One step down the personal care aisle, and bottles of shampoo and luxurious lotion fill the air with sweet aromas.
This fragrant concoction, a medley of countless synthetic chemicals, entices us with visions of a blissful getaway with each bubble bath or shower. However, hidden hazards may be stealthily contributing to poor health.
Moreover, the health risks remain concealed due to the lack of transparency surrounding personal care products’ formulations. Consumers are unaware of the ingredients, and companies are not obligated to disclose them.
A Whiff of Fragrance History
Ads that portray fragrant self-care as the path to beauty are everywhere. The word “perfume” fittingly means “through smoke” in Latin.
For millennia, people have used plant extracts containing terpenes, the compounds responsible for how plants smell, to scent balms and mask odor. Only the wealthy could afford perfumes.
Later, scientists began concocting lab-made scents. Ernest Beaux, a chemist and a perfumer, created the iconic Chanel No. 5 in 1921.
And so began the evolution of synthetic fragrances in modern skin care, hair care, and cosmetics.
Breaking Down the Chemical Cocktail
Fragrances contain hundreds of chemicals like phthalates, parabens, and synthetic musk. Some, such as benzene, originate from petroleum.
Phthalates help scents last longer. These compounds can permeate the skin—the body’s largest organ—and enter the bloodstream.
Fragranced, aerosolized hairsprays emit chemicals into the air. A 2017 study found that about 75 percent of people with shortness of breath have suffered perfume-induced asthma attacks.
Other chemicals in synthetic fragrances, parabens, have been linked to female infertility and breast cancer, though the evidence is limited.
Scent With Caution
Beneath the surface of fragranced beauty and personal care products lies a realm of potential health risks.
Hormone Disruption
Deodorants and sprays contain chemicals like phthalates and musks that may spur excess breast tissue in males.
Exposure to parabens during pregnancy has been linked to thyroid gland dysfunction and higher birth weights of babies, according to a 2021 study published in Applied Sciences.
Phthalates also increase the risk of endometriosis, an inflammatory illness where uterine-like cells grow elsewhere in the body abnormally, causing pain and organ dysfunction.
Breast Cancer
Parabens found in fragranced products are present in breast tumors, suggesting a potential breast cancer role.
Environmental contaminants such as synthetic musk, chemicals used in personal care product fragrances, are associated with breast cancer risk, according to a 2016 scientific review article published in the journal Emerging Contaminants.
Fragranced products also contain synthetic xenoestrogens associated with inflammation and breast cancer, according to a 2021 study published in Cancers.
Skin Irritation and Allergy
Patients often report contact dermatitis and other skin allergies due to fragrances in personal care items.
Other Health Hazards
Exposure to certain fragrances can trigger migraines in sensitive individuals. A 2020 study in Nature Communications associated maternal urinary paraben levels during pregnancy with higher body mass index (BMI) scores in girls, indicating a link between paraben exposure and childhood obesity. Additionally, a study in the Journal of Xenobiotics suggests fragrance chemicals may induce neural disturbances like depression.
A Fragrance Loophole
Fragrance abounds in beauty products. On average, Americans use about 12 daily—many with untested synthetic scents.
“’Fragrance’ is a broad term,” Emily Spilman, the Healthy Living Science program manager at Environmental Working Group (EWG), told The Epoch Times. “That one word can hide dozens of different ingredients behind it.” No existing federal legislation mandates the revelation of components used for fragrance or flavor.
Cosmetic products and ingredients are not legally required to have U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval before they go to market, Ms. Spilman added. Manufacturers can use any ingredient in their formulation without demonstrating the safety of that product before consumers use it.
Up to about 99 percent of Americans encounter fragranced products weekly, according to 2016 data from a survey including over 1,100 participants. Nearly half of those surveyed did not know a listed fragrance actually contains dozens to hundreds of chemicals, and almost 65 percent were unaware companies did not have to disclose all fragrance chemicals.
‘Innocent Until Proven Guilty’
EWG experts say companies avoid disclosing all chemicals because they keep fragrance formulas proprietary.
“The regulations around personal care products and cosmetics are fairly lax in the U.S. compared to other countries, primarily the European Union (EU), where over 1,000 ingredients are banned from products because of health concerns,” Ms. Spilman said. “In the U.S., we only regulate 11 ingredients in products, and only nine of those are for health reasons.”
In the EU, potentially harmful chemicals get preemptively banned under the precautionary principle, according to Ms. Spilman. Conversely, the FDA waits for demonstrated issues before acting, causing slow reforms. If a product or ingredient is unsafe for use, action is only taken against the manufacturer after a consumer has been harmed and its safety has been disproven, she said. “You can think of this as ‘innocent until proven guilty.'”
“When ingredients are not disclosed due to them being classified as ‘trade secrets,’ it becomes difficult to diagnose the specific allergen or sensitivity in the patient,” Dr. Kira DuCharme, an integrative dermatologist and naturopathic physician, told The Epoch Times. “Consequently, the patient is unable to follow avoidance instructions” because they don’t know what to avoid.
Consumers should scrutinize labels and use databases like EWG’s Skin Deep when choosing products to check ingredients.
Despite unchanged cosmetics regulations since 1938, progress has emerged in product safety. The 2022 Modernization of Cosmetics Act (MoCRA) now requires allergen disclosure.
However, companies need only list known allergens, not all untested fragrance chemicals, according to Ms. Spilman. Loopholes remain as consumers choose beauty items.
Navigating the Fragrance Fog
While regulations are being developed, consumers continue to navigate a haze of uncertainty when selecting their creams, shampoos, and other personal care essentials.
Alternatively, in personal care items, shoppers can seek out natural components like shea butter, coconut oil, rose water, aloe, soap bark, and essential oils.
However, although plant extracts and essential oils might appear safer, they could still trigger sensitivity in certain people.
The safest choice may be to opt for fragrance-free products to protect our health and those around us, according to a 2019 paper published in the journal Building and Environment.
