“Air fresheners do not freshen the air at all. What they do is mask one odour with another, while diminishing one’s sense of smell with a nerve-deadening agent.”16  Instead of freshening the air we breathe, chemical-based air fresheners add dangerous chemicals to our air space.

Air fresheners are made from formaldehyde, a carcinogen and sensitizer, naphthalene, a suspected carcinogen, xylene, a neurotoxin and possible reproductive toxin, butane gas, a neurotoxin, cresol, ethanol, phenol and strong fragrances. Some solid deodorizers include pesticides. Aerosol air fresheners release chemicals as tiny particles which can be in haled deeply. Plug in air fresheners break the chemicals into even smaller particles.17

This fragrance free living is smelling pretty good. What do you think?


16 – Connie Pitts, Get a Whiff of This: Perfumes (fragrances)
17 – Guide to less toxic products, Environmental health Association of Nova Scotia