The new scented laundry products stink, make people sick, and are badly polluting neighborhoods and houses. Out of curiosity, looked at a major company's blog on the internet. For a popular laundry detergent: In the first 5 customer comments, 3 complained of the bad smell, and 1 person said "gives them a headache." When I called the company to register a complaint, I was told "this sort of thing is rare." Rare? Less than 1/5000? don't think so considering the pictures I took of their website indicate that customers are having similar problems, including a defined "headache." I have noticed that these new laundry products marketed in the U.S., for the past 9 months, cause me to have migraine headaches, severe ear pain, a sore throat and burning and strange feeling in the back of my nose. Additionally, my concentration is adversely affected, and makes me have attention deficit disorder until it is out of my system in several hours, up to a day. After smelling household scented products, I can even taste the smell in my food just after exposure because of the intimate relationship of the olfactory and taste senses. I am being exposed to these chemicals, even though I have not purchased them or handled them.
Other considerations:
1) neighborhood dryers are venting the toxic substances into the air that the rest of us breathe. Has anyone complained, or found a local neighborhood association or government agency to help them curtail this problem?
2) These new laundry chemicals don't get broken down with heat. People have tried vinegar, ammonia, baking soda, unscented laundry products, etc. and still can't get rid of the fragrance chemicals in their clothes from exposure to these products. What is happening to these extreme newly synthesized compounds when they enter ground water, lakes, streams, waste water processing? They stay, and are likely in peoples' body tissues, and certainly are getting into the wildlife.
3) The companies do not provide any information about the chemical names of "fragrance" or "parfum." The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), EPA, and FDA, do not regulate these products. Loosely, the CPSC may become involved if someone dies or something that they think is extreme. They do receive complaints from consumers, so please CONTACT CPSC if you have problems with any laundry products. If neurological like headache, strange sensations in the head or body, be sure to mention neurological in your complaint. You don't have to fill in all the lot # blanks on their form. Be sure to detail your problems and concerns.
Is anyone else concerned about these products? Searched PubMed for scientific articles, and finding weak "safety data" for the new fragrance chemical compounds in these studies. Cannot obtain any safety data from the government, or the companies.