December 12th, 2017
The health and comfort of the occupants of a home depends heavily on the quality of the air and the presence of pollutants. These pollutants come from a multitude of sources, such as furniture, paints, varnishes, cleaning products, glues, etc. In this document, we shall be looking at polluting emissions from air fresheners. Laboratory tests have been carried out at the initiative of BEUC (Bureau européen des Unions de Consommateurs) by ICRT (International Consumer Research & Testing) on air fresheners sold in Europe. The results of these tests were published in December 2004 in the magazines of the consumers’ organisations which are members of ICRT:Altro Consumo (Italy), Compra Maestra (Spain), Pro Teste (Portugal), TestAchats (Belgium) and Que Choisir (France). This report records the chemicals emitted by air fresheners. The tests, simulating common use of such products by consumers, were carried out on 74 products belonging to different categories (incense, natural products, scented candles, aerosols, liquid diffusers, electric diffusers and gels); for each product, the concentration of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and aldehydes in the air after the use of the product was measured. The results are systematically compared against the guideline values provided by the reference organisations such as the Centre International de Recherche contre le Cancer (CIRC), the World Health Organisation (WHO), theAmerican Environmental ProtectionAgency (US-EPA) and the USAgency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). The guideline values in the occupational sector, although cited, are not used as a reference because they are not suited to the general population. The conclusions demonstrate total VOC emissions which are often very much higher than 200 Dg/m3, the value considered to be significant, substantially increasing the background indoor pollution. The number of different molecules emitted by the 74 products studied under the survey is over 350.Among the substances emitted we find the presence of allergens in the majority of the products tested. Certain products combine up to 3 molecules emitted (cinnamaldehyde, eugenol and coumarin), while others show high concentrations of a single molecule (in particular limonene, which is an allergen in its oxidized form).A more detailed analysis of the concentrations is proposed for several substances of interest on account of their known toxicity or impact on health: benzene, formaldehyde, terpenes, styrene, diethylphthalate and toluene. Very high levels of benzene, which is a high priority because it is carcinogenic, are found in incense in particular (with a maximum concentration at 221 Dg/m3). These, with incense paper (papier d’Arménie), also produce high emissions of formaldehyde, equally classed as carcinogenic, at concentrations sometimes 6 to 7 times higher than the guideline values: in the case of incense, a maximum value of 69 Dg/m3 and for incense paper (papier d’Arménie), 42 Dg/m3. These levels of formaldehyde can be increased by the chemical reactions between primary VOCs, such as terpenes, and other molecules present in the atmosphere, such as ozone, causing the formation of new molecules of formaldehyde. Worrying levels of exposure can be recorded in the case of molecules such as styrene and diethylphthalate (DEP), by virtue of inadequate data: incense emits more than 60 Dg/m3 of styrene and values in excess of a milligram for DEP. Only toluene does not seem to be emitted at concentrations which cause concern for the health of the consumer.