Centuary Mattress Bedtime Counter-Story: Perfumes and Colognes - Do they have a puff of that ‘toxic’

‘A rose may be a rose’  but that notorious rose-like sweet smell in your perfume may be something else which is totally different from that natural odour as it has its own toxic ‘essence’ under the disguise of a smothering fragrance or so says the EWG (Environmental Working Group) report. It also essays that many a popular perfume, cologne, and body spray have traces of natural essence in huge doses which may (un)usually contain a dozen or even more potentially dicey synthetic chemicals of which some of them are procured from petroleum. In due effect, if one gets bothered by a sweet smell of these petrochemicals in most of the perfumes we use today, they are not to be wrong.

       ( Do you have that incredible ‘scent of danger’ in your credenza? - Source: TheBrownBottle.com )

The EWG report suspects that many of the colognes have an entirely concocted stock of 3,163 chemical ingredients which hide behind that ‘fragrance’ word and the blend of them has been almost always tucked away from the consumers. It is only in the vested interests of makers to protect trade secrets, they are permitted to hold back details pertaining to the ingredients which make some of those perfect sprays. Nonetheless, this makes it difficult for consumers to rely on branded labels as they are innocent of the menace that may lie in wait inside that new bottle of their favourite cologne deo, perhaps.

Some more ‘secret’ findings of the EWG report..!

• As reported by EWG, the average fragrance products which are tested contained 14 secret chemicals not entered on the label. The EWG report which analyzed the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics data came to this conclusion as the Campaign is a combined alliance of over 100 groups in the quest of transparency regarding chemicals in cosmetics that even ordered for independent laboratory tests exposing 38 secret chemicals in 17 of the leading fragrances.

• As per the Campaign data, the top offenders that produce ‘secret’ chemicals in their perfumes are American Eagle Seventy Seven with 24 topping the list, followed by Chanel Coco with 18 and Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gio & Britney Spears Curious each with 17. EWG adds that some of the secret chemicals have unearthed allergic reactions and hormone disruptions while many substances have not been estimated for safety in personal care products.

    ( Is perfume odour so ‘toxic’ enough to cause migraines in a majority of women? - Source: TIME.com )

• EWG further adds that there are some undisclosed ingredients which are chemicals with disturbing dangerous properties or with a proclivity to stockpile in human tissues. Some of the examples are diethyl phthalate, a chemical directly related to sperm damage found in 97 percent of Americans and musk ketone, which is directed in human fat tissue and breast milk.

• EWG complains that while the perfume makers disclose a few of these secret chemicals on the label, they throw others together in the general ‘fragrance’ category. It partly also blames the US government’s Food and Drug Administration for throwing caution to the wind in regard to the safety of a great majority of secret chemicals used in spray-on products like perfumes and colognes.

• As reported by EWG, Fragrance secrecy is allowed largely due to a mega loophole in the Federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1973 that mandates companies to roll cosmetics’ ingredients on the product labels excepting fragrance.

   ( The official EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database - Source: TheBrownBottle.com )

The EWG’s SkinDeep database suffices as an expanding fountainhead of facts and figures about the health risks of ingredients in so many of cosmetics and kindred products which are extensively available on store shelves.

Even then, the cosmetics industry has made sure the public is ignorant about fragrance ingredients, especially those that pose possible health hazards or accrete in people’s bodies.