From the University of Washington comes news of a terrible scourge of air pollution coming from America’s suburban wasteland. Yes, it’s the unregulated clothes dryer vent. I see a whole new division of the EPA just for this major threat and compliance teams confiscating fabric softener sheets with that cute little bear on the box and boxes of Cheer nationwide.
Scented laundry products emit hazardous chemicals through dryer vents
The same University of Washington researcher who used chemical sleuthing to deduce what’s in fragranced consumer products now has turned her attention to the scented air wafting from household laundry vents.
Findings, published online this week in the journal Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health, show that air vented from machines using the top-selling scented liquid laundry detergent and scented dryer sheet contains hazardous chemicals, including two that are classified as carcinogens.
“This is an interesting source of pollution because emissions from dryer vents are essentially unregulated and unmonitored,” said lead author Anne Steinemann, a UW professor of civil and environmental engineering and of public affairs. “If they’re coming out of a smokestack or tail pipe, they’re regulated, but if they’re coming out of a dryer vent, they’re not.”
The research builds on earlier work that looked at what chemicals are released by laundry products, air fresheners, cleaners, lotions and other fragranced consumer products. Manufacturers are not required to disclose the ingredients used in fragrances, or in laundry products.
For the new study, which focuses on chemicals emitted through laundry vents, researchers first purchased and pre-rinsed new, organic cotton towels. They asked two homeowners to volunteer their washers and dryers, cleaned the inside of the machines with vinegar, and ran full cycles using only water to eliminate as much residue as possible.
At the first home, they ran a regular laundry cycle and analyzed the vent fumes for three cases: once with no products, once with the leading brand of scented liquid laundry detergent, and finally with both the detergent and a leading brand of scented dryer sheets. A canister placed inside the dryer vent opening captured the exhaust 15 minutes into each drying cycle. Researchers then repeated the procedure with a different washer and dryer at a second home.
Analysis of the captured gases found more than 25 volatile organic compounds, including seven hazardous air pollutants, coming out of the vents. Of those, two chemicals – acetaldehyde and benzene – are classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as carcinogens, for which the agency has established no safe exposure level.
“These products can affect not only personal health, but also public and environmental health. The chemicals can go into the air, down the drain and into water bodies,” Steinemann said.
The researchers estimate that in the Seattle area, where the study was conducted, acetaldehyde emissions from this brand of laundry detergent would be equivalent to 3 percent of the total acetaldehyde emissions coming from automobiles. Emissions from the top five brands, they estimate, would constitute about 6 percent of automobiles’ acetaldehyde emissions.
“We focus a lot of attention on how to reduce emissions of pollutants from automobiles,” Steinemann said. “And here’s one source of pollutants that could be reduced.”
The project’s website also includes letters from the public reporting health effects from scented consumer products. Steinemann says that people’s reports of adverse reactions to fragranced air coming from laundry vents motivated her to conduct this study.
Steinemann recommends using laundry products without any fragrance or scent.
Co-authors are Lisa Gallagher and Amy Davis at the UW, and Ian MacGregor at Battelle Memorial Institute.
For more information, contact Steinemann at acstein@uw.edu. She is best reached via email.
More information about the research, including a copy of the article, is at http://depts.washington.edu/exposure/
What I don’t understand is whether these ‘dangeous’ chemicals are the result of the perfumes used in the dryer sheets (I love my lavender dryer sheets) or the result of whatever they put in there to soften the clothes while drying.
Annie-
Evidently those people that wear those horrible perfumes forced their way into your
“other half’s” study and demanded to be interviewed, correct? Well, you would not expect such persons to be concerned that they were polluting your home’s environment. They may have just assumed that it was a place of business. Obviously they also ignored your signs prohibiting such fragrances.
Here’s a thought; there is a new invention called “vents” that provide a path for removing interior air to the outside. Some are even equipped with fans to increase the rate of air exchange. Other models are now available with various types of filters to remove odors and other contaminating substances. You might consider equiping your problem study with one, or even more, of these?
Good thing this study came along, we don’t nearly enough government regulation of every minutia of our lives….
Oh that’s good. I mean that’s REALLY good. Simply brilliant. Tipping my hat to you.
John W. says:
August 24, 2011 at 8:00 am
“… The chemicals can go into the air, down the drain and into water bodies …”
But do they? And in what concentration? What is the LD50 (or equivalent for carcinogens) for the compounds? For example, what is the concentration in ppm or ppb at 10m from the vent? 20m? 50? Compared to the exposure shown in controlled laboratory experiments to lead to x% increase in the probability of developing cancer of type A, B, or C over time t?
Careful methodology, limited data set, not controlled for variation in machines, no tie in to health effects, etc. In other words, is there any real science in this study? (I read the paper, didn’t see it. Maybe I missed it and someone else will spot it.)==================
hey John, consider that that sort of safety data SHOULD be done BY the chemcos making the products..and?
they are NOT tested in almost every case.
and they NEVER were tested in combination.!
their Avoidance of info is truly criminal when kids or pets ingest stuff and you have NO idea what the hell IS s IN a product to be able to treat.!! and theChem helplines are not always staffed, hospitals arent much chop either I found, take ages to work it out.
Home care and personal products have a real LOT of GRAS ingredients,
that doesnt mean they are..it means not enough people have reported adverse events, and neither do the Gps.
I used to have issues just with laundry powder, then it grew to be all commercial cleaners and made my life pure hell, and I am not an “allergy” type person or asthmatic.
TRICLOSAN..was first regd as?
a Pesticide!
sure the amounts are minimal per product ie mouthwash(ugh) toothpaste(sensitive gum issues rose) soaps(rashes and dry skin complaints) and then plastic food containers /wrapping etc all impregnated bin liners for heavens sakes??? Medicos reported issues with the hand sanitisers years ago.
and now?
they ARE announcing “issues” with triclosan.
this ISNT about idiot grentards, it IS about accumulative toxins in the home.
INDOOR air esp in usa with no openable windows, IS pretty bad and its been known for years.
go spray the bathroom with domestos for eg, open door or not youre going to feel crook. women use multiple chem every day+ whats In personal creams makeups etc
dermal absorption is a fact.
For goodness sake don’t tell the Ozzie Greens, or we will all be back to washing clothes with our hands and scrubbing boards. And using solar energy to dry them. Don’t use biodegradables
in America.
I consider people who wear perfume deposited by fabric softeners and dryer sheets almost the same as with those who drive around in cars with the bass so loud that I can hear it a half a block away.
I detect odor the same way as Annie.
For static electricity, P Walker should use unscented dryer sheets like we do.
Acetaldehyde also is produced by natural human activity. That’s what gives you that “funny” taste in your mouth when you wake up in the morning (before you rinse).
Forgive me if I’m wrong but couldn’t are classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as carcinogens, for which the agency has established no safe exposure level. equally mean that they are totally safe?
Dan Santo says re Lead toxicity
Here’s an alternative view from a medico friend who studied the problem professionally for 40 years. rest easy.
http://dnacih.com/SILVA.htm
I avoid scented cleaning products due concern about rash and skin tags (which are caused by irritation, mostly from clothes). Mind, where I live static electricity from clothes drying is not a problem because the air is not dry. Inland, especially east of the Rocky Mountains, static is a big problem winter and summer.
I second muttering about regulations on soaps – they don’t cut grease on dishes (vegetable oil in particular).
People on the west coast of North America – where the UW is – should be worrying about TBO – the big earthquake, “The Big One”. I hear that DC just got a reminder that earthquakes happen, usually elsewhere of course. Haven’t heard if they lost any historic buildings as the Puget Sound area of WA state does every earthquake. (Masonry buildings don’t hold together well when the forces aren’t simply downward as weight of structure and contents normally are.)
How many tens of billions of dollars do we borrow to pay for such nonsense ? The people who are producing these sorts of studies could be better used in the harvesting phase of fruit and vegetable production, where many, for the first time in their lives could, experience the pride of making a net societal contribution.
I really don’t care about the validity or otherwise of the study. Just so long as it gets easier to buy detergents without the godawful synthetic stinks.
I also don’t like the stink that wafts out the doors of a certain UK cosmetic chain that emphasises natural ingredients, and markets stuff filled with rain forest ingredients, in colours that, oddly enough, are not seen in nature,
And as for “air fresheners”….
If I actually had a good sense of smell, it’d be horrible.
I suppose you don’t like the natural scent given off by fresh flowers either. I know in our radiology company we are asked not to wear perfume (some technicians are allergic to it) or talcum powder.
Horses for courses. I use biodegradable washing liquid and washing up liquid. One has a lemon scent that doesn’t worry me even if it didn’t.