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Aug 05, 2023

Will Pellman's column

Will Pellman The Dixie Drifter Do you ever wake up feeling well-rested and refreshed only to find yourself later feeling lethargic, run-down and tired for no apparent reason? Do you sometimes get dull

Will Pellman

The Dixie Drifter

Do you ever wake up feeling well-rested and refreshed only to find yourself later feeling lethargic, run-down and tired for no apparent reason? Do you sometimes get dull headaches or feel congested and winded without doing any physical activity? Do you sometimes feel a bit light-headed or nauseous when you shop in a home improvement store with building materials and the feeling goes away when you leave the store?

Do you ever notice a slight change in the way you feel when you’re at the cosmetics counter in a department store or when you linger for a few minutes in the aisle where detergents are sold in the supermarket? Do you have a good day at work, or while out shopping, and then crash with fatigue once you get home?

If you’ve experienced any of these symptoms occasionally or on a regular basis, then the colognes, perfumes and scented air fresheners you’re breathing in every day may be making you sick. The indoor air quality in some homes is often many times more toxic than the air quality outdoors.

Mass marketers and merchandisers have convinced us as a nation that we all smell bad. So we spend billions of dollars each year on health and beauty aids and so-called air fresheners to convince ourselves that we smell good.

The makers of laundry detergent no longer talk about the cleaning power of a detergent. They spend millions on advertising that talks about the perfumes that are used in detergents and dryer sheets that carry no cleansing or health benefit. These perfume-scented laundry detergents and so-called clothing fresheners are loaded with toxins that can negatively impact your respiratory system, your digestive system, as well your sensory perception nervous system.

Most perfumes are not made from natural ingredients. They’re made from volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) created in a laboratory and with petroleum-based petrochemicals. It can take a mix of up to a dozen or more petrochemicals to create the fragrance of a perfume. Why does the hand sanitizer we use to kill the corona and flu viruses have a fragrance that some people are allergic to? Alcohol kills the germs…. not the fragrance. Why not use just plain alcohol?

Unlike manufacturers of food and pharmaceuticals, cosmetic companies are not required by the FDA or the Consumer Products Safety Commission to print the ingredients of their products on the packaging label.

Most ingredients are not benign plant-based ingredients like natural vanilla, clover or cinnamon. The base chemicals are often toxic petrochemicals that are transported in tanker trucks and rail tankers that carry the skull and cross-bones hazmat stickers pasted on the vehicles.

Leave a bottle of perfume or cologne opened for a week or two and then rub a dab or two on your wrist. The perfumed smell will eventually evaporate and the remaining part will smell like insect spray or shoe polish. What you then smell is the base chemicals used to create the fragrance.

Some of the worst offenders are household cleansers, laundry detergents, dryer sheets and the plug-in and aerosol room and furniture air fresheners. Scented candles carry the same toxins. The FDA recently released a report about the danger of toxic fumes given off by scented candles.

A recent report from a Canadian medical journal warns about the toxins found in processed foods, cosmetics and other consumer products we use on a daily basis. It suggests a direct link to the increasing rise in chronic illness like childhood diabetes, sinusitis, asthma, Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer disease, autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and other cognitive and sensory perception disorders.

You are what you eat, drink and breathe. Lay off the perfumed plug-ins, dryer sheets and other heavily perfumed detergents and air fresheners for at least three months. Detoxify your home and automobile to get rid of heavily perfumed contaminates just as you decontaminate your environment during the pandemic. Your lungs, sinuses digestive tract and the rest of your body will thank you for it. Think before you spritz.

Will Pellman

The Dixie Drifter