Mountain Green

Fragranced Consumer Products and Undisclosed Ingredients – Part 1

By Anne C. Steinemann
Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Evans School of Public Affairs, U of WA

Results from a regulatory analysis, coupled with a chemical analysis of six best-selling products (three air fresheners and three laundry supplies), provide several findings. First, no law in the U.S. requires disclosure of all chemical ingredients in consumer products or in fragrances. Second, in these six products, nearly 100 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were identified, but none of the VOCs were listed on any product label, and one was listed on one MSDS. Third, of these identified VOCs, ten are regulated as toxic or hazardous under federal laws, with three (acetaldehyde, chloromethane, and 1,4-dioxane) classified as Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs). Results point to a need for improved understanding of product constituents and mechanisms between exposures and effects. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Scientific evidence grows about chemical exposures and potential health risks from everyday consumer products. Essential to risk reduction is information, yet we have relatively little information on chemical constituents for many types of products. For instance, fragranced consumer products typically contain VOCs,1 some of which may pose risks, but, as this article will show, may not be disclosed. This article investigates the case of fragranced consumer products, and the challenges for understanding hazards. For one, chemicals are essentially invisible, making it difficult to discern to what, where, when, and how we are being exposed. Thus, we rely on product information (such as labels) and product regulations to reduce potential risks. For another, health effects from exposures are often difficult to detect. While some effects are immediate and noticeable, others are gradual, subtle, and sub-clinical. Of particular concern are chronic and often low-level exposures to mixtures of chemicals, which are the type of exposures that typify daily life. Finally and the focus of this article—chemical constituents are often undisclosed. That is, chemicals in products may not be identified through information

provided to the public or to regulatory agencies.

This article proceeds as follows. After this introduction, the second section reviews studies of human exposure and VOCs emitted from fragranced consumer products. The third section investigates the U.S. regulatory framework to see whether and how the laws require disclosure of ingredients in consumer products, and fragrances in

those products. The fourth section presents results from a chemical analysis, using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), that identifies VOCs in six fragranced consumer products, each widely used in the U.S. Chemicals identified in the GC/MS analysis are then compared to the chemicals on product labels and MSDSs, and to chemicals regulated under federal laws. The fifth section provides conclusions and recommendations for future work.

2. Human Exposure and Vocs In Fragranced Consumer Products

Human exposure studies, over the past two decades, have revealed widespread U.S. population exposure to VOCs. Paradoxically, the largest contributors of VOCs to human exposure (nearly 90%) are not the sources traditionally recognized and regulated, but rather sources that are small, close to us, largely unregulated, yet often within our control (Wallace, 2001; Wallace et al., 1987), such as consumer products and other indoor sources. In particular, fragrance compounds, used in a wide variety of consumer products, can be primary sources of human exposure to VOCs.

“Fragranced consumer products,” as used in this article, refers to chemically formulated products with a fragrance, such as air fresheners, laundry detergents, dryer sheets, fabric softeners, dishwashing detergents, personal care products, cosmetics, after-shave, soaps and lotions, hand sanitizers, and cleaners. An individual “fragrance” in a product can contain up to several hundred chemicals (Bickers et al., 2003), and while the composition of an individual fragrance mixture is generally unknown to the public (Bridges, 2002), more than 2600 ingredients have been documented for use in fragrances (Ford et al., 2000).

Relatively little prior work has investigated the range of VOCs emitted from fragranced consumer products. In early, landmark studies, Wallace et al. (1991a) and Cooper et al. (1992) analyzed 31 fragranced products, such as perfumes, deodorants, soaps, fabric softeners, and air fresheners. The most common VOCs, with confirmed identification in more than one-third of the products, were ethanol, limonene, linalool, β-phenethyl alcohol, β-myrcene, benzyl acetate, benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, α-terpineol, β citronellol, and α- pinene. Rastogi et al. (2001) analyzed 59 domestic and occupational products, such as soap, laundry products, dish wash, and cleaners, for 19 target fragrance compounds. Of these, the most common VOCs, in more than one-third of the products, were limonene, linalool, citronellol, eucalyptol, geraniol, and α-pinene.

In addition to primary VOC emissions from products, fragranced consumer product compounds can react with ambient compounds to generate secondary pollutants. For instance, terpenes (such as dlimonene, linalool, α-pinene, and β-pinene), emitted from the use of fragranced products (such as cleaning supplies and air fresheners), can react with indoor ozone to produce potentially substantial levels of secondary pollutants (Singer et al., 2006), which can include aldehyde compounds (such as formaldehyde), ultrafine particles, glycol ethers, secondary organic aerosols, and the hydroxyl radical (Nazaroff and Weschler, 2004; Liu et al., 2004; Sarwar et al., 2004;Wainman et al., 2000; Destaillats et al., 2006; Singer et al., 2006).

Exposure to fragranced products, as suggested by somestudies, have potential associations with adverse health effects, including asthma and asthmatic exacerbations (Rumchev et al., 2004; Shim and Williams,1986;Kumar et al.,1995), headaches (Kelman, 2004; Farrow et al., 2003),mucosal symptoms (Elberling et al., 2005;Millqvist et al.,1999), and, the

emphasis of most prior work, epidermal exposure effects such as allergic contact dermatitis (e.g., de Groot and Frosch, 1997; Johansen, 2003).

On the other hand, studies conducted by the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) have evaluated the safety of fragrance ingredients (e.g., Bickers et al., 2003; Ford et al., 2000; Cadby et al.,2002; Smith, 2003, 2004; Smith et al., 2004), with considerable attention to acute toxicity and dermatological exposure effects,2 and expanding research to other toxicological effects and exposure routes (Bickers et al., 2003). Additional studies report that no evidence indicates that fragranced product exposures elicit objective adverse effects in asthmatics (e.g., Opiekun et al., 2003), that inadequate or insufficient evidence exists to determine an association between fragrance exposure and asthma development (IOM, 2000), and that no evidence suggests that current UK indoor domestic exposures to VOCs, either individually or as a total, pose a health risk (IEH, 1996).

Prior work, as context for this particular study, examined two categories of fragranced consumer products (air fresheners and laundry supplies) and possible reactions, based on self-reported data. In two surveys of the U.S. population (n=1057, 1058; CL=95%; CI=3%), Caress and Steinemann (2004, 2005) found that 17.8% and 20.5% (first and second study) reported headaches, breathing difficulties, or other health problems when exposed to air fresheners or deodorizers; and 10.9% (second study only) reported irritation from the scent of laundry products, fabric softeners, or dryer sheets that are vented outside. The percentages were higher among susceptible populations. For instance, among asthmatics, 29.7% and 37.2% reported breathing difficulties, headaches, or other health problems when exposed to air fresheners; and 21.2% reported irritation from the scent of laundry products, fabric softeners, or dryer sheets that are

vented outside.

Studies on exposures, emissions, and effects rely on and contribute to information on product constituents. The next section examines the U.S. laws that address the disclosure of ingredients in products.

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This is Part One of a three part article. Part two will be published in two weeks.

To download a pdf of the entire article, click here.

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This article was published in the Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Vol 29,  Page 32-38,

© 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Biography:

Anne C. Steinemann is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Professor of Public Affairs at the University of Washington. She received her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University.  Dr. Steinemann specializes in the health effects of pollutants, exposure analysis, indoor air quality, and green buildings, combining expertise in engineering, economics, policy, and public health.  She has received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, in addition to university and national teaching awards.  Dr. Steinemann has investigated more than 200 sick buildings to identify pollutant sources, reduce exposures, and improve occupants’ health.  She conducted the first national epidemiological studies of chemical sensitivity, its causes and symptoms related to chemical exposures, and its overlaps with asthma.  Dr. Steinemann has directed more than $8 million of funded research, and serves as advisor to agencies and industries on environmental health issues.  Among her recent publications are the textbooks Microeconomics for Public Decisions (South-Western, 2005) and Exposure Analysis (CRC Press, 2007).