99% occupancy for 4 months with two rooms and feeling burned out

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7 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use Febreze—Or Other Chemical Air Fresheners
By Britta Aragon on September 18, 2013 | 26 Comments

We’ve talked about the dangers of air fresheners in previous posts. Today, I’d like to focus on Febreze Air Effects, a Proctor & Gamble product advertised as making odors, no matter how offensive, disappear.
A test by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that this product, like most synthetic air fresheners, releases a number of potentially harmful ingredients.
EWG Finds Carcinogen in Febreze
The EWG evaluated Febreze in 2009 to determine its safety as a school cleaning supply. Results showed that the product (Hawaiian Aloha option) released 89 air contaminants, including one carcinogen. Yet the manufacturer discloses only three of those ingredients.
This was a particularly high number—the third highest released by any product tested. According to the label, the air freshener contains only an odor eliminator, water, fragrance, non-flammable natural propellant, and quality control ingredients.
Could they get any more vague?
Here’s more on the chemicals the EWG found:
• Acetaldehyde: on California’s Prop 65 list for cancer and reproductive toxicity.
• Ethyl Acetate: a chemical toxic to the brain and nervous system.
• BHT: linked with neurotoxicity, hormone disruption, allergies, and irritation to the skin, eyes, or lungs.
• Propylene glycol: linked with allergies and skin and eye irritation.
• 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol: also used in flame retardants, resins, plastics, and rubber; has been linked with cancer in animal studies, according to the California Environmental Protection Agency.
NRDC Found Similar Results in 2007
Interestingly enough, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) also tested 14 different air fresheners in 2007, including Febreze, and found they contained phthalates, which are hormone-disrupting chemicals and have been linked with childhood asthma. Again, none of the products disclosed these ingredients.
“Consumers have a right to know what is put into their air fresheners and other everyday products they bring into their homes,” said Dr. Gina Solomon, NRDC senior scientist. “There are too many products on the shelves that we assume are safe, but have never even been tested.”
Why You Should Use Natural Air Fresheners Instead
Is it time for you to change your methods of freshening your home? Here are seven reasons why we think you should switch to more natural methods like opening a window, burning a safe candle, using baking soda and vinegar to absorb and remove odors, or using an essential oil diffuser.
1 Febreze and other chemical air fresheners do not remove the odor molecules—they simply cover them up. The odor molecules are still there, you just can’t detect them anymore. So after spraying the product, you’re not only inhaling the odor molecules, but the air freshener chemicals as well.
2 Febreze contains chemicals linked to cancer.
3 Febreze contains chemicals linked to hormone disruption and developmental problems.
4 Febreze contains chemicals linked to neurotoxicity, which means the chemicals are poisonous to the nerves or nerve cells.
5 Febreze contains chemicals that irritate the skin, eyes, and lungs.
6 Febreze contains chemicals linked to allergies and asthma.
7 Febreze doesn’t disclose any of these potentially harmful ingredients, so if it weren’t for studies like these by the EWG and the NRDC, we would have no idea what we were sniffing.
Have you stopped using Febreze and other chemical air fresheners? Please share your thoughts.
Picture courtesy Kroock74 via wikimedia.org.
Sources
“School Cleaner Test Results,” Environmental Working Group, November 3, 2009, http://www.ewg.org/research/greener-school-cleaning-supplies/school-cleaner-test-results.
“New Study: Common Air Fresheners Contain Chemicals That May Affect Human Reproductive Development,” NRDC, Press Release, September 19, 2007, http://www.nrdc.org/media/2007/070919.asp.
“Evidence on the Carcinogenicity of Tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) Phosphate,” Reproductive and Cancer Hazard Assessment Branch, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California Environmental Protection Agency, July 2011, http://oehha.ca.gov/prop65/hazard_ident/pdf_zip/TDCPP070811.pdf.

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Ugh, I hate chemical cleaner smells. Give me some basic vinegar and bleach!

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Skip the bleach. Here’s the recipe I’ve been using for years. In a spray bottle: cup of vinegar, 1/4 cup of alcohol, 3 or 4 drops of dishwashing liquid and then top it off with water. Works great.

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I do clean with mixtures like that in my house, but I use a hint of bleach in the bathroom of my rental for that extra scent assurance of cleanliness without using harsh cleaners, lol.

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The spray bleaches aren’t bad. Vinegar cleaners just don’t cut it in Hawaii where mold and mildew can be really strong.

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You just don’t want to rely on bleach with mold and mildew because it can actually make them come back stronger. I can’t remember the details of it, but I know when we were rehabbing we were told to actually use a mold killer and not bleach when spot treating mold because the bleach just bleaches the mold and doesn’t kill it and it will come back more quickly or something. I think in bathrooms you’d be okay, but it supposedly makes mold come back faster in porous surfaces.

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This is what we use for pet odors. It was recommended by our veterinarian’s wife. It really works and doesn’t have much of a scent.

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Where is your place located?

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Any recommendation for natural air fresheners, which will automatically dispense? We have one of those automatic air fresheners in the guest room, but it’s certainly a chemical one.

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Yeah, I never ever use this stuff or any other scents.

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I put out a bowl of baking soda with a few drops of orange essential oil in it.

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And that works? How often do you replenish/renew it?

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It works great, you just want to put it in a place where people won’t fiddle with it. Baking soda removes odors and the essential oils have a natural and gentle fragrance…orange is the least likely of the cleaning oils to cause headaches, etc in my experience. I put this in my fridge too.

Probably once a month or so is good for replenishing, or just stir it up between guests.

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And does this spread around the room effectively? The chemical one I use currently sends out a spray periodically.

Ok.

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It won’t spread a lot of smell around which is a good thing IMO, but it’s great to stick in smelly areas as it actually removes odors. You can then also sprinkle baking soda on your mattresses and carpets, let it sit for 30 minutes to absorb odors, and then vacuum it up. I wouldn’t recommend using essential oils on fabrics/textiles.

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Hi @Sarah_Warren,

Well it’s a small enclosed room, so maybe the smell would spread over time. Or I could put it in more than one place. It would be nice if they manufactured one of those spray freshener things with natural ingredients, though. I mean, why is that hard?

Thanks for the recommendations and advice.

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Those plug-in room deodorizers give me an instant headache. I work in many different classrooms with kids and assistants who didn’t realize their headaches were being caused by those things. I immediately unplug and remove them from the room and “forget” to replace them when I leave :slight_smile:

There are natural ways to put a pleasant fragrance in the air and possibly mask odors. I have a lemon tree, so I put a couple of them here and there. I have a bundle of sage by the front door. I see some other good suggestions here in this thread.

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Toooo funny! I love your kitty pic. Please go off topic as often as you like. Keeps us on our toes :))))

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Thanks for the feedback, @J_Wang,

I’ll consider alternatives. I expect there is discussion about this on the net. And maybe I’ll open a separate discussion thread about this here. I am sure there are plenty of people with an opinion.

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Oh yes, that’s for sure :)))