The Toxic Reality of Fabric Softeners

With the advent of modern industrial societies, cleaning has become more about convenience rather than safety. Conventional consumers may very well be purchasing and using a number of products that are composed of an incredible amount of dangerous chemical mixtures; fabric softeners can be included in this category.

Image from Downy

Fabric softeners were designed to free your clothes of both wrinkles and static cling, and give them a fresh fragrance. Therefore when people use fabric softeners and dryer sheets, they are coating their cloths with a thin film of artificial chemical perfumes and plasticizers that will be easily transferred to their skin the next time they put on those cloths, especially when one begins to perspire. Nearly every chemical that touches the skin finds its way into the body and into the bloodstream. The wetter your body becomes, the more easily the chemicals can move from clothing into your skin. And since many of these chemical compounds are by themselves solvents, they are rather good at moving through cellular membranes and entering tissues of the body, including nervous system tissues. In addition, just like other perfumes, a person’s sensitivity to these perfumes decreases over time to the point where they don’t even notice how potent these artificial fragrance chemicals are. Furthermore, when consumers use dryer sheets, those chemicals are heated and then shot into the air for you to breathe into your lungs.

What amalgamation of ingredients have the teams of scientists concocted in laboratories to bring you these indulgences? And how toxic are they?

Volatile Indoor Pollutants

Though these products are approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), fabric softeners may top the list as one of the worst "indoor pollutants". In a controlled study of washing and drying laundry, researchers sampled emissions from residential dryer vents during the use of no products, fragranced detergent, and fragranced detergent plus fragranced dryer sheet. The researchers found more than 25 volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitted from dryer vents, with the highest concentrations of acetaldehyde, acetone, and ethanol. Seven of these VOCs are classified as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and two as carcinogenic HAPs (acetaldehyde and benzene) with no safe exposure level, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (Steinemann et al., 2011).

Cationic Fabric Softener: Known Asthmagen

Cationic fabric softeners are considered to be asthmagens. In laboratory testing in which mice breathed the dilute volatile emissions of air fresheners, fabric softeners, colognes, and mattresses for 1 h, we measured various combinations of sensory irritation, pulmonary irritation, airflow limitation (analogous to asthma attacks), and neurotoxicity. The same effects were observed after mice were subjected to inhale air samples taken from sites associated with repeated human complaints of poor air quality (Anderson & Anderson, 1999). Not everyone may suffer an allergic reaction by being exposed to cationic fabric softeners. But it should be noted that long-term effects have not been adequately studied for them to be deemed as safe and effective.

Fragrance: Any Number of Synthetic Chemicals

Although all other ingredients in your personal care products must be disclosed on the label by specific name, the so-called “fragrance loophole” in federal labeling law means that ingredients added to provide a pleasant scent, or to mask a bad one, need only be listed under the generic term “fragrance.” The International Fragrance Association, an industry trade group, publishes an online “Transparency List” of nearly 4,000 ingredients that manufacturers say they use in formulas for consumer products under the ingredient "fragrance". Some common culprits include:

• Parabens: Synthetic preservatives known to interfere with hormone production and release.
• Phthalates: Another synthetic preservative that’s carcinogenic and linked to reproductive effects (decreased sperm counts, early breast development, birth defects) and liver and kidney damage.
• Synthetic musks: These are linked to hormone disruption and are thought to persist and accumulate in breast milk, body fat, umbilical cord blood, and the environment.
• Acetone: Inhalation can cause dryness of the mouth and throat; dizziness, nausea, incoordination, slurred speech, drowsiness, and, in severe exposures, and coma. Also acts primarily as a central nervous system (CNS) depressant.
• Benzaldehyde: A local anesthetic and CNS depressant that can cause irritation to the mouth, throat, eyes, skin, lungs, and GI tract causing nausea and abdominal pain. May also cause kidney damage.
  
• Benzyl Acetate: A carcinogenic (linked to pancreatic cancer) compound able to irritate the eyes and respiratory passages.
• Benzyl Alcohol: Able to irritate the upper respiratory tract and cause headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, drop in blood pressure, CNS depression, and death in severe cases due to respiratory failure.
  
• Ethanol: Directly affects the CNS and may cause symptoms such as fatigue, drowsiness, impaired vision, ataxia, stupor, irritation to eyes and upper respiratory tract even in low concentrations.
  

It has been established that many of the fragrance ingredients, especially fragrance mixtures, have been identified as allergens. Thus, a person exposed to a certain fragrance material will elicit an allergic response when exposed to this fragrance from any product whether cosmetic or detergents under similar exposure conditions (Europa.eu, 2002).

Phthalates: Endocrine Disruptors and Lowers IQ

Phthalates ("Thal-ates") are mainly used as a plasticizer - which is an additive that increases the plasticity or viscosity of a material. Phthalates are weak endocrine disruptors and androgen blocking chemicals. In other words, these chemicals, when absorbed into the body, can either mimic or block female hormones, or in males, suppress the hormones involved in male sexual development. In lab animals, phthalate exposure has been found to be associated with numerous reproductive health and developmental problems such as:

• Early onset of puberty.
• Interfering with the male reproductive tract development.
• Interfering with the natural functioning of the hormone system.
• Causing reproductive and genital defects.
• Lower testosterone levels in adolescent males.
• Lower sperm count in adult males.

There is no easy way to tell if a product has added phthalates. Phthalates can be identified on labels by a three or four letter acronym that defines their chemical structures. Labels rarely state “contains phthalates”. Phthalates are used in a wide range of common (especially plastic) products, including but not limited to:

• personal-care products (perfume, eye shadow, moisturizer, nail polish, liquid soap, and hair spray),
• food products, food containers and wrappers,
• the coatings of pharmaceuticals,
• detergents and surfactants,
• nutritional supplements,
• adhesives and glues,
• building materials,
• vinyl upholstery,
• shower curtains,
• medical devices,
• children's toys,
• modelling clay,
• packaging,
• waxes,
• paints,
• textiles,
• floor tiles,
• and cleaning materials.

People are exposed to phthalates by touching, eating, and/or drinking products that have been in contact with containers and products containing phthalates. To a lesser extent, exposure can occur from breathing in air that contains phthalate vapors or dust contaminated with phthalate particles.

Due to the ubiquity of plastics (and therefore plasticizers) in modern life, the vast majority of people are exposed to phthalates, and most Americans tested by the have metabolites of multiple phthalates in their urine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2009).

Researchers have observed that children who experienced prenatal exposure to elevated levels of phthalates had lower IQ scores than children exposed to lower levels. The new research adds to a body of evidence regarding the association between prenatal exposure to phthalates and problems with cognitive function and behavior. During the third trimester of pregnancy, the researchers measured urinary metabolites of four phthalates: di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP), di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, and diethyl phthalate. At age 7, the children of the mothers with the highest concentrations of DnBP and DiBP metabolites had IQs 6.6 and 7.6 points lower, respectively, than children of mothers exposed to the lowest concentrations. Other research has shown that a six- or seven-point decline in IQ can substantially affect academic achievement and occupational potential (Factor-Litvak, 2014).

A separate study examined cognitive function in relation to pre-and postnatal phthalate exposure in children 2–12 years old. After recruiting 430 pregnant women in their third trimester in Taichung, Taiwan from 2001–2002. A total of 110, 79, 76, and 73 children were followed up at ages 2, 5, 8, and 11, respectively. The children’s cognitive function was evaluated at four different time points using different tests for assessing neurocognitive functions and intelligence (IQ). Urine samples were collected from mothers during pregnancy and from children at each follow-up visit. They were analyzed for seven metabolite concentrations of widely used phthalate esters. The researchers found significant inverse associations between the children’s levels of urinary phthalate levels and their IQ scores, after controlling for maternal phthalate levels and potential confounding variables. Phthalate exposure was associated with decreased cognitive development in the young children (Huang et al., 2015).

A Healthy Fabric Softener Alternative

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of Epsom salts or coarse sea salt
  
• 20 to 30 drops essential oil
• 1/2 cup baking soda
  

Directions:

1. Using a large bowl or pan, mix the essential oils with the Epsom salts first, then stir in the baking soda.
2. Pour the mixture into a container with a tight-fitting lid.
   

Other Tips

• One cup of distilled white vinegar and one-and-half tsp. of your favorite essential oils combined in a spray bottle. Shake well, give your wet clothes 10 to 15 spritzes and toss them into the dryer. (Don't worry — the vinegar smell will completely dissipate.)
  
• A crumpled-up ball of aluminum foil tossed in the dryer with your clothes helps get rid of static cling.
  
• A clean wash cloth with a few drops of essential oil added to the dryer will give your clothes a lovely, completely natural aroma when you pull them out
  

Tips to Avoid Toxic Chemical Products

1. Avoid artificial air fresheners, dryer sheets, fabric softeners, or other synthetic fragrances.
   
2. Look for products that are fragrance-free. One artificial fragrance can contain hundreds – even thousands – of potentially toxic chemicals.
   
3. As much as possible, buy and eat organic produce and free-range, organic meats to reduce your exposure to added hormones, pesticides, and fertilizers. Also avoid milk and other dairy products that contain the genetically engineered recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST).
   
4. Rather than eating conventional or farm-raised fish, which are often heavily contaminated with PCBs and mercury, supplement with a high-quality purified krill oil, or eat smaller fish or fish that is wild-caught.
   
5. Buy products that come in glass bottles or jars rather than plastic or canned, since chemicals can leach out of plastics and into the contents.
   
6. Store your food and beverages in glass rather than plastic, and avoid using plastic wrap.
7. Use glass baby bottles and avoid plastic sippy cups for your little ones.
8. Eat mostly raw, fresh foods. Processed, prepackaged foods (of all kinds) are a common source of chemicals such as BPA and phthalates.
   
9. Replace your non-stick pots and pans with ceramic, glass or cast iron cookware.
   
10. Filter your tap water — both for drinking and bathing. If you can only afford to do one, filtering your bathing water may be more important, as your skin absorbs contaminants. To remove the endocrine-disrupting herbicide Atrazine, make sure the filter is certified to remove it. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), perchlorate can be filtered out using a reverse osmosis filter.
    
11. Look for products that are made by companies that are earth-friendly, animal-friendly, green, non-toxic, and/or 100% organic. This applies to everything from food and personal care products to building materials, carpeting, paint, baby items, upholstery, and more.
12. Use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter to remove house dust, which is often contaminated with traces of chemicals.
13. When buying new products such as furniture, mattresses, or carpet padding, ask what type of fire retardant it contains. Be mindful of and/or avoid synthetic items containing PBDEs, antimony, formaldehyde, boric acid, and other brominated chemicals. As you replace these toxic items around your home, select those that contain naturally less flammable materials, such as leather, wool, and cotton.
    
14. Avoid stain- and water-resistant clothing, furniture, and carpets to avoid perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs).
15. Minimize your use of plastic baby and child toys, opting for those made of natural wood or fabric instead.
16. Only use natural cleaning products in your home or make your own. Avoid products that contain 2-butoxyethanol (EGBE) and methoxydiglycol (DEGME) — two toxic glycol ethers that can damage fertility and cause fetal harm.
    
17. Switch over to organic brands of toiletries such as shampoo, toothpaste, antiperspirants, and cosmetics. Or replace many different products with coconut oil and baking soda.
    
18. Replace feminine hygiene products like tampons and sanitary pads with safer alternatives, such as the Diva cup.
    
19. Replace your vinyl shower curtain with one made of fabric.

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References

Anderson, R. C., & Anderson, J. H. (1999). Sensory irritation and multiple chemical sensitivity. Toxicology and Industrial Health, 15(3-4), 339-45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/074823399678846817

CDC. (2009). Phthalates. [online] Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/pdf/Pthalates_FactSheet.pdf [Accessed 29 Sep. 2017].

Europa.eu. (2002). The Scientific Committee on Cosmetic Products and Non-Food Products Intended for Consumers.. [online] Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/sccp/documents/out171_en.pdf [Accessed 30 Sep. 2017].

Factor-Litvak P, Insel B, Calafat AM, Liu X, Perera F, Rauh VA, Whyatt RM. 2014. Persistent associations between maternal prenatal exposure to phthalates on child IQ at age 7 years. PLoS One 9(12):e114003.

Huang, H., Chen, H., Su, P., Huang, P., Sun, C., Wang, C., Chen, H., Hsiung, C. and Wang, S. (2015). Fetal and Childhood Exposure to Phthalate Diesters and Cognitive Function in Children Up to 12 Years of Age: Taiwanese Maternal and Infant Cohort Study. PLOS ONE, 10(6), p.e0131910.

IFRA International Fragrance Association. (2015). Ingredients transparancy list. [online] Available at: http://www.ifraorg.org/en-us/ingredients#.U9qfRoBdVss [Accessed 30 Sep. 2017].

National Institute of Health. (2017). Phthalates: The Everywhere Chemical. [online] Available at: https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/assets/docs/j_q/phthalates_the_everywhere_chemical_handout_508.pdf [Accessed 30 Sep. 2017].

Steinemann, A., Gallagher, L., Davis, A. and MacGregor, I. (2011). Chemical emissions from residential dryer vents during use of fragranced laundry products. Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, 6(1), pp.151-156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-011-0156-1