Fresh air for healthier lives, happier homes?

Yet, in Malaysia there are no restrictions on what should be the permitted level of phthalates or other chemical substances in the liquid compound of air fresheners, humidifier and other ‘air masking fragrances’.

Calidya Idem, Malaysian Association of Standards Users

A humidifier disinfectant was reported to cause the death of about 100 South Korean in 2011 alone and caused the manufacturer to issue a public apology and withdrew its product from the market. It was also reported that 500 people have died or been injured after inhaling poisonous chemicals used in humidifier disinfectants manufactured and sold by several companies in South Korea from 2001 to 2011.

The company Reckitt Benckiser is a well-known company and among its global brand include Dettol, Vanish, Clearasil, Durex and Nurofen. The South Korean government had so far linked 177 cases to its product Oxy Ssak Ssak, a liquid humidifier disinfectant. A South Korean government investigation found a relationship between lung damage and products used to sterilise/disinfect domestic humidifiers. The harmful chemical PHMG and PGH are recorded by the U.S National Institutes of Health to have acute toxic effects (in some research it is reported to have acute cardiovascular toxicity-severe inflammation in human cells and heart failure) and pose a critical health hazard when inhaled in the form of droplets.

Knowing the risk of chemical substances inhalation through humidifier or other ‘air freshener’ which most of the times are a bottle of complex chemicals mixtures of volatile organic compound (VOCs), it is only right that regulations are in place to control the types and level of chemical substances that its environment could tolerate and would not pose as a health threat.

A data released by the Malaysian Association of Standards Users in 2011 on the air fresheners used for cars found that almost all air freshener which can be purchased easily at the supermarket counters and even petrol stations contain at least one type of phthalates, a substance that are ban and regulated in some countries. Although each of the phthalate is in low doses, a study done by the U.S Centre for Disease Control (CDC) stated that a mixture of phthalates at low doses can act in an additive manner to cause the same health hazards as just one phthalate at a higher doses. Yet, in Malaysia there are no restrictions on what should be the permitted level of phthalates or other chemical substances in the liquid compound of air fresheners, humidifier and other ‘air masking fragrances’. Many consumers do not know the contents in the air fresheners and ingredients they should avoid nor are they aware of the dangerous chemicals that might be present in the air fresheners.

Going through the ‘dedicated to scenes’ shelves in any supermarket, any consumers would see the lack of customer information or guidance in place. There are no label of the active ingredients and some do not even have a warning label of the risk of use for asthmatic consumers. The American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology stated that about 20 percent of the population and 34 percent of people with asthma report health problems from air fresheners and that air freshener fragrances can trigger allergy symptoms, aggravate existing allergies and worsen asthma. There are also the rise and trending of products labelled as organic or green or even unscented and aromatheraphy with no scientific studies to support the claims, which still emit toxic chemicals.

Almost every Malaysian is exposed to air fresheners in some manner: homes, cars, office, toilets etc and with the worsen air pollution over the year, more and more people will not be able to open their windows to let in natural air and will have to turn to home fragrances just to get the breath of fresh air it should be a top priority to start regulating the limits of VOC and Endocrine Disruptors Substances (EDS) chemicals in synthetic fragrances or other consumer products (toys –plastic material, paints, detergents etc) and to require manufacturers to provide the full ingredient list on the labelling to allow consumers to choose the best products.