A Rant About Fragrances

Lots of people use fragrances of various types. Chicks use them to smell like flowers or something. Dicks use them to smell like manly rutting animals or something. This is stupid, rude, and dangerous.

Fragrances go by various names and can be loosely categorized based on those names^[1]: perfume, cologne, aftershave, eau de toilette^[2], etc. Lots more can be said, but I don't give a shit, so go read about perfume on Wikipedia if you want to learn more about the history and shit. I've got some serious science-based curmudgeonry here.

Why It's Stupid

If you wear fragrances because you want to smell nice so you can get laid just like in the ads on TV, consider this: “30.5% of the general population reported scented products on others irritating” [CS].

Do you really want to reduce your dating pool by almost a third? Especially if that third contains all the people with enough self-esteem to know that they have more to offer than just smelling “nice”?

Why It's Rude

Lots of people^[3], more than just being irritated by the smelly shit, are actually sensitive to it. This is a real, medical, documented sensitivity; it has measurable effects, but its mechanisms and ætiology are not well understood. Granted, it doesn't fuck up your sperm^[4] like second-hand smoke [MRWPBY], but it is injurious, and injuring others is rude.

From the abstract of [ELDJFMNM]:

Mucosal symptoms from the eyes and airways were common in this population. BHR^[5] was a significant and independent predictor of these symptoms. The lack of association with atopy^[6] suggested that IgE-mediated^[7] allergic mechanisms do not play a major role in the development of these symptoms.

From the abstract of [ESMHDJ]:

Perfume induces a dose-dependent non-IgE-mediated release of histamine from human peripheral blood basophils. Increased basophil reactivity to perfume was found in patients with respiratory symptoms related to perfume.

From the abstract of a twins study [ELKH]:

Significant associations (p<0.05) between perfume-related respiratory symptoms and asthma, atopic dermatitis, hand eczema or contact allergy are not attributable to shared genetic or shared environmental/familial factors, except possibly for atopic dermatitis where genetic pleiotropy with respiratory symptoms to perfume is suggested

From the abstract of [EDDM]:

Twenty-one eczema patients with respiratory symptoms elicited by perfume were compared with 21 healthy volunteers in a sex- and age-matched case-control study. The participants completed a symptom questionnaire, and underwent a double-blind, placebo-controlled exposure to perfume. Of the 42 individuals tested, 10 had more eye symptoms (irritation, itching, and tears) during perfume exposure than during placebo exposures, and eight of these individuals (P=0.07, Fisher's exact test) belonged to the patient group. A true positive eye reaction to perfume was significantly associated with identification of perfume as an active exposure (P<0.05).

From the abstract of [KCGCRT]:

This study was undertaken to determine whether perfume inhalation from magazine scent strips could exacerbate asthma. … Inhalational challenges using perfume produced significant declines in FEV1^[8] in asthmatic patients when compared with control subjects. No significant change in FEV1 was noted after saline (placebo) challenge in asthmatic patients. … Chest tightness and wheezing occurred in 20.7% of asthmatic patients after perfume challenges. … Perfume-scented strips in magazines can cause exacerbations of symptoms and airway obstruction in asthmatic patients. Severe and atopic asthma increases risk of adverse respiratory reactions to perfumes.

What is this telling us? I'm not entirely sure (not being a biomedichemist), but I think it means this. It's a real biochemical effect, most likely neither genetically inherited nor developed through environmental exposure (which, to me, suggests the possibility of an epigenetic cause, but there are probably other possibilities). It's not an allergy, because of the lack of an IgE component, but hystamine is involved. Hystamine is the thing that makes you get all inflamed and stuff during an allergic reaction. Allergies involve (via IgE, which is involved in recognition of the allergen) the release of hystamine from the mast cells. According to [ESMHDJ], the perfume triggers release of hystamine from basophils, which are not mast cells.

In other words, the smelly shit makes the basophils release hystamine which causes inflamation and watery eyes and sneezing and stuff.

And if you've got asthma you're fucked.

By the way, fragrance sensitivity seems to be legally recognized as being covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, but (understandably) the questions about what an employer can be reasonably expected to do to accomodate an employee are difficult.

Why It's Dangerous

Disclaimer: none of the following is intended as medical advice, and some of it is subject to the usual caveats about, e.g., the applicability of high-concentration mouse studies to humans.

Fragrances probably cause cancer (in mice, at least). From the abstract of [ACDCDC]:

The experimental data reported here lead to the conclusion that musk xylene, as well as musk tibetene, have carcinogenic activity.

Fragrances seem to fuck with hormones. From the abstract of [SSJSB]:

Four polycyclic musks (AHTN, HHCB, AETT, and AHMI) were found to be antagonists toward the [estrogen receptor] ERbeta, [androgen receptor] AR and [progesterone receptor] PR. … the anti-progestagenic effects of the polycyclic musks AHMI and AHTN were detected at [relatively low] concentrations as low as 0.01 muM.

Fragrances cause dermatitis. From the abstract of [FRPBABSGWUALJM]:

50 patients (2.9%) showed a positive reaction to 14% FM II [14% concentration of fragrance mix II] and 70 patients (4.1%) to 28% FM II. 24/50 (48%) produced a positive reaction to 1 or more of the individual constituents of 14% FM II and 38/70 (54.3%) to 28% FM II, respectively.

Fragrances linger in the environment (the majority comes from wastewater, probably via scented detergents) and are absorbed into other animals. From the abstract of [PH]:

The compounds were measured in the air and water of Lake Michigan and in the air of urban Milwaukee, WI.

Some Further Remarks

As I mentioned in one of my footnotes, I have a sensitivity to fragrances. Fortunately mine's not severe, but it's really fucking annoying and shit. Some people with whom I spend significant amounts of time used smelly shit and got tired of me sneezing and having watery eyes and stuff^[9] and they stopped (or greatly reduced) their smelly shit (thank you!). There are other people, though, with whom I interact rarely if at all, yet their smelly shit nevertheless assaults me with a vengeance.

• At the gym. They leave their smelly fragrance shit all over the machines. It's the gym, I'm there to exercise, and your perfume is making me wheeze, which sort of gets in the way of my exercising. It's the fucking gym. You're supposed to get all sweaty and stinky. If you want to wear perfume, at least wait until after you shower, you fucking morons. I realize that smelling other people's sweat is not necessarily pleasant, but there are all those signs that say “please wipe off the machines when finished”.
• When I drop my car off for maintenance or inspection or whatever. Some “customer care representative” drives it into the garage and back. Then I drive it home, during which time I get smelly shit all over my hands from the steering wheel. It's a fucking auto shop, it's supposed to smell like grease, not like shitty artificial flowers.
• When someone insists on shaking my hand. Salespeople are probably the worst offenders here (they deserve a special fuck-you for lots of other reasons). It also happens during meetings with clients or customers (where an appropriate response is not “it's nice to meet you, now let me go wash your stinky residue off my hands”).
• A pharmacist. I really don't need my bottle of medicine smelling like perfume.
• In elevators.

Finally, if you don't want to smear elephant shit^[10] and piss (also known as hyraceum) all over yourself, you might want to stop wearing perfume.

Notes
1. ^I don't give a fuck what they're called, it's all smelly shit.
2. ^Eau de toilette, literally “water from the toilet”, is probably the best name.
3. ^Including me, otherwise I wouldn't have looked into this.
4. ^This obviously isn't applicable to you if you're in the half of the population that doesn't sperminate. Second-hand smoke might fuck up your eggs, but the mechanism would be different because, unlike sperm, your eggs aren't being continually created^[11]. If you're preggers and think second-hand smoke isn't fucking up your fœtus then you're a moron, and if you're preggers and you smoke then you're a fucking worthless twat bitch cunt moron.
5. ^methacholine bronchial hyper-reactivity
6. ^skin prick test reactivity, where they inject a bit of stuff under your skin and see if you react (I've had it done, with about fifty different things; it's not as bad as it sounds)
7. ^Immunoglobulin E, an immune system thing that's involved in allergies.
8. ^Forced expiratory volume in one second. Start with full lungs and exhale as hard as you can until they're empty. FEV1 is how much you exhaled during the first second.
9. ^Said stuff includes complaining, whining, and some impressively passive-agressive behaviour.
10. ^The Rock Hyrax isn't actually an elephant, but its closest living relative is.
11. ^That's the commonly accepted view, but there are studies including [JBSLANTTCFSIST] suggesting that it's a bit more complicated than that.

Bibliography
• [ACDCDC] Apostolidis S, Chandra T, Demirhan I, Cinatl J, Doerr HW, Chandra A., “Evaluation of carcinogenic potential of two nitro-musk derivatives, musk xylene and musk tibetene in a host-mediated in vivo/in vitro assay system.”, Anticancer Res. 2002 Sep-Oct;22(5):2657-62.
• [CS] Caress SM, Steinemann AC, “Prevalence of fragrance sensitivity in the American population”, J Environ Health. 2009 Mar;71(7):46-50.
• [EDDM] Elberling, J, Duus Johansen, J, Dirksen, A, Mosbech, H, “Exposure of eyes to perfume: a double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment”, Indoor Air 2006 16(4):276-281.
• [ELDJFMNM] Elberling J, Linneberg A, Dirksen A, Johansen JD, Frølund L, Madsen F, Nielsen NH, Mosbech H., “Mucosal symptoms elicited by fragrance products in a population-based sample in relation to atopy and bronchial hyper-reactivity”, Clin Exp Allergy. 2005 Jan;35(1):75-81.

  (“Clin Exp Allergy” is the journal “Clinical and Experimental Allergy Journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology”. No wonder they abbreviated it!)

• [ELKH] Elberling J, Lerbaek A, Kyvik KO, Hjelmborg J., “A twin study of perfume-related respiratory symptoms”, Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2009 Nov;212(6):670-8. Epub 2009 Jun 6.
• [ESMHDJ] Elberling J, Skov PS, Mosbech H, Holst H, Dirksen A, Johansen JD, “Increased release of histamine in patients with respiratory symptoms related to perfume.”, Clin Exp Allergy. 2007 Nov;37(11):1676-80. Epub 2007 Sep 17.
• [FRPBABSGWUALJM] Frosch PJ, Rastogi SC, Pirker C, Brinkmeier T, Andersen KE, Bruze M, Svedman C, Goossens A, White IR, Uter W, Arnau EG, Lepoittevin JP, Johansen JD, Menne T, “Patch testing with a new fragrance mix — reactivity to the individual constituents and chemical detection in relevant cosmetic products”, Contact Dermatitis. 2005 Apr;52(4):216-25.
• [JBSLANTTCFSIST] Johnson J, Bagley J, Skaznik-Wikiel M, Lee HJ, Adams GB, Niikura Y, Tschudy KS, Tilly JC, Cortes ML, Forkert R, Spitzer T, Iacomini J, Scadden DT, Tilly JL, “Oocyte generation in adult mammalian ovaries by putative germ cells in bone marrow and peripheral blood”, Cell. 2005 Jul 29;122(2):303-15.
• [KCGCRT] Kumar P, Caradonna-Graham VM, Gupta S, Cai X, Rao PN, Thompson J, “Inhalation challenge effects of perfume scent strips in patients with asthma.”, Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 1995 Nov;75(5):429-33.
• [MRWPBY] Francesco Marchettia,1, Andrea Rowan-Carrollb, Andrew Williamsb, Aris Polyzosa, M. Lynn Berndt-Weisb, and Carole L. Yaukb, “Sidestream tobacco smoke is a male germ cell mutagen”, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. August 2, 2011 vol. 108 no. 31 12811-12814.
• [PH] Peck AM, Hornbuckle KC, “Synthetic musk fragrances in Lake Michigan”, Environ Sci Technol. 2004 Jan 15;38(2):367-72.
• [SSJSB] Schreurs RH, Sonneveld E, Jansen JH, Seinen W, van der Burg B, “Interaction of polycyclic musks and UV filters with the estrogen receptor (ER), androgen receptor (AR), and progesterone receptor (PR) in reporter gene bioassays”, Toxicol Sci. 2005 Feb;83(2):264-72. Epub 2004 Nov 10.