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The Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are both concerned about media coverage that misrepresents a recently published EPA preliminary study entitled Full-Scale Chamber Investigation and Simulation of Air Freshener Emissions in the Presence of Ozone. CSPA and EPA agree that the study was not intended to represent consumer use of air fresheners, nor does it do so. In response to misleading press coverage, EPA released a press statement on Tuesday, June 29, stating: “This study was designed to further our understanding of chemical reactions that may take place in indoor environments and was not designed to investigate health effects. The fact is the study does not indicate that using a plug-in air freshener may be harmful to one’s health and for anyone to suggest that it does would be distorting the study and taking it beyond its scientific scope.” The study presents experimental findings on the potential interaction between selected fragrance components and ozone. As the authors of the study themselves acknowledge, “Clearly, more data and improved models are needed to predict particle formation in the real world.” The test conditions, which included four electrical air-freshener devices generating high levels of fragrance and 24-hour use of an ozone generator producing high levels of ozone in a stainless-steel chamber, do not reflect consumer use of the product. These conditions -- fragrance and ozone, not fragrance alone -- resulted in an environment of abnormally high levels of ozone and potentially abnormally high levels of some fragrance components generated specifically for this experiment and sustained over a long period of time. There is no evidence supporting a significant risk to human health from the use of air fresheners under normal consumer conditions. The manufacturers of air fresheners evaluate their products for health and safety in an effort to identify the consequences of potential exposures and to assure that products are safe and effective. The ingredients of these products are routinely evaluated to ensure that the levels of exposure from product use or foreseeable misuse are far below the level that would pose significant risks. This includes assuring that fragrance materials do not present risks of adverse health effects. Information on the testing of fragrance materials by independent scientists can be found at the web site of the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials -- www.rifm.org. In addition, all consumer specialty products are regulated by multiple federal agencies. Numerous federal statutes and regulations apply to the manufacture, distribution, use and disposal of these products. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is the primary regulator of air fresheners and other typical non-pesticide household consumer products. When used according to label instructions in real-life situations, these air-freshener products are safe. CSPA is a national trade association that represents 240 companies that make a wide variety of consumer and institutional specialty products including air fresheners and other air care products.
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