AURORA, Colo., Dec. 9, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- This holiday season, many people will unwrap gifts of perfume, trendy body lotions or scented candles. What many people don't know is that such products have been known to cause health problems ranging from asthma to cancer, writes author Connie Pitts. In her new book, Get a Whiff of This: Perfumes (Fragrances) -- The Invisible Chemical Poisons (now available through 1stBooks), she presents extensive research on this problem, offers scientific writings from noted doctors and tells her personal story of a disease that confines her to her home.
Pitts, a former perfume lover, now suffers from Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS), a recognized health condition that causes her to experience debilitating physical symptoms after being exposed to scented products. With a growing number of scented products on the market, such conditions are occurring more often. It is an alarming trend that has led places such as Halifax, Nova Scotia to ban perfume in most public places.
Perfume and soap aren't the only products that are suspect. Hair spray, shampoo, conditioner, air fresheners, laundry detergents, trash bags and countless other items also contain harmful chemical substances, she writes. Many perfumes and scented products include carcinogens, narcotics, neurotoxins and unregulated petrochemicals that go undisclosed on labels, and she notes that trade secret laws have kept these chemicals hidden. Businesses such as scented candle manufacturers are totally unregulated, which leaves consumers to play guessing games about the harmful chemicals in their homes, she adds.
With her book, Pitts hopes to raise awareness of this phenomenon and prevent today's onslaught of mysterious illnesses. Citing the expertise of biochemists and doctors through their published journal articles, as well as eye-opening statistics, Pitts illustrates how this industry literally reeks of deception. From letters to the Food and Drug Administration to declare one of Calvin Klein's perfumes misbranded to the chemical analysis of a popular perfume, the information in Get a Whiff of This offers a startling look at how scented products are affecting the health of millions.
Pitts is an activist in the movement to expose the harmful effects of perfumes. A mother and grandmother, she lives in Colorado.
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