Scented Products Can Be Hazardous 

Amy Marsh Letter to the Editor SF Chronicle 2jul00

Reading ``Putting on Airs'' left me with the kind of cold sweat the author claims to experience at the sight of her own leg hair. While I wouldn't necessarily enjoy living among unwashed Elizabethans, I find the toxic fumes emitted by modern ``sweat-phobics'' to be far more offensive and much more hazardous!

I experience everything from asthma to headaches, dizziness, nausea and other unpleasant symptoms upon exposure to most scented products. I find my daily encounters with other people's fragrances and scented shampoos and deodorants to be frustrating and even dangerous (asthma attacks can be fatal). And lest you imagine I am simply ``hypersensitive'' or ``just don't like pretty smells,'' let me assure you that the prevalence of hazardous and poisonous ingredients in modern fragrance formulations rivals anything found in tobacco smoke. As with tobacco smoke, we all breathe the poisonous fumes off-gassed in public by blithe fragrance users like Ms. Cavallaro.

I cannot go to the doctor's, ride an airplane, go to the grocery store (let alone a department store), eat in a restaurant or take in a movie without risking health consequences ranging from unpleasant to serious. My children are used to being hurried along at playgrounds, parks, museums and zoos because ``mommy can't breathe because of the perfume.''

Until we, the consumers, advocate for safer products and stringent testing of all ingredients in personal care products, we will continue to be at the mercy of manufacturers who are currently self-regulated and exploit loopholes in regulations.

Such loopholes are currently protested in a technical petition to the Food and Drug Administration that contains a laboratory analysis of Eternity perfume that uncovered numerous toxic ingredients and copies of the material safety data sheets that list the health hazards associated with each chemical.

Over 900 people have written in support of this petition, which can be found through a link at www.ehnca.org.

AMY MARSH
San Francisco