Sorry I haven’t posted for ages but have been up to my ears in other things.  But I had to tell you about this.

The UK Co-operative Group, which has retail, banking and other sections, has long trumpeted its ethical and Green credentials. See here for example: http://www.co-operative.coop/food/ethics/Environmental-impact/Chemicals-strategy/

However, whilst it works to improve the ethical and environmental aspects of its own products, the Co-op continues to not only sell, but also promote, those produced by companies who, frankly, don’t give a damn about the environment or ethics, although they often pretend to.

A few years back there was an outcry over the Co-op promoting products made by Procter and Gamble, a huge multinational which dominates the market in cleaning products and spends about £200 million on advertising in the UK alone.  The promotions were linked to a charity.  This is a cynical ploy used repeatedly by the company in order to try to convince people that it cares.

Now they are doing it again, and have somehow persuaded the Co-op to collude again.  You can find details here:

http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/articles.aspx?page=articles&ID=211635

The target is to raise £300,000 for the charity. That’s less than 0.2% of P&G’s annual UK advertising spend. They are donating 2p from each of their products sold during the promotion. The promotion is clearly aimed to improve the reputation of the company and increase sales, which will probably recoup those little donations and more.

I wonder how many of the sick children who could be helped by the Variety Club have their illnesses exacerbated by the chemicals in P&G’s products.  The artificial, petrochemical-derived perfumes alone are associated with a wide range of health problems.  For example see http://www.vivienpomfrey.co.uk/parfum/index.html and http://www.vivienpomfrey.co.uk/parfum/appendix1.html

If P&G really cared about children they would stop destroying and polluting the environment and producing harmful products.

Promoting them seriously undermines the Co-op’s environmental and ethical credentials.

It makes me wonder just how committed they really are.

But, as with most other stories on pollution, the Commons Environmental Audit Committee has apparently ignored the metaphorical elephant which is – quite literally – in the room.

The BBC story refers only to outdoor pollution.

But a number of scientific studies have found that exposure to pollution is greater indoors than out.

The Canadian Lung Association have a page on the subject here:  http://www.lung.ca/protect-protegez/pollution-pollution/indoor-interieur/scents-parfums_e.php

A 2004 study by Adgate et al., online at http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2004/7107/7107.html looks at children’s exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at home, at school and outdoors.  The home environment was shown to be the greatest source of hazardous VOCs, which are released by cleaning products and air ‘fresheners’ (also known as room fresheners or deodorisers) among other things.  Several of the VOCs are components of artificial ‘fragrances’.

Whereas vehicle exhaust and industrial pollution are generally released unintentionally as by-products, many of these indoor pollutants are released deliberately in misguided attempts to make the air, fabrics, skin, hair, surfaces, washing-up, etc., smell ‘fresh’ or alluring.

How many people are dying prematurely or having their health wrecked by these chemicals?

Why is the elephant of deliberate indoor pollution, pushed relentlessly by manufacturers of these toxic products, almost always ignored when pollution is discussed?

Maybe two main reasons.

1.  There is still an instinctive disbelief that something legally sold to add to the air, body or household and personal effects could possibly be harmful.

2.  There is a colossal amount of government lobbying by industry.  See, for example, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk_politics/8578788.stm

Bye for now

Do they have no idea about the hazards of the stuff they are working to produce or market?

Do they know but pretend to themselves that they don’t?

Do they know but pretend to others that they don’t?

Do they really not know?  Have they been brainwashed too?

What about the people at the top?

Don’t they have families and worry about the effects on their health?  Do they actually use the stinking stuff that they promote?

Are they all such tiny cogs in such gigantic wheels that they have no idea what the wheels are doing?

Maybe they could tell me.  I’m genuinely curious.

“Our Microfresh fragrances are synthetic. The reason for this is that they are safer than natural oils (which often contain higher levels of sensitizers and allergens) and also because we can make smells that wouldn’t occur naturally.

They key point to note is the safety angle – we can control the safety of synthesized products much more easily than we can with natural oils.

Should you have any further queries, please let me know.”

So – from the horse’s mouth, as it were. Notwithstanding the overwhelming impression deliberately fostered on their website that Microfresh products are bursting with natural goodness, they are all fake.

But it seems that they just can’t stop themselves from lying. Maybe it’s an addiction, rather like the addiction to poisonous perfumes that they seem determined to create in the general public.

No sooner does the rep admit that the ‘fragrances’ (I find it hard to use that delightful word to describe such vile concoctions) are artificial, than she – or a colleague advising her – has felt compelled to indulge in another whopper – that synthetic perfumes are safer.

This is absolute nonsense. They haven’t even been properly tested for safety, as the article linked from my blogroll clearly shows. Natural essential oils have been used for millennia. Yes, a few people are sensitive to them, but this problem may have initially arisen with the synthetic ones and then cross-sensitisation occurred with the natural ones. But they can have great therapeutic benefit.

The reason that synthetics are used is price. They are much much cheaper than natural ingredients, which is why manufacturers can add them so liberally to everything they can think of. If they were only allowed to use genuine naturals, the prices would rocket and sales would plummet.

Well, the rep said that she was happy to answer any further queries, didn’t she? She has been asked to provide scientific evidence to support her claim that synthetics are safer. Surprise surprise – no reply. She has had three weeks – not a peep.

Please, folks – don’t buy this junk.  I mean literally – don’t buy it.  You are being fooled.

Bye for now

Professor of chemical engineering urges students to go fragrance-free

Reproduced below is a letter sent by Professor Ihab Farag at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), USA to his school’s student paper, which was published.

“Many of us are familiar with canaries, the beautiful, colorful birds that tend to sing most of the time. Canaries also saved many human lives in coalmines. This is because canaries are much more sensitive to toxic gases than humans. Miners would take canaries with them in the coalmine. If the canary stopped singing and fell (or died), the miners knew to leave the coal mine quickly to safety.

There are individuals who have developed a very strong sensitivity to many common chemicals. These people can be very negatively affected and irritated by fumes, chemical cleaners, disinfectants, cigarette/cigar smoke, engine exhaust, solvents, etc. These people are often called “Human Canaries” of the modern world, because of the chemical sensitivity similarity to that of Canaries. Human Canaries of the 21st century tend to be very strongly irritated by everyday chemicals like perfumes, hair products, shampoos, shower gels, after shave lotions, antiperspirants, deodorants, hand sanitizers, chap sticks, finger nail polish, etc. Human canaries look the same as other people, and when you see one you probably will not recognize he or she is a human canary until an offensive toxic chemical triggers his or her sensitivity.

Please be considerate to human canaries and help them to enjoy life to the fullest. One way you can help the human canary and at the same time lower your exposure to undesirable chemicals, is to go fragrance-free: avoiding perfumes, and fragranced personal care products.”

Ihab Farag
Professor, Chemical Engineering Department

The professor has also responded warmly to a letter from a chemical sensitive in the UK which thanked him for his action.

He is clearly a very nice, caring man.  What a contrast to the greedy, lying, conniving multinationals who are set on polluting our planet with their pungent poisons.

I wish he would get one of his colleagues in Life Sciences to clone him a millionfold and send the clones to all corners of the globe (OK, so a globe doesn’t have corners) to spread his common-sense, humane words.

Usually my reactions consist of hypersalivation and sometimes nausea.  Yesterday it was much worse.

I currently have a nasty acute illness in addition to M.E.  Feeling semi-human yesterday, I walked to the Co-op for some essentials.  As usual, the deliberately-added artificial stenches hit me as soon as I entered the shop.

But a few minutes later it became frightening.  As I browsed the shelves I felt my consciousness changing.  I became faint and unable to focus my eyes.

Somehow I managed to complete my shopping and began to walk home.  I gradually began to feel better, my consciousness and vision returning to normal.

The fact that I felt relatively OK before and after spending time in the shop is evidence that it was indeed something in the shop air that made me so ill.

I am reluctant to visit my doctor about the current illness because – wait for it – the air in the waiting room also appears to be polluted with artificial perfumes.  On both of the last two occasions I have been there, I have become faint while waiting to see my GP.

I emailed the practice manager about it, providing details of the hazards of the likely chemicals.  I did not even receive the courtesy of a reply.  I am particularly concerned because yesterday I reacted so badly in the Co-op, where previously my reactions have been milder.  It is frightening to think that I might in fact lose consciousness in the GP waiting area if I visit while still acutely ill.

So much for the ‘health’ service!

I have been shocked to see air ‘fresheners’ in hospitals – an indication of the depth of ignorance about these products.

Well, I am going to email the Co-op yet again.  Will I get any sense out of them this time?

Bye for now.

A smell just is, isn’t it?  Like gravity or clouds, it is one of the phenomena about which most people probably know very little, other than that they just are.

What comes to your mind when you think of smell?  Maybe something nice or unpleasant, or something that makes you think of a particular person, place or time.  But do you ever think what it actually is?

A smell is what your brain makes of an inhaled chemical, chemical compound or mixture.  People don’t all smell things the same way.  Some people like certain smells; others dislike the same smells intensely.  Some people have a more acute sense of smell than others.  Smoking tends to blunt the sense of smell, and you can develop tolerance to smells if you encounter them very frequently, so that you need more of the chemicals to produce the same perceived effect.  A bit like addiction.  And maybe it is a lot like addiction…

People who would not dream of eating or drinking something without having some idea of what is in it, may not consider that things they inhale should be treated with equal caution, other perhaps than obvious hazards such as smoke.

But think about it. Here are some things that have dramatic effects when inhaled:

• nerve gas
• chlorine gas
• asthma inhalers

You may think of others.

So clearly, when something is inhaled, it can do dramatic things to your body, either good or bad.  How does it do this?

There are several ways that chemicals can enter your body.  You can rub them on your skin.  You can consume them by mouth.  You can insert them in various other orifices.  And you can inhale them.

Inhalation is the quickest way to get chemicals deep into your body.  It also reaches parts of your body that cannot be easily reached by other routes – most notably the brain and the rest of the central nervous system.

So surely we should take as much care with what we inhale as with what we eat and drink?

Maybe it’s because breathing is such an instinctive process – that it happens continuously without most of us having to even think about it – that we don’t think about what we are breathing in as much as we should.

Imagine if you were walking down the street or into a shop, and someone started putting things in your mouth or rubbing them on your skin (or worse!).  You would be appalled and might well call the police.  The offender would be liable for prosecution for assault.

But most people probably don’t give a thought to what is happening to their bodies when they pass someone wearing perfumed products, or when they enter a building where air ‘fresheners’ are used.

They should.  It is just as much an assault as if you were being forced to take in the chemicals via other routes.

As I have said in other posts, not only do these chemicals have many acute adverse effects; many also persist and accumulate in the body.  They travel round the body via the bloodstream and can lodge in vital organs, particularly those rich in fat.  Fat-rich organs include the brain.  The chemicals then can be passed by pregnant women to their foetuses and by nursing mothers to their offspring via breast milk.

Yet it is legal to sell and use products that release artificial perfume chemicals into the air we all have to breathe, without the chemicals having been tested for safety.  Isn’t that insane?

Isn’t it time we all woke up to the dangers of untested artificial perfumes?

Just think about it.

The companies I am looking at are Mood Media and Ambius, who push ‘scent’ (i.e. artificial chemicals) in the air as a way of improving brand loyalty.  Their products are really just glorified air ‘fresheners’.

Check out Ambius at http://www.ambiusart.co.uk/scenting/how-does-it-work/index.html

In their section on ‘Citrus’ scents, Ambius say “Citrus oils relax the brain waves, which in turn increases alertness and concentration. Citrus scents are rejuvenating and stimulating, and best for high-energy environments.”

BUT THESE ARE NOT CITRUS OILS!  They are cocktails of artificial chemicals, at least some of which are not even found in nature.  The effect of natural scents is largely to do with their physiological effects on the brain.  Artificial chemical cocktails cannot possibly have the same effect, as they are usually chemically different even if they have a superficially similar smell, and may have completely different effects, as is clear in the case of chemical sensitivity.  They are the olfactory equivalent of junk food.  So to enthuse about the effects of real citrus scents in a section on artificial ones is grossly misleading.

What other lies do they tell?

Ambius claim:  “Unlike conventional systems, which are composed of at least 50% solvents and propellants that contain potentially harmful volatile organic compounds, Ambius Microfresh dispenses pure fragrance without the need for such additives.”

Oh good – that’s at least an improvement, isn’t it?

WRONG

Many Microfresh variants DO contain a solvent, at concentrations up to 80%!  The chemical is described by Oxford University thus:  ‘Eye, skin and respiratory irritant’.

So much for ‘pure fragrance’…

Unfortunately, information on companies’ own websites is apparently not covered by the Advertising Standards Authority.  These are covered:

Magazine and newspaper advertisements
Radio and TV commercials (not programmes or programme sponsorship)
Television Shopping Channels
Posters on legitimate poster sites (not fly posters)
Leaflets and brochures
Cinema commercials
Direct mail (advertising sent through the post and addressed to you personally)
Door drops and circulars (advertising posted through the letter box without your name on)
Advertisements on the Internet, including banner and display ads and paid-for (sponsored) search (not claims on companies’ own websites)
Commercial e-mail and SMS text message ads
Ads on CD ROMs, DVD and video, and faxes

If you see claims like those cited here in any of the above media, complain to the ASA and/or let me know.  If you run a business, you could always ask Ambius or Mood Media to send you promotional material of a kind listed above, and see what it says.  Check out Mood Media here:  http://www.moodmedia.co.uk/in-store-marketing-partnerships/item:scent-marketing

(Info in my blog relates to the UK.)

More nonsense and worrying stuff

Mood Media, who use Ambius Microfresh products, list one of the ‘Key performance benefits’ as “sustained effect: no more than two grams of fragrance in the air per day.”  But in what volume of air?  This is meaningless, as it gives no indication of the concentration.

Many of the perfume chemicals are classified as irritants, and almost all Microfresh products are described on their safety data sheets as dangerous for the environment.

At least 13 of the products contain chemicals classified as allergens by the EU, and one contains 6 different ones.  ‘Fresh Water’ contains 3!  (Anyone here allergic to fresh water?)

Five contain the chemical galaxolide, which has been causally linked with obesity and cognitive impairment.  See http://www.vivienpomfrey.co.uk/parfum/fat.html

and

http://www.vivienpomfrey.co.uk/parfum/stupid.html

People visiting the hotels, car parks, shops and even gyms and health (!) spas where these chemicals are being pumped out without their knowledge or permission will be breathing them in for hours, sometimes days.  People working there will be breathing them in for months or even years.  Some of these chemicals – notably galaxolide – will build up in their vital organs.

Imagine how much you will breathe in during vigorous exercise.

I will provide the promised list of places where these insidious products are being foisted on an unsuspecting public when I can.  But the list is not complete.  If you have any concerns about whether these products (or other types of air fresheners polluters) in places that you visit, try asking.  Then maybe post the info here so that others can avoid being poisoned.

Bye for now

Trouble was,  a moment’s inhalation had filled my mouth with saliva, which continued to build up.  So when I returned to the polluted extension with my chemical mask on, I found myself with the quandary of whether to keep taking it off to spit out the saliva, while holding my breath so as not to inhale any more toxic muck, or let the saliva accumulate until I had cheeks puffed up as though I were doing an impression of a trombone player (or perhaps tennis player Andy Roddick).  I chose the latter.

Maybe I should collect the evidence and post it off to the manufacturers…but I don’t know which of the two main suspects it is this time.

Went to a restaurant yesterday, and a perfume-type smell hit me as soon as I  walked in.  Maybe that’s why I developed dermatitis on my hands while there, and had a headache this morning.  A friend came out in hives.

Did you know that contact dermatitis doesn’t require the allergenic substance to be applied directly?  Just contact with the allergen in the air is enough.

Bye for now

Please, Mr Postman – don’t wear stinky after-shave!  I heard the post arrive today and left it a few minutes before going to get it.  I thought that any perfume smell would have dissipated by then, but it is a calm day and I was hit with that familiar, horrible pong of perfumed after-shave.  Maybe it was the postman, maybe it was a neighbour.  But smells don’t half hang about!

As a child I was as guilty as anyone of buying such products as Christmas presents.  It was what you did.  Just as it is still what a lot of people do.  I wore perfumed stuff myself.

There are non-smelly alternatives to commercial after-shaves.  Some good tips here:

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/beauty/hair-removal/natural-aftershave.htm

Give them a try – you can save money too!