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DEAR EDITOR:
An open letter to RFK Jr.:
I hope you are already well aware of the serious pollutants we bring into our homes in the guise of, "fragrance." The word simply refers to something you can smell; but they are all artificial, organic chemicals that are significantly dangerous to our health.
I have been a veterinarian for 45 years, and at least half of my patients suffer from allergies. Pollen is the big allergen, but pollens are only one piece of the puzzle. There are many food allergens as well, but nobody is looking at artificial flavorings; the other side of the "fragrance" coin.
Fragrance plug-ins, candles, wax burners, essential oil misters, even the fragrance cards you see hanging from car rear-view mirrors, are all pollutants of enclosed areas. Researching, "human-fragrance-toxic," I came across, "artificial fragrances interfere with babies' hormonal development." Seriously? People have plug-ins in the nursery, bathroom, kitchen, bedrooms, living room, even closets!
I consider cats and dogs to be, "the canary in the coal mine," for us. In the animal kingdom, humans' sense of smell is pathetic; dogs and cats olfactory abilities are, perhaps, millions of times better -- immeasurable. Hence, they react to air pollutants much worse than we do; we just don't notice the effects as much.
Growing up in the 1950s and 60s, all we had for fragrance was the Air-Wick®, a cone-shaped plastic device that you twisted and lifted the top, revealing a gel core that would shrivel like an old carrot in time. All we had in those days were smokers' lungs and black lung of coal miners. Where did today's Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) come from? I believe from artificial fragrances, and even candles made from petroleum products (the wax). Some people remark that they use "essential oils." When did it become a good thing to inhale microscopic oil droplets???
If you already have people looking into artificial fragrances (and flavorings), please continue your investigations. However, these are multi-billion-dollar corporations, and you will have significant blow-back and lawyering-up. I advise clients to rid their homes of artificial fragrance emitters for their own and their pets' sakes.
One thing I have noted in the past year is the labeling of Dawn detergent. They have always included, "fragrance," on the back label, but now they have added, "allergen(s)." Is Procter & Gamble trying to get ahead of potential class-action suits?
DONALD ALLEN
Boardman