| Dear
EarthTalk: Is it true that some ingredients
in common air fresheners can cause health problems?
-- Mike Jaworski, Seattle, WA
Air
fresheners are a $1.72 billion industry in the United States.
An estimated 75 percent of homes use them regularly. According
to a September 2007 report released by the Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC), most common household air fresheners
contain potentially noxious chemicals that degrade the quality
of indoor air and may even affect hormones and reproductive
development, particularly in babies.
As
part of its “Clearing the Air” study, NRDC researchers
tested 14 brands of common household air fresheners and
found that 12 contained chemicals known as phthalates. Only
two, Febreze Air Effects and Renuzit Subtle Effects, contained
no detectable levels of phthalates. Products testing positive
included ones marketed as “all-natural” and
“unscented.” None of the brands tested listed
phthalates on their labels.
Phthalates
are “hormone-disrupting” chemicals that can
be particularly dangerous for young children and unborn
babies. Like some other man-made chemicals, phthalates can
affect normal hormonal processes—those that control
brain, nervous and immune system development, reproduction,
mental processing and metabolism—by blocking them
altogether, throwing off the timing or “mimicking”
natural hormones and interacting with cells themselves,
with very unhealthy consequences. The State of California
notes that five types of phthalates—including one
commonly used in air freshener products—are “known
to cause birth defects or reproductive harm.”
Despite
these issues, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
does not regulate the use of phthalates or require the labeling
of phthalate content on products. Other governments take
the phthalate threat more seriously. The European Union
forbids the most harmful phthalates in cosmetics or toys,
and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected
to soon sign similar legislation for his state.
NRDC
bemoans the fact that the U.S. government does not test
air fresheners for safety or require manufacturers to meet
specific health standards. “More than anything, our
research highlights cracks in our safety system,”
says Dr. Gina Solomon, a senior NRCD scientist. “Consumers
have a right to know what is put into air fresheners and
other everyday products they bring into their homes,”
she says, adding that the government should keep a watchful
eye on potentially dangerous products.
In
conjunction with the study, NRDC—along with the Sierra
Club, the Alliance for Healthy Homes and the National Center
for Healthy Housing—is petitioning federal agencies
to start assessing the risk air fresheners pose to consumers
by testing all products now on the market. And NRDC has
already begun working directly with some manufacturers to
find ways to eliminate phthalates from these products.
NRDC
recommends that consumers be selective and purchase only
air fresheners that have the least amount of phthalates.
Better yet, the group suggests consumers first try to reduce
household odors by tending to their root causes or improving
ventilation rather than masking them. “The best way
to avoid the problem is to simply open a window instead
of reaching for one of these cans,” concludes Solomon.
CONTACTS:
Natural
Resources Defense Council.
Dear
EarthTalk: Are there any efforts underway to
lessen the environmental impact—which must be considerable—of
all the “18 wheelers” and other large vehicles
that are numerous on our highways?
-- Sadie Strauss, Madison, WI
According to
the Union of Concerned Scientists, although large trucks
account for just six percent of total highway miles driven
in the U.S., they are responsible for a host of environmental
threats. These include over half the soot and a quarter
of the smog-causing pollution generated by highway vehicles,
six percent of the nation’s global warming pollution,
and more than a tenth of the country’s oil consumption.
A typical diesel-powered
18-wheeler can emit as much nitrogen oxide and fine particulates—key
elements in the formation of asthma-inducing smog—as
about 150 passenger cars. Although strict limitations on
emissions of various pollutants from cars have been in place
in the U.S. since the 1970s, trucks and other large transport
vehicles have been allowed to emit as much as five times
as much pollution per mile.
But thanks to
new regulations put in place by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), new trucks coming off assembly lines in the
years immediately ahead promise to be much cleaner and greener.
Known collectively as the EPA’s Heavy-Duty Highway
Diesel Rules, the new regulations mandate that trucks manufactured
in 2007 or after produce 75-90 percent less nitrogen oxide
and 90 percent fewer particulates than earlier models. Of
course, with most of the trucks on the road made prior to
2007 and thus exempt from the new regulations, air quality
improvements won’t happen overnight.
In the meantime,
though, the federal government has also instituted new regulations
mandating that diesel fuels contain 97 percent less sulfur,
another primary component of smog, than previously required.
This means that all diesel-powered vehicles in the U.S.,
new or old, will be polluting less. Regulators hope that
the combination of greener trucks and cleaner fuel will
eventually bring emissions from large trucks into parity
per mile driven with cars and light trucks (SUVs, pickups
and minivans).
Beyond making
existing truck engines more efficient, new technologies
promise to green the trucking industry even more. Biodiesel,
a form of diesel fuel derived from renewable plant crops,
is coming on strong. According to the U.S. Department of
Energy, use of the most common blend, B20 (80 percent regular
diesel and 20 percent biodiesel), cuts petroleum use by
19 percent, greenhouse gas emissions by 16 percent and hydrocarbon
emissions by 20 percent.
Also, hybrid
technologies popularized by the Toyota Prius are starting
to show up in trucks. Federal Express is pioneering the
use of hybrid technology in trucks by outfitting many of
its new delivery trucks accordingly. And several U.S. cities
now run hybrid diesel-electric buses. Environmental leaders
hope such fuel- and emission-saving technologies will trickle
down into the private trucking industry as well.
CONTACTS:
Union of
Concerned Scientists; EPA’s
Heavy-Duty Highway Diesel Program. |
