PERFUME POISONING - How to Know If Your Perfume Is Poisoning You - You might think that finding out what’s in your perfume would be as easy as reading the ingredient label. But because of laws that protect fragrance manufacturers from sharing “trade secrets,” almost every perfume sold commercially is crammed with chemicals that aren’t listed individually on the product packaging. Instead, these chemicals are simply covered by the word “fragrance” — a catchall ingredient category that really could mean anything. Because so many ingredients included in perfume aren’t disclosed to the buyer, there are some well-founded concerns over the chemical reactions perfume can trigger. The good news is that immediate, irreversible damage to your health caused by one-time use of perfume or cologne — so-called “perfume poisoning” — is rare. But exposure to topical fragrances can trigger allergies, skin sensitivities, and cause harm over time. Most perfumes contain high amounts of ethanol, a type of alcohol that humans shouldn’t consume. While it can be scary for your child to ingest perfume, it happens pretty frequently and most children recover just fine. The most toxic ingredient in perfumes, colognes, and aftershaves tends to be ethanol or isopropyl alcohol. The scented ingredients in perfume are infused into these alcohols as a way of preserving and stabilizing the product’s desired scent.

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Perfume Poisoning

How to Know If Your Perfume Is Poisoning You

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Because so many ingredients included in perfume aren’t disclosed to the buyer, there are some well-founded concerns over the chemical reactions perfume can trigger in your body. The good news is that immediate, irreversible damage to your health caused by one-time use of perfume or cologne — so-called “perfume poisoning” — is rare. But exposure to topical fragrances can trigger allergies, skin sensitivities, and cause harm over time. The most toxic ingredient in perfumes, colognes, and aftershaves tends to be ethanol or isopropyl alcohol. The scented ingredients in perfume are infused into these alcohols as a way of preserving and stabilizing the product’s desired scent. 

Written by Kathryn Watson 

Medically reviewed by Elaine K. Luo, M.D.  

You might think that finding out what’s in your perfume would be as easy as reading the ingredient label.

But because of laws that protect fragrance manufacturers from sharing “trade secrets,” almost every perfume sold commercially is crammed with chemicals that aren’t listed individually on the product packaging.

Instead, these chemicals are simply covered by the word “fragrance” — a catchall ingredient category that really could mean anything.

Because so many ingredients included in perfume aren’t disclosed to the buyer, there are some well-founded concerns over the chemical reactions perfume can trigger in your body.

The good news is that immediate, irreversible damage to your health caused by one-time use of perfume or cologne — so-called “perfume poisoning” — is rare.

But exposure to topical fragrances can trigger allergies, skin sensitivities, and cause harm over time.

Let’s take a closer look at medical emergencies caused by fragrance products as well as other less serious conditions that can be related to perfume.

When to seek immediate help

Most perfumes contain high amounts of ethanol, a type of alcohol that humans shouldn’t consume.

If your child ingests a teaspoon or more — we aren’t talking about a spritz or two — you need to contact a poison control center at 800-222-1222, or call your child’s pediatrician, right away.

In the meantime, give your child a small, carb- or sugar-heavy snack to keep their blood sugar from dropping to a dangerous level.

While it can be scary for your child to ingest perfume, it happens pretty frequently and most children recover just fine.

Symptoms that someone could be experiencing a serious reaction to a fragrance product include:

·               a spiking temperature

·               boils or large hives

·               drowsiness or a dip in energy

·               confusion

·               dizziness

·               nausea or vomiting

·               slurred speech

·               elevated heart rate

These symptoms warrant a trip to the emergency room.

Ingredients to worry about

The most toxic ingredient in perfumes, colognes, and aftershaves tends to be ethanol or isopropyl alcohol.

The scented ingredients in perfume are infused into these alcohols as a way of preserving and stabilizing the product’s desired scent.

These alcohols are toxic, and may cause symptoms if swallowed in amounts greater than 30 milliliters.

If you’ve noticed redness, itching, or sinus irritation when you’re exposed to a certain fragrance, you probably have a sensitivity to something in it.

But you may not have the best luck finding out what that ingredient is.

One study conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) estimated that only 34 percent of stock ingredients often found in fragrances have been tested for toxicity.

Fragrance products are exempt from Food and Drug Administration (FDA) testing, which deepens the frustration for users trying to find out what’s actually in their perfumes.

Perfumes may include:

·       respiratory sensitizers that trigger wheezing or asthma

·       hormone sensitizers that throw your endocrine system off balance

·       secret ingredients that are harmful to your reproductive system when they build up in your body over time

As mentioned above, most perfume manufacturers are able to avoid actually listing these toxic ingredients on their packaging.

With that being said, here are some ingredient names to look out for, especially if you’re pregnant or know someone trying to get pregnant:

·               phthalates

·               styrene

·               Galaxolide ketone and other musk ketones

·               ethylene glycol

·               acetaldehyde

·               oxybenzone

Symptoms of perfume poisoning

If you’ve ingested perfume, your symptoms may be similar to a person who has ingested a high-proof or heavily concentrated type of liquor.

Here are symptoms to watch out for that could indicate perfume poisoning:

·               swaying while walking or trouble with balance

·               slurred speech

·               lethargy or lack of energy

·               breath that smells of alcohol

·               nausea or vomiting

Treatment for perfume poisoning

If you or your child have ingested perfume, a poison control center or general practitioner will have some advice.

You may be told that plenty of water, a light snack, and carefully watching for symptoms to appear is the best approach if only a small amount of perfume has been consumed.

For cases in which a large amount of fragrance has been ingested, you or your child may be kept in a hospital overnight for observation.

During that time, the affected person will be given plenty of fluid and light snacks to keep blood sugar from dropping to a dangerous level.

Within 48 to 72 hours, the danger of a serious reaction from ingesting perfume will have passed.

Contact dermatitis from perfume

Sometimes a perfume on you or someone you’re physically close to can cause a mild allergic reaction.

Most often, this reaction occurs on your skin in the form of contact dermatitis.

If you have sensitive skin, you probably already know about this condition and what it looks like. Contact dermatitis is possible whenever your skin comes in contact with an ingredient (synthetic or natural) that irritates you.

Symptoms of contact dermatitis include:

·               hives or blisters

·               itchy, flaking skin

·               burning or redness on skin

·               sensitivity to touch

Treatment

Contact dermatitis usually resolves itself before it needs treatment. When you’re no longer in contact with the substance that’s triggering you, your symptoms should subside.

If they don’t, you can try the following home remedies:

·           washing your skin with gentle, dye-free soap and lukewarm water

·           soothing the area with a hypoallergenic, natural product like calamine lotion, aloe vera, or coconut oil

·           using hydrocortisone cream, such as Benadryl, until the itching subsides

Other reactions to perfume

Contact dermatitis isn’t a medical emergency, and even ingesting perfume can be treated and lead to a full recovery. But these are not the only possible toxic effects of perfume.

Some of the chemicals in popular perfumes may be dangerous if they build up in your body, though more research is needed.

Styrene, an ingredient found in many cosmetic products, was deemed a likely carcinogen by the National Toxicology Program in 2014.

Musk ketone, an ingredient widely used in cosmetics produced in Europe, has such a low biodegradability in contrast to its high exposure rate that it’s often found in human breast milk and fatty tissue.

Whether or not this is dangerous is unclear.

Some chemicals in perfume are included for the express purpose of helping your skin absorb the fragrance and make it last for hours on end.

Unfortunately, those same chemicals increase your skin’s vulnerability to soaking in the possible carcinogens, alcohols, and petroleum in your perfume.

Exposure to the phthalates found in many perfumes during early childhood — or even in utero — may pose risks to children’s respiratory health.

And that’s just what we know about fragrance chemicals — there’s a lot that’s still unknown.

The EWG evaluates perfumes based on their ingredients and ranks them based on risk, with 10 being the highest level of risk a product can pose.

Celebrity fragrances, drugstore and cosmetic counter brand perfumes, and fragrances branded as “eau de parfum” or “eau de toilette” are among the worst ranked perfumes based on the available data.

Perfumes that scored a 10 (most risk) based on EWG’s system include:

·           Katy Perry’s Killer Queen

·           Philosophy Living Grace Spray Fragrance

·           Nicki Minaj Pink Friday Eau de Parfum

·           Adidas Moves for Her Perfume

·          marquee fragrances by Givenchy, Vera Wang, and Burberry

The takeaway

Perfume poisoning — toxic reactions that cause long-term damage to your body because of consuming perfume — are uncommon among adults who use perfume as a part of their routine.

Temporary allergic reactions to perfumes aren’t uncommon.

You can even develop an allergy to a product that you’ve used for years because of overexposure or changes to the formula’s ingredients.

Look for perfumes that list all of their ingredients on the label, rather than using the term “parfum” or “fragrance.”

Seek out products whose scent is produced by essential oils, or forego fragrance altogether and look for unscented products.

You can also use resources such as Madesafe.org and the EWG’s Skin Deep to help you decide if a product is worth using.

Kathryn Watson is a freelance writer based in New York City. She covers culture, the arts, and literature in addition to writing about health and wellness. More writing can be found on her website, https://www.kathrynswatson.com/.

Healthline’s Medical Affairs team focuses on ensuring Healthline’s content, products, and services uphold the highest standards of medical integrity. Our dedicated team also manages our extensive clinician network, which provides medical review for all clinical content. Covering the full spectrum of medicine, Healthline’s physicians, nurses, public health experts, and patient advocates help ensure that the information you receive is accurate, evidence based, current, and trustworthy.

https://www.healthline.com/health/perfume-poisoning#medical-emergency

ODOR CHEMISTRY - Organisms that have a sense of smell detect molecules by special sensory neurons called olfactory receptor (OR) cells. In humans these cells are clustered at the back of the nasal cavity. Each sensory neuron has cilia that extend into the air. On the cilia, there are receptor proteins that bind to aroma compounds. When binding occurs, the chemical stimulus initiates an electric signal in the neuron, which transmits the information to the olfactory nerve, which carries the signal to the olfactory bulb in the brain. A person may recognize an odor and relate it to an emotional experience, yet might be unable to identify the specific components of a scent.

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Odor Chemistry

Aroma Compounds and Their Odors

All About Odor Chemistry

by Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.                                                                                       

An odor or odour is a volatile chemical compound that humans and other animals perceive via the sense of smell or olfaction.

Odors are also known as aromas or fragrances and (if they are unpleasant) as reeks, stenches, and stinks.

The type of molecule that produces an odor is called an aroma compound or an odorant.

These compounds are small, with molecular weights less than 300 Daltons, and are readily dispersed in air due to their high vapor pressure.

The sense of smell can detect odors are extremely low concentrations.

How Odor Works

Organisms that have a sense of smell detect molecules by special sensory neurons called olfactory receptor (OR) cells.

In humans these cells are clustered at the back of the nasal cavity.

Each sensory neuron has cilia that extend into the air. On the cilia, there are receptor proteins that bind to aroma compounds.

When binding occurs, the chemical stimulus initiates an electric signal in the neuron, which transmits the information to the olfactory nerve, which carries the signal to the olfactory bulb in the brain.

The olfactory bulb is part of the limbic system, which is also associated with emotions.

A person may recognize an odor and relate it to an emotional experience, yet might be unable to identify the specific components of a scent.

This is because the brain doesn't interpret single compounds or their relative concentrations, but the mix of compounds as a whole.

Researchers estimate humans can distinguish between 10,000 and one trillion different odors.

There is a threshold limit for odor detection. A certain number of molecules need to bind olfactory receptors to stimulate a signal.

A single aroma compound may be capable of binding to any of several different receptors.

The transmembrane receptor proteins are metalloproteins, probably involving copper, zinc, and perhaps manganese ions.

Aromatic Versus Aroma

In organic chemistry aromatic compounds are those that consist of a planar ring-shaped or cyclic molecule. Most resemble benzene in structure.

While many aromatic compound do, in fact, have an aroma, the word "aromatic" refers to a specific class of organic compounds in chemistry, not to molecules with scents.

Technically, aroma compounds include volatile inorganic compounds with low molecular weights that can bind olfactory receptors.

For example, hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is an inorganic compound that has a distinctive rotten egg scent.

Elemental chlorine gas (Cl₂) has an acrid smell. Ammonia (NH₃) is another inorganic odorant.

Aroma Compounds by Organic Structure

Organic odorants fall into several categories, including esters, terpenes, amines, aromatics, aldehydes, alcohols, thiols, ketones, and lactones.

Here is a list of some important aroma compounds. Some occur naturally, while others are synthetic:

	Odor	Natural Source
Esters
geranyl acetate	rose, fruity	flowers, rose
fructone	apple
methyl butyrate	fruits, pineapple, apple	pineapple
ethyl acetate	sweet solvent	wine
isoamyl acetate	fruity, pear, banana	banana
benzyl acetate	fruity, strawberry	strawberry
Terpenes
geraniol	floral, rose	lemon, geranium
citral	lemon	lemongrass
citronellol	lemon	rose geranium, lemongrass
linalool	floral, lavender	lavender, coriander, sweet basil
limonene	orange	lemon, orange
camphor	camphor	camphor laurel
carvone	caraway or spearmint	dill, caraway, spearmint
eucalyptol	eucalyptus	eucalyptus
Amines
trimethylamine	fishy
putrescine	rotting meat	rotting meat
cadaverine	rotting meat	rotting meat
indole	feces	feces, jasmine
skatole	feces	feces, orange blossoms
Alcohol
menthol	menthol	mint species
Aldehydes
hexanal	grassy
isovaleraldehyde	nutty, cocoa
Aromatics
eugenol	clove	clove
cinnamaldehyde	cinnamon	cinnamon, cassia
benzaldehyde	almond	bitter almond
vanillin	vanilla	vanilla
thymol	thyme	thyme
Thiols
benzyl mercaptan	garlic
allyl thiol	garlic
(methylthio)methanethiol	mouse urine
ethyl-mercaptan	the smell added to propane
Lactones
gamma-nonalactone	coconunt
gamma-decalactone	peach
Ketones
6-acetyl-2,3,4,5-tetrahydropyridine	fresh bread
oct-1-en-3-one	metallic, blood
2-acetyl-1-pyrroline	jasmine rice
Others
2,4,6-trichloroanisole	scent of cork taint
diacetyl	butter scent/flavor
methylphosphine	metallic garlic

Among the "smelliest" of the odorants are methylphosphine and dimethylphosphine, which can be detected in extremely low amounts.

The human nose is so sensitive to thioacetone that it can be smelled within seconds if a container of it is opened hundreds of meters away.

The sense of smell filters out constant odors, so a person becomes unaware of them after continuous exposure.

However, hydrogen sulfide actually deadens the sense of smell. Initially, it produces a strong rotten egg smell, but binding of the molecule to odor receptors prevents them from receiving additional signals.

In the case of this particular chemical, the loss of sensation can be deadly, as it is extremely toxic.

Aroma Compound Uses

Odorants are used to make perfumes, to add odor to toxic odorless compounds (e.g., natural gas), to enhance the flavor of food, and to mask undesirable scents.

From an evolutionary standpoint, scent is involved in mate selection, identifying safe/unsafe food, and forming memories.

According to Yamazaki et al., mammals preferentially select mates with a different major histocompatibility complex (MHC) from their own.

MHC can be detected via scent. Studies in humans support this connection, noting it's also affected by the use of oral contraceptives.

Aroma Compound Safety

Whether an odorant occurs naturally or is produced synthetically, it may be unsafe, especially in high concentrations.

Many fragrances are potent allergens. The chemical composition of fragrances is not regulated the same from one country to another.

In the United States, fragrances in use prior to the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 were grandfathered in for use in products.

New aroma molecules are subject to review and testing, under the oversight of the EPA.

Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.

·   Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville - Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

·   Science educator with experience teaching chemistry, biology, astronomy, and physics at the high school, college, and graduate levels.

·   ThoughtCo and About Education chemistry expert since 2001.

·   Widely-published graphic artist, responsible for printable periodic tables and other illustrations used in science.

Experience

Anne Helmenstine, Ph.D. has covered chemistry for ThoughtCo and About Education since 2001, and other sciences since 2013. She taught chemistry, biology, astronomy, and physics at the high school, college, and graduate levels. She has worked as a research scientist and also abstracting and indexing diverse scientific literature for the Department of Energy.

In addition to her work as a science writer, Dr. Helmenstine currently serves as a scientific consultant, specializing in problems requiring an interdisciplinary approach. Previously, she worked as a research scientist and college professor. 

Education

Dr. Helmenstine holds a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and a B.A. in physics and mathematics with a minor in chemistry from Hastings College. In her doctoral work, Dr. Helmenstine developed ultra-sensitive chemical detection and medical diagnostic tests.

Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.

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https://www.thoughtco.com/aroma-compounds-4142268