Synthetic Chemicals in Perfume and Their Potential Health Effects

Have you been stuck in an elevator and suffocated from the really strong perfume someone had on? Do you have a co-worker that has that “signature scent” and you can sense his or her presence just from the signature fragrance? Have you ever sprayed an obnoxious amount of perfume on yourself to make sure it lasts for the entire day? Have you ever wonder what is in YOUR perfume?

I have always had some kind of perfume on my dressing table and sometimes in my school bag as well. However, I have never been too conscious about the chemicals or labels of these products. Just like an average consumer, I just never thought about looking through the ingredient list of my cosmetic products. You always see people comparing prices and scent but have you ever seen someone actually peeling off the outside label cover to check the ingredient list of perfume at the store? I have sometimes sprayed perfume straight onto my skin without any contemplation because if it were dangerous then it would not be sold, right? The thought of the government allowing a toxic chemical to be widely distributed is just so absurd to me. We live in the most powerful nation in the world so shouldn’t everything be safe? Well, it turned out that this assumption is not true at all.

The careless habits of mine suddenly changed when I encountered a minor allergic reaction to a moisturizer cream I was trying. I am not sure which chemical caused the allergic reaction but this incident made me more aware of what I was putting onto my body. I began looking into what is in my other personal care products. I spent a lot of time reading about what is in perfume and the related health effects since I use this product every single day. I ended up finding endless news reports and research articles discussing health effects and here is a summary of what I discovered.

Until the 19th century, perfumes were made from plant and animal based natural products. However, the perfumes we use today mainly contain synthetic chemicals (Fortineau, 2004). Compared to natural products, synthetic chemicals can drastically cut the cost of production and have properties that can prolong the shelf life of fragranced products (Fortineau, 2004). Are all synthetic chemicals dangerous, you may ask? No, but synthetic chemicals such as phthalates, synthetic musks, limonene, and linalool in perfumes could bring us unexpected health effects.

Well, could I just avoid those specific synthetic chemicals by reading the labels? Not quite. Perfume is a product regulated by the United States Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA. Perfume companies could just use the term “fragrance” on their ingredient list instead of listing everything (Steinemann, 2016). This term could encompass as many as 10,000 ingredients (Heid, 2015). The FDA claimed that this method of labeling would protect the trade secrets of the companies (“Fragrances in Cosmetics,” n.d.). Does this sound like a loophole to you? Here is what the Environmental Working Group has to say about fragrance product labeling.

The image below shows the ingredient list of Chanel №5. Note that one of the ingredient items is “parfum”, which is the equivalent of the term “fragrance” we discussed earlier. Again, we do not know what is in this overarching group. This makes it extremely difficult for us to know what is in our perfumes but nevertheless, our perfumes most likely contain chemicals such as phthalates and synthetic musks. I will discuss the connection between these chemicals and potential health effects below. The senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Watch Group, Scott Faber, claimed that cosmetic is one of the areas with fewest regulations (Narayan, 2018).

Even pesticides have more regulation than something I am spraying directly onto my skin? This is something that should be very concerning to all cosmetic users.

Limonene and linalool are present in many perfumes to give the soothing aroma. You can see them on the ingredient list of Chanel №5 in the above image. What is wrong with these compounds? As Dr. Heather Patisaul, a biologist from North Carolina State University said, “anything that gives perfume an odor is very likely going to be an allergen” (Heid, 2015). These substances are not dangerous but upon prolonged air exposure, they undergo a reaction called oxidation to make compounds known as hydroperoxides. Hydroperoxides are extremely sensitizing to the skin (Karlberg, 2017). If something is sensitizing, that means that it lowers our body’s tolerance to a certain stimulus. Limonene and linalool are known allergens. In fact, air oxidized linalool is already being used to screen for skin allergies ( Kern, Dkhil, Hendarsa, Ellis, & Natsch, 2014). An international multi-center study conducted with 2,009 participants found that 5.2% of dermatitis patients were allergic to oxidized limonene and 6.9% were allergic to oxidized linalool (Bråred Christensson et al., 2016). If you have a skin allergy condition, you may want to check the labels of your fragranced products for these chemicals. Furthermore, if you develop some type of skin allergy, your perfumed products could be a potential cause.

In addition to skin allergies, perfumes are also associated with respiratory allergies. A national survey showed that 34.7% of Americans experienced some sort of respiratory reaction upon fragranced product exposure (Steinemann, 2016). Some of the reactions can be more severe while others are minor. Below is an interview with Dr. Steinemann and Melissa Ebilo, a patient who suffers from extreme respiratory reaction caused by fragrance. Melissa reported that she has to work from home to avoid being exposed to certain scent. She said that exposure to perfume or smoke from a cigarette could trigger a full-blown asthma attack for her (WMAR-2 News Staff, 2017). A study showed that skin allergy from fragrance exposure is linked to increased risk of bronchial hyper-responsiveness from fragrance (Schnabel et al., 2010). Another study showed that respiratory patients exhibited higher allergic activities once exposed to perfumes compared to healthy participants (Elberling et al., 2007). This means that if you have some type of respiratory conditions such as asthma, you should be more careful with perfumed product. Another study on lung functions showed that exposure to personal care products, including perfumes, could potentially lead to decreased in lung functions, especially in women (Dales et al., 2013).

A chemical often associated with perfumes is phthalate. You may have never seen phthalate fully listed on any of your cosmetic products but it may be hidden under the “fragrance” category. In addition to perfume, phthalate can also be found in other products such as plastic containers, pesticides, and wallpaper. Plastic and pesticide? Why do we need this chemical in perfume, then? A common type of phthalate is diethyl phthalate (DEP), which is used to prolong the scent of fragrance (Al-Saleh & Elkhatib, 2016). A study conducted in 2016 showed that DEP was present in all 47 of the tested branded perfumes. These perfumes included the common brands such as Bath and Body Works Twilight Woods and Japanese Cherry Blossom and also higher priced perfumes such as Coco Mademoiselle (Al-Saleh & Elkhatib, 2016). What we are concerning about is the fact that phthalates can absorb into the skin then blood stream when perfume is applied. Phthalates could possibly trigger increased production of estrogen, which is extremely dangerous because the uncontrolled cell growth in estrogen positive breast cancer is signaled by the overproduction of estrogen (Patel, 2017). There is still speculative result regarding the health effects of phthalates on humans. A study showed that phthalates triggered the proliferation the human breast cell line MCF-7 (Hong, Ji, Choi, Manabe, & Jeung, 2005). However, a cross-sectional study showed no relationship between phthalates and breast cancer (Morgan, Deoraj, Felty, & Roy, 2017). Regardless, these preliminary results should serve as warnings for our behaviors. Interesting enough, the European Commission Scientific Committee on Consumer Products already banned DEP in 2016 but the U.S. FDA still claims that DEP does not pose any concern for human health (Al-Saleh & Elkhatib, 2016). Like Dr. Pautisaul said, we could spend years arguing about what is safe or what is not but at the end of the day, we are the ones being affected (Heid, 2015). So why not be cautious now?

I had no idea that some chemicals could remain in the body and pass on to the next generation through breast milk. Maybe you have been using different types of perfume for a long time and have never had any sort of allergic reaction. However, you may not know what has accumulated in your body and how they could potentially affect your newborn. A study done in 2012 found 5 types of musks in human breast milk of 110 mothers (Yin et al., 2012). In addition to synthetic musks, phthalates could also accumulate and pose trans-generational health problems. Research has suggested that prenatal phthalate exposure could bring adverse effects to male infants’ reproductive system. The variable researchers use to measure abnormality of the male reproductive system is the Anogenital Distance (AGD). This is the distance between the anus to the genital and drastic change in this distance could have profound implications on the reproductive ability (Bornehag et al., 2015). Findings from a 2005 study showed the association between prenatal exposure to phthalate and shorted ADG in newborn boys (Swan et al., 2005). Again, the research on this topic is still under development. Nevertheless, should we continue to mindlessly spray ourselves with the toxic chemicals that could have life-long harmful effects on our children’s development?

Your immediate thought is probably to avoid perfumes completely and use other alternatives such as essential oils. The truth is that no fragranced product is 100% safe. For example, an essential oil may be labeled with Citrus sinesis but if you do not know, a Citrus sinesis oil may contain up to 95% limonene (Sabroe, Holden, & Gawkrodger, 2016). In this case, if you are allergic to limonene then an essential oil with Citrus sinesis will still give you the allergic reaction (Sabroe, Holden, & Gawkrodger, 2016). The best way to avoid exposure to potentially harmful chemicals is to reduce the use of cosmetic products as much as possible. If that is too difficult, you can avoid products that contain the word “fragrance” or “parfum” on the ingredient list. This is extremely important for pregnant women as chemicals like DPE and musks could bring adverse health effects to the newborns. But remember, little exposure could still be dangerous because these chemicals can accumulate and we are still unsure of how low dose exposure could alter our normal body functions. The task of reducing cosmetic use, especially the fragranced type, may seem challenging but nevertheless not impossible.

It can be extremely difficult to enforce regulations to protect the people’s health since the industry has such a powerful voice in the current state of politics. The profit making culture of our country and the susceptibility of our politicians to industry lobbying effectively mask the health concerns of the public. Instead of waiting for further research to confidently confirm that something causes cancer or for the government to make an official ban on a chemical, it is never too early for you to regulate your own health and behaviors. Only you can be the most powerful advocate for your body and your health.

Below is an infographic that summarizes the health effects related to fragrance products and what can you do to protect your health. You can also try searching for the health concerns associated with your personal care products on the cosmetic database developed by the Environmental Working Group at cosmeticsdatabase.com.

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