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Re:'New car smell' is the scent of carcinogens by mleonhard on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @08:08PM (#26161287)
Did the allergy doctor do a skin prick test with perfumes?

Did I write anything that downplays your partner's problems? Perhaps you think that psycho-somatic problems aren't common, or are somehow the fault of the people suffering from them? Psycho-somatic symptoms are real. I experienced them myself for many years. I do not dismiss your partner's symptoms.

Human bodies are complicated and diverse. Finding solutions to health problems requires an open mind and effort to learn and try various potential solutions. Please try not to react defensively to this stranger's words. My intention is to help you and your partner.

I am quite certain that your partner's perfume sensitivity and skin allergies are different biological processes. Allergies are a very specific process involving histamines and leading to inflammation. Nobody has demonstrated that process happening because of perfume in the air.

It's possible that your partner's skin allergies flare up when the brain releases stress hormones. Stress affects the immune system in complicated ways. Stress can trigger hives [0]. That doesn't make them perfume allergies.

Consider this process:

Smells perfume -> brain enters fear emotion -> brain releases stress hormones -> immune system increases sensitivity -> infection alert goes off in areas of skin (hives)

If this is the case, then you can prevent the hives by preventing the brain from entering the fear emotion state.

[0] https://medlineplus.gov/hives.html

Re:'New car smell' is the scent of carcinogens by cptskippy on Wednesday February 17, 2021 @10:06AM (#26167079)
> Did I write anything that downplays your partner's problems?

Yes, here are some examples:

> Perfume sensitivity is something different. People develop emotional habits of reacting with fear when smelling perfume.

> I am quite certain that your partner's perfume sensitivity and skin allergies are different biological processes. Allergies are a very specific process involving histamines and leading to inflammation. Nobody has demonstrated that process happening because of perfume in the air.

You don't know anything about my partner's allergies and yet you're certain in your diagnosis.

Here are some facts:

* Contact dermatitis is the second most common allergic reaction.

* Fragrance chemicals are the leading cause for contact allergies.

* Airborne accute contact dermatitis has been studied extensively.

I'm not sure how you've come to the conclusions you have but you're outright dismissing decades of scientific research and concluding that my partner's allergies are psycho-somatic.

You're in league with new age medicine like healing crystals and tinctures.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/cf8f/f7d8b5cb3f8c279b2d877a...

https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00128071-200304110...

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1600-0536....

Re:'New car smell' is the scent of carcinogens by mleonhard on Wednesday February 17, 2021 @08:32PM (#26174347)
1. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/cf8f/f7d8b5cb3f8c279b2d877a...

The first article you link is a review of Allergic Contact Dermatitis (ACD). This is for substances that stick to skin cells and then trigger an allergic reaction. I searched through that article for reports of allergy to airborne fragrance and found only one:

> In 1 driver and 4 passengers, airborne ACD to such scents was diagnosed in Miami, FL [72].

It's from a short report from a hospital [0]. Five separate patients reported ACD related to driving or riding in separate Uber cars. The patients had positive patch tests for a fragrance (balsam of Peru). They did not analyze the substances in the driver's fragrance diffuser or the fragrances of the other cars. There are many possible explanations for the symptoms. Driving for Uber is a stressful job. And riding in Uber can be stressful, too, especially when the car has a bad smell that requires a powerful fragrance to cover up. So an equally plausible explanation of the five peoples' dermatitis is stress-induced dermatitis.

All other reports in that article of airborne ACD are for industrial substances affecting people working in factories and labs which use the substances. A worker in an addiction treatment facility became allergic to airborne heroin and morphine. Somebody became allergic to airborne sawdust.

2. https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00128071-200304110...

The second article is titled "Fragrance Contact Allergy". You can read it at [1]. It studies fragrance substances that people apply to their skin. It contains this statement, with no references or further information:

> Air-borne exposure to perfumes may elicit an allergic reaction in very sensitive individuals, but this is an extremely rare phenomenon.

3. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1600-0536....

The third article you listed is titled "Fragrance contact allergy: a 4‐year retrospective study". You can read it at [2]. The article does not contain the word 'air' or 'airborne'. It studies fragrance substances that are applied to the skin. It does not talk about allergic reaction to airborne fragrances.

I may be wrong. It's certainly possible that somebody somewhere has been allergic to airborne fragrances. But I found no credible evidence of that when I reviewed the scientific literature 4 years ago. And these three articles you linked also do not provide any evidence of it. If you find something concrete, or I missed something in the articles, please let me know.

[0] https://sci-hub.do/https://doi.org/10.1111/cod.12804

[1] https://sci-hub.do/https://doi.org/10.2165/00128071-20030411...

[2] https://sci-hub.do/https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0536.2010....

Re:'New car smell' is the scent of carcinogens by forgotmypw17 on Saturday February 20, 2021 @07:41PM (#26209644)
> Three-quarters of the toxic chemicals detected in a test of 140 products came from fragrance, reported a 2018 BCPP study of personal care and cleaning brands. The chemicals identified were linked to chronic health issues, including cancer.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/23/fragrance-pe...

> According to the Environmental Working Group, the average fragrant contains about 14 secret chemicals that aren’t listed on the label, many of which are linked to hormone disruption and allergic reactions, as well as about 80 percent of them not being tested for human safety in personal care products.

https://www.nontoxicrevolution.org/blog/wtf-fragrance

> Of the thousands of chemicals used in fragrances, most have not been tested for toxicity, alone or in combination. Many of these unlisted ingredients are irritants and can trigger allergies, migraines, and asthma symptoms. iii A survey of asthmatics found that perfume and/or colognes triggered attacks in nearly three out of four individuals. iv There is also evidence suggesting that exposure to perfume can exacerbate asthma, and perhaps even contribute to its development in children.

https://davidsuzuki.org/queen-of-green/dirty-dozen-parfum-fr...

> In 1986, the National Academy of Sciences tested commonly used fragrances for neurotoxicity; however, the results have still yet to be released. The good news is that many other tests have been done. In fact, in 1991 the EPA tested conventional, synthetic perfumes and found a long list of toxic chemical ingredients, including acetone, benzaldehyde, benzyl acetate, benzyl alcohol, camphor, ethanol, ethyl acetate, limonene, linalool, methylene chloride as well as phthalates, stearates, and parabens.

https://alituranaturals.com/the-top-10-toxic-chemicals-in-pe...

> “The average fragrance product tested contained 14 secret chemicals not listed on the label,” reports EWG, which analyzed the Campaign’s data. “Among them are chemicals associated with hormone disruption and allergic reactions, and many substances that have not been assessed for safety in personal care products.” EWG adds that some of the undisclosed ingredients are chemicals “with troubling hazardous properties or with a propensity to accumulate in human tissues.” Examples include diethyl phthalate, a chemical found in 97 percent of Americans and linked to sperm damage in human epidemiological studies, and musk ketone, which concentrates in human fat tissue and breast milk.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/toxic-perfumes-an...

> The good news is that immediate, irreversible damage to your health caused by one-time use of perfume or cologne — so-called “perfume poisoning” — is rare. But exposure to topical fragrances can trigger allergies, skin sensitivities, and cause harm over time.

https://www.healthline.com/health/perfume-poisoning

> BCPP’s report disclosed the results of chemical testing of 140 popular U.S. personal care and cleaning products. The testing revealed hundreds of toxic chemicals in these products, the majority of which were associated with the fragrance in the product.

https://www.womensvoices.org/2018/09/26/new-data-reveals-one...

Re:'New car smell' is the scent of carcinogens by mleonhard on Friday February 26, 2021 @09:51AM (#26275304)
Which of those articles claim allergic reactions from airborne fragrances?

Surveys are not reliable.