Is your PERFUME making you ILL?

There is growing evidence that chemicals in everything from scent to cleaning sprays may cause headaches and cancer — and harm unborn babies

lead to cancer in her child later in life? Some cancers, including prostate and breast cancers, have been linked to excessive exposure to oestrogen in the womb. Studies have also shown links between oestrogen and testicular cancer.

Evidence suggests these cancers, plus other hormone-related conditions such as early puberty and fertility problems, are on the rise.

Of course, you can’t draw a straight line between fragrance and cancer: fragrance is only one source of potentially hormonedisrupting chemicals and there hasn’t yet been enough research to pinpoint exactly why hormonal disorders are on the rise.

But scientists are concerned. They consider that the speed of the increase of these problems strongly suggests that environmental factors play a key role. The hormone- disrupting chemicals in fragrance are a ubiquitous and undeniably increasing part of that environment.

GREEN ISN’T ALWAYS BEST

SCENTED products that say they are natural and environmentally friendly are likely to be just as bad for us as regular products, research suggests. In 2013, Anne Steinemann, professor of civil engineering at the University of Washington, analysed a sample of fragranced products, including those that advertised themselves as ‘green’ and some that were called ‘fragrance-free’. She found the 37 products emitted 156 different Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs (compounds containing carbon that float around in the air and so are inhaled), with 42 classified as toxic or hazardous by U.S. regulators. Each product emitted at least one of these chemicals. About half the products emitted at least one carcinogen. Steinemann found there was no significant difference between the VOCs from regular products and ‘green’ ones.

FRAGRANCES IN THE FOOD CHAIN

IT’S unsettling to think about babies drinking quantities of artificial chemicals from breast milk — a source that’s a byword for everything natural and safe. Yet many studies have confirmed that breast milk commonly contains artificial musks — chemicals often used in scent that mimic appealing natural animal perfumes.

Moreover, the more fragranced products a woman uses, the more musks there are likely to be in her breast milk. In a Swedish study from 2008, samples of breast milk were tested and the women completed questionnaires about their use of fragranced products.

The study found that women who wore a lot of perfume, or used perfumed laundry detergent during pregnancy, had elevated concentrations of synthetic musks in their breast milk.

External exposure to scent isn’t the only source, however. Research shows that artificial musks aren’t completely broken down by waste water treatment plants, so they can enter the food chain.

Scientists have found that once they get into an animal, musks make a beeline for fatty tissue and are stored there. Breasts are mostly fat, and so is breast milk.

SHOULD WE BAN PERFUME?

SCENT is such an integral part of our lives that restrictions will sound crazy to many — in the same way it was hard to imagine smoking bans in the Sixties — but the majority of people would support fragrance bans, according to one recent study.

The research found 53 per cent of people would support a fragrance - free policy in their workplace.

In Canada, many hospitals and firms have already done this — banning air fresheners, pot pourri and diffusers. Other policies go so far as to ask people to refrain from using scented toiletries, deodorants and perfumes.

AdAPTEd from The Case Against Fragrance by Kate Grenville, published by Text Publishing Company at £12.99. © Kate Grenville 2018. To order a copy for £10.39 (offer valid to March 2, 2018), visit mailshop. co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640. P&P is free on orders over £15. HAVE you suffered any ill effects caused by perfume? Tell us at femailreaders@ dailymail.co.uk