The chemicals around us and in us

What we inhale can be very good for us. There is increasing interest these days in aromatherapy and the healthful effects of many fragrant essential oils, which have been used beneficially for millenniums and are mentioned in the Bible. But other things we inhale can be very bad for us. Of necessity, there also is increasing interest in the allergic and toxic effects of the ever-increasing variety of airborne chemicals in our environment.

"Everything a person inhales (breathes), ingests (swallows) or absorbs (through the skin or membranes) has an effect on him. Today toxic chemicals are flooding our environment. As a person accumulates these chemicals in his body, his immune system can become so overwhelmed that he increasingly has adverse reactions to the chemicals, and sometimes even to natural substances. When people become highly sensitive to many chemicals, they have "multiple chemical sensitivity" (MCS). Many people who are sensitive to colognes have MCS. "A report by the National Academy of Sciences in 1986 stated that "95 percent of chemicals used in fragrances are synthetic compounds derived from petroleum," and then listed numerous diseases and central nervous system disorders caused by strong exposure to these compounds. "Only a small percent of those petrochemicals are used in colognes, but when a cologne has any toxic ingredients, everyone who smells it is adversely affected. Most people don’t notice the effects because the toxicity is minor and God designed us to have incredible immune systems to deal with foreign substances. "from "Colognes, Chemicals, Compassion, and the Church"

Chemicals, chemicals. There are almost 50,000 chemicals on the American market, according to a report by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. And the number of toxic substances in our environment is increasing far faster than our efforts to evaluate their possible health effects. Tens of thousands of chemicals have not been evaluated for their health effects.

Many diseases and chronic health problems are on the rise, and not surprisingly, many can be linked to the alarming rise of chemicals in our environment. And the chemicals that were synthesized after World War II are mostly "petro-chemicals" (petroleum based), which are quite toxic to humans.

Of over 2,983 chemicals used in the fragrance industry, 884 have been identified as toxic substances. ("Fragrance" is used here to mean substances added to all kinds of products to give them a pleasant smell.) These are shocking and frightening numbers. We in this modern society are bound to be paying a high price health-wise to make everything smell good without using expensive natural oils.

Indoor air pollution

When we think of air pollution, we tend to think of outdoor emissions such as automobile exhaust and smokestacks. But EPA studies and other scientific investigations corroborate the fact that the indoor concentration of toxic air pollution is almost always higher than outdoors, sometimes 20 times higher.

The indoor air pollution comes from building materials (consider that just one chemical compound, formaldehyde, is used in about 3,000 different building products, including upholstery and drapery fabrics), biological pollutants (animal dander, dust mites, cockroach parts, molds, fungi, pollen, bacteria, viruses, etc. ), secondhand tobacco smoke (containing more than 4,000 chemicals), consumer products (cleaning agents, paints, pesticides, hair spray, deodorizers, felt-tip markers, etc., and innumerable scented products).

40 "Sick building syndrome" is a common problem these days, the result of multiple sources of indoor air pollution inside tightly sealed "energy efficient" buildings that don't allow much ventilation with outside fresh air.

Pollution of our bodies

Our bodies readily absorb chemicals three ways: through the skin, through the digestive system, and through inhalation. When pollutants combine with other pollutants inside the body, they have an additive effect that is more damaging to health than any one pollutant. And sometimes they interact with each other to form new compounds that are even more dangerous. When a person’s body reaches what may be called a saturation point, he may start experiencing multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), which is a hypersensitivity to many chemicals and even natural substances in one’s environment.

Only a small percent of those chemicals and toxic substances are used in colognes (to make the scents travel farther and to increase the amount of time they linger in the air, as well as to cut costs and boost profits), but if each cologne had only one ingredient that is unfriendly to the body, that news would be bad enough to be cause for concern.

It is truly sad that a well-intentioned desire to smell nice with something seemingly harmless turns out be not-so-harmless.

by Don Hooser