Poisonous Perfume? Revealing the Dangers of Fragrance

Last week, I accompanied my mom to an appointment with her doctor who is supporting her through the challenges of a terminal illness. After the appointment, she went home and I walked around looking at skin care products -- which, as a manufacturer of skin care products, I often do. I entered a bustling, extremely popular Sephora store and I was met with a wall of perfumes, all made with synthetic fragrance. When I asked if they had many products in the store made without synthetic fragrance, I was told that they did not. As I watched consumers load products into their shopping baskets, on the heels of my sobering morning, I wanted to yell: "Doesn't anyone know how bad this stuff is for you!?" I was particularly unnerved because some fragrances have been shown to contain benzene, which has been linked to MDS, my mom's illness.

In 2010, the President's Cancer Panel published a report on cancer risks from chemicals. They concluded that: "The burden of environmentally induced cancers has been grossly underestimated" and highlighted benzene, found in synthetic fragrance, as one of the more concerning substances.

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