fragrance, reported a 2018 BCPP study of personal care and cleaning brands. The chemicals identified were linked to chronic health issues, including cancer.
Besides common reactions to fragrance – about 35% of people report migraines or respiratory problems because of fragrance. More than 1,200 fragrance chemicals currently in use have been flagged as potential or known “chemicals of concern”. These include seven carcinogens, 15 chemicals prohibited from use in cosmetics in the EU and others cited in various international warning lists. Endocrine disrupters, which mimic human hormones, are of particular concern to many researchers and advocates, as they can have effects in the tiniest doses.
Trying to avoid fragrance chemicals is perhaps one of the trickiest modern consumer challenges. Even products labeled as unscented could have some fragrance to mask the smell of other chemicals. Watchdogs also caution that even products claiming to be “natural” or “organic” could still be harboring harmful fragrances.
Adaptado de: <https://www.theguardian.com/us-
news/2019/may/23/fragrance-perfume-personal-cleaning-products-
health-issues> Acessado em 05 de junho de 2021.
