Why Bath & Body Works Is Poisoning You
Look on almost any shampoo, conditioner, perfume, cleaning product, Febreeze bottle, Glade candle, or commercial laundy detergent and you will see something labeled as “fragrance” listed in the ingredients. But what is it? The term “fragrance” can stand for any given combination of hundreds of chemicals used to create synthetic fragrances. They contain chemicals such as aldehydes, benzene, and phthalates (just to mention a few), and these have been found to cause birth defects, cancer, nervous-system disorders, and allergies. Have you ever broken out after putting on something from Bath and Body Works? Or have you gotten a headache soon after lighting a candle that smells like “Clean Cotton”? This is probably why. And here’s the kicker: many European countries have banned these chemicals from their products, and even our own EPA has placed some of them on the hazardous waste list! And yet they are still in our products and no one is requiring these companies to list what is included in their blanket statement of “fragrance.”
According to the huffington post: “Environmental Working Group (EWG) researchers found more than 75 percent of products listing the ingredient ‘fragrance’ contained phthalates (THAL-ates) which have been shown to disrupt hormone activity, reduce sperm counts, and cause reproductive malformation, and have been linked to liver and breast cancer, diabetes, and obesity” (Five 'Must-Knows' on the Dangers of Synthetic Fragrance). Some of these chemicals even concentrate in fat tissue and have been found in breast milk!
Here’s the thing: when you put something like this on your skin, it is absorbed directly into the bloodstream! So please be aware. I have had severe allergies for years, and recently discovered it was due to many of the products I was using on my body and in my home. Since ridding my lifestyle of such products, my allergies have decreased significantly, and I no longer break out in hives. I now make my own cleaning products from things like white vinegar, essential oils, and baking soda (I will post on this soon.) I test all of my products on EWG’s Skin Deep database (found here), where they rate products based on toxicity and explain what each chemical does to your body. Bottom line for me: I try to stay away from synthetic products as much as possible, and use things that are closest to their natural form. I buy my cosmetics from trusted companies who I know do not include harmful chemicals in their products, or I make my own. For further information on this subject, check out these articles below.
Scientific American - Scent of Danger: Are There Toxic Ingredients in Perfumes and Colognes?