Every fall, when I see friends and family busting out their fall scented candles, wax burners, and air fresheners I internally cringe at what is happening to their body systems. And it’s not only affecting the women in the household- the men and children are also negatively affected by fragrance and synthetic chemicals. 

Dr. Philip Landrigan with the Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center in New York performed a study measuring fetal exposure to synthetic chemicals through the mother’s urine. The higher the chemical content in urine, the higher chance there was of that child being diagnosed with autism, ADHD, and neurological disorders throughout their childhood. This means mothers are unknowingly exposing their fetuses to chemicals that could forever change their lives, and not for the better. 

Future Families II performed a study  assessing the chemical levels in the urine of children aged 2-36 months. They found a direct correlation between higher chemical levels and a low AGI (anogenital index). Not only are these synthetic fragrances harming our hormones on an internal level (sperm levels, infertility, and asthenospermia [sperm with weakened mobility]), but they’re also literally changing the physical make up of our sons’ genitals. 

A quick Google search provides study summaries linking fragrance to slow sperm, undescended testes, low AGI, low sperm count, cause ovarian and oocyte irregularities in women causing menstruation issues, and much more. 

The main issue being that many of the ingredients in fragrance, phthalates largely, are recognized by our body as estrogen. This is called a xenoestrogen. A synthetic estrogen that bombards our body with an excess amount of “estrogen”, which then tells our body we don’t need to create more natural estrogen. In women this can look like: low lobido, painful cycles, irregular cycles, headaches, etc. In men this can look like: soft breast tissue (the man boobs), excess belly fat, low lobido, dysfunctional erectile disorder, and low energy levels. 

A study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) shows that at least 75% of fragrance ingredients contain phthalates. But the companies don’t have to put phthalates on the label because they’re protected by the Toxic Control Act of 1976. The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act is another great legislative measure which allows fragrance into beauty products without it actually being on the label. Seems fair, right?

The EWG lists fragrance as an “8” on a scale of zero to ten for health concern. Ten being the highest. 

So why is this shady ingredient in EVERYTHING? 

Because we’re addicted. Americans love things that smell good. Because our sense of smell is directly connected to our memories and emotions, we’re easy targets for companies to target our emotional response with a smell. 

Our olfactory system is linked with our limbic system, which then affects our nervous system. Basically, whatever we smell affects our entire body. It goes into the nose, then the brain, then the nervous system. This has to do with our fight or flight response, memory for recognizing family, and memories which indicate safety or hazards.