The Health Hazards of Plug-In Air Fresheners (2017)
indoordoctor.com
indoordoctor.com
A pot on the stove with lemon, vanilla, or cinnamon or some actual flowers/pine seem to be perfectly reasonable substitutes for the air fresheners.
Cooking inside using wood kills a lot of people each year.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-a...
> Around 3 billion people cook using polluting open fires or simple stoves fuelled by kerosene, biomass (wood, animal dung and crop waste) and coal.
> Each year, close to 4 million people die prematurely from illness attributable to household air pollution from inefficient cooking practices using polluting stoves paired with solid fuels and kerosene.
> Household air pollution causes noncommunicable diseases including stroke, ischaemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer.
> Close to half of deaths due to pneumonia among children under 5 years of age are caused by particulate matter (soot) inhaled from household air pollution.
As far as I'm concerned, the fact that it may or may not be in any house I own is a huge problem. It makes renovation and remodeling a huge liability.
A few years ago I acquired a pair of asbestos gloves at a flea market. They are absolutely mind blowing. I have held glowing red-hot pieces of metal for upwards of a minute at a time with my hands only feeling mildly warm. You might be able to do this with certain welding gloves, but they would be thick like oven mitts, leaving you with basically no dexterity. These asbestos gloves are no thicker than ordinary leather work gloves, are lightweight and permit your full range of motion. As an experiment to see how far I could push them, I poured a bit of molten lead over them (my hand was not inside this time) and it just beaded up and wicked off, like water does on a waxy or oily surface. If my hand was inside, I'm sure it would have been fine. I'd even go so far as to say that you'd probably be fine if you submerged your hand in molten metal, since the pores in the woven asbestos are so small that the metal would probably be prevented from seeping in by its surface tension.
All that said, they probably do release microscopic fibers into the air, so I wear an N95 when using them and store them in a sealed ziploc bag.
edit:
check this out too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuwUXGyWlHQ
https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/asbes...
In the UK for non-licensed work (removing things like asbestos floor tiles which have low levels of asbestos that are bound in another substrate) you only need to wear the equivalent of an N95 mask.
N = doesn't prevent oil penetration
100 = 99.97% effective against pm2.5 infiltration (the hardest size to filter)
When used by professionals, it's an incredible heat shield.
For the first time I noticed Dawn Dish soap listing its 10 plus ingredients in clear print on the front label.
I assumed it was lawyers being cautious. I do rinse better now than in the past though.
(Dawn soap is a great degreaser. I like the product, but I am reading labels more these days.)
Fabric softeners offset that to some extent, although in soft water areas or for people who tumble dry their clothes, I don't see any benefits.
If asbestos and lead are any indication I'm sure joe blow in 20yr will be writing long Reddit and HN rants about how <insert carcinogenic air freshener chemical you shouldn't atomize in an enclosed space> is nothing but pure evil and the CEOs of <insert company> should be lined up and shot for using it in <insert industrial application where there are so many more poisonous contaminants about that a little lead in your bearing surfaces or asbestos in your insulating materials doesn't make the environment any more hazardous>.
I had a previous speed-controlled fan that had an annoying buzz at low speed. This AC Infinity one is very good though. I would not cheap out on the fan. I had this set on the lowest setting, and also had an outlet timer plugged in so it turned off for several hours in the middle of the night.
Conversely I don't think the carbon scrubber itself matters much. I think they're basically fungible commodities. Here is a perfectly fine one: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01731MLFK
For regular household use (aka not growing marijuana) either 4" or 6" is appropriate. I went with the 6" because I thought it would most likely be quieter than 4" for moving the same amount of air. You just have to make sure you get the same size inline fan and carbon scrubber.
Just curious because my wife is bothered by a lot of odors and we've tried everything. For example, the other night, my wife woke up and had to close the windows in the house because a skunk smell was so strong. But, all I could smell was clean fresh night air. Hah.
https://whatforme.com/how-to-make-a-carbon-filter-for-a-grow...
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181017211703.h...
Which I reversed in my infinite 20 something wisdom.
If you ever experience a skin condition that seemingly won't go away and is surprisingly painful, you'll get hip to the scam that are cleaning products quite quickly.
They can all be made at home, with 3 or 4 ingredients. The supplies will last a lifetime and you don't produce any non recyclable plastic bottles (another scam!).
I've done a few experiments with home made saponification in the past but I never really considered this for other cleaning products.
Can you share some resources or experience on this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItLCBz6JdQI
There is also a girl who hasn't used any plastic for years and makes everything herself including beauty products:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuABgFsv5pw
Lots on Youtube in general. Again, I do it because I needed to, I don't want to preach or shame.
Couldn't figure out what the problem was, but eventually tracked it down to the plug-in air freshener next to her perch.
Got rid of it and the bloodwork started coming back normal almost instantly.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/28/14000-people-may...
It's really amazing to me that "how do you clean this fucking thing?" is such a nebulous concept for the engineers of these devices.
I add a small amount of bleach every other time I fill the tank (a few drops - if you can smell it you've added too much) and once a week I empty it out entirely, wipe it down, and let it dry completely. And, of course, if I'm turning it off for longer than 12 hours or so, I empty it out.
Suboxone maker Reckitt Benckiser to pay $1.4 billion in largest opioid settlement in US history
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/suboxone-maker-reckitt-benck...
Another product they sell: https://www.reckitt.com/brands/air-wick/
This sentence comes after a one sentence gap from a paragraph warning that the plug-ins contain volatile organic compounds(VOCs). Natural essential oils also contain VOCs. It’s how you smell them.
Not only that, many (but not all) essential oils are very toxic to cats and maybe other pets too - blanketly calling them "safe" is just plain wrong. Like very, very wrong.
It's probably not a good idea to diffuse essential oils in general, they are VOCs after all, but it's an especially bad idea if you have pets.
I read a little while ago there are some which just add scent to mask the smell, but others have a doughnut shaped molecule which captures the smelly molecule. It doesn't 'clean' as such and does nothing to stop the source of the smell though so perhaps calling it masking is correct.
I don't know enough about the specific science of cyclodextrin, I've put a couple of links below.
https://www.direct365.co.uk/blog/how-air-fresheners-work/ > The key to odour eliminating air fresheners is a molecule called cyclodextrin. This is a donut shaped molecule suspended in a water carrier. Due to cyclodextrin’s hydrophobic interior, it attracts the odour molecules in the air. As the water dries, the molecules on the interior of the cyclodextrin are encapsulated inside, therefore reducing their volatility and minimising their smell.
https://helix.northwestern.edu/blog/2015/06/take-whiff-chemi... > When you spray Febreze the hydrophobic cavity of the β-cyclodextrin traps these volatile, odor causing molecules, preventing the molecules from binding to the odor receptors in your nose
Then the big question, are scented candles just as bad?
This is a kernel of good info but damn it could've been so much better.
Safe concentrations of many things aren't known for humans, because studying them is very difficult (effects over many decades, ethics problems with experimenting on people)
College kids in dorms, working adults with roommates, residents of cities with bad outdoor air quality, etc.
You can handle most bad smells by having good habits (taking out the trash, not leaving food sitting around, washing clothes, etc). If it's your house in general, you should probably fix it instead of masking it, because it's probably mold.
Just saying there's room for a little sympathy here.
I bought a Temtop monitor to verify if the "smart mode" (where it only runs if the air quality is low): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DHXQXGK/
I live in Los Angeles where the air quality isn't that great and in a rented apartment where I have limited choices. The air purifier made a dramatic difference in the first hour I had it and now it keeps the PM2.5 reading down to around 2-4 with minimal cycling.
Minimum wage is $7.25 in many states. Over 27 hours of gross income to buy that purifier.
The median income in the U.S. was $31,133 in 2019, putting that air purifier at over 13 hours of gross income.
I've been at my job 15 years, in the rare event that overtime is available a $200 air purifier would cost me approximately the net income of 10 hours of overtime.
Anyway, as another poster noted, rarely is anything burning healthy to be around, even if it smells nice.
Here is a list of just SOME of the toxic chemicals found in commercial fabric softeners:
Alpha Terpineol: can cause central nervous damage and respiratory problems Camphor: causes central nervous disorders, is easily absorbed through skin Chloroform: a carcinogenic neurotoxin preferred by Ted Bundy Benzyl Acetate: linked to pancreatic cancer Benyl Alcohol: respiratory tract irritant Ethanol: on the EPA’s “hazardous waste” list, can cause central nervous system disorders Ethyl Acetate: a narcotic on the EPA’s “hazardous waste” list Limonene: a known carcinogen that irritates eyes and skin Linalool: causes central nervous system disorders and depresses heart activity
And with that you've demonstrated that your entire list isn't likely to be grounded in reality.
Benzyl Alcohol is in many plants and foods.
Ethanol is, well, ethanol.
Ethyl Acetate is found in many alcoholic beverages and is a simple ester of ethanol and acetic acid(vinegar).
Limonene is orange oil, found in citrus peels.
Linalool is found in many spices and flowers.
I'm not sure if you're seriously trying to scare people or making a sarcastic 'di-hydrogen monoxide' style joke.
Are you trying to argue it is safe because it is natural?
Terpineol, and other various other chemicals in woods, can cause skin/eye/mucous membrane irritation. Inhale enough terpineol and you can cause permanent lung damage.
Turpentine (which terpineol is a derivative of), which comes from pine trees, is bad stuff. It can cause kidney damage, bleeding in the lungs, etc. Inhaling it can even cause central nervous system damage and can be immediately fatal in high enough concentration.
Camphor occurs naturally in the tree from which it takes its name, and also basil and rosemary naturally contain it in large quantities. Its lethal dose is reasonably small, under a gram for children, but its pungent odor seems to prevent most poisonings, and it seems to have no cumulative toxicity despite widespread use as an inhalant (for example, to alleviate symptoms of colds). A typical case report reads:
> A 3-year-old girl ingested 700 mg camphor from 1 tablespoon of Vicks VapoRub (R). This product had also been placed in her nostrils twice daily for 5 months. Grand-mal seizures occurred 2 h after ingestion. Coma and respiratory depression lasted 21 h. Full recovery ensued (Phelan, 1976).
Benzyl acetate and benzyl alcohol are produced naturally by jasmine flowers (they're the major constituent of their scent) and the ylang-ylang tree. Benzyl alcohol is also a constituent of castoreum. It can also strip the paint off your walls and destroy your corneas.
Chloroform is produced by many kinds of seaweed, perhaps by soil fungus, and in abundance by chlorinated drinking water.
Most of the other toxic chemicals here have been covered by other posters.
Ethanol, though, that's a huge social problem; aside from the cognitive impairments it's best known for, it may be the single chemical poison responsible for the largest number of yearly human deaths due to its addictive nature. Fortunately, the amount used in fabric softeners is typically about a thousandth of the dose needed to produce toxic effects.