to not understand why people spend money to pollute their homes with pointless chemicals?

[tomorrowisanotherdate]

scent boosters, to go in laundry, air fresheners that squirt puffs of pollutants at you - the tv is full of adverts for these things, so presumably someone is buying them. I just don't get it though. Loading your family's home atmosphere with a load of unnecessary and unpleasant air pollutants, and paying for the privilege? Why?

We are talking about the pollutant load in our homes. Neither of these do that. Outside of homes, water is a greenhouse gas. That is not what this thread is about. I am specifically talking about the pointless and unnecessary toxins we are exposing ourselves to inside out home by polluting the air with all these chemicals , and paying for them!

It is quite concerning how permanent the scent boosters are. I buy things off Vinted and even after I’ve washed them you can still smell the scent boosters. Something that potent doesn’t seem like it would be great to breathe in too much.

Well yes, that’s my point. People react differently to different things. That doesn’t make the things pollutants.

I suspect Kim Jong Un is strongly opposed to air fresheners.

Don’t know how you’re still alive with all these poisonous chemicals!

speak for yourself, I am not

@tomorrowisanotherdate are you an Enjo rep perchance? They talk a lot about pollutant and/or chemical loads and also tell us how 'clean has no smell'. They forget that some of us hate laundry and/or cleaning and a subtle pleasant smell makes it less tedious to do.

My house is a haven from allergens - no pets, the plainest unscented non bio, no fabric conditioners, no air fresheners.

I love coming back to it, the rest of the world is so itchy and wheezy.

But I don’t have a problem with people who like strong smells or who have pets, I just can’t spend long in their houses.

No Glade plug in is still a pollutant. It doesn't stop being harmful and toxic just because you personally like it

Pollution inside is quite often worse than outside, because of all these chemicals we are talking about

I suspect she's not eating most of them, though might be 'nose blind' to the smell overload.

somebody liking the smell of something does not stop it being a pollutant

Oh, right. I was just trying to establish what makes some compounds chemicals and other compounds not chemicals.

They will have passed rigorous safety tests though, so while many of us don't like them, it's also not realistic to label their use, especially in moderation, as 'harmful and toxic'.

I don't think OP said some compounds were chemicals and some were not, did she?

Yeah, that’s really the gist of it. I doubt there’s any evidence of harm from these products even if some find them unpleasant.

According to some we don’t need to ingest them for them to poison us with their chemical nastiness.

I do open my windows but we live rurally, the air smells like cow shit/slurry and not at all fresh. 😂

I had to actually ask someone on Vinted what their washing combo was as it smelt so nice. 😁

Nobody anywhere has said any compounds are not chemicals.

They are classed as pollutants because they are polluting. ie harmful and toxic

How do you know they’re harmful and toxic?

@tomorrowisanotherdate can you provide any sources for this?

Yes, you’re right. It’s not so much the ‘chemicals’ as ‘pointless’.

I’m unsure what a pointless chemical is. If it does the job of creating a smell that someone likes it’s hard to see how it’s pointless.

you're not wrong OP. You only have to look in the supermarkets nowadays, making your home smell like LUSH is big business. It's the equivalent of UPF, but people will ignore all the evidence because it tastes nice (UPF) or it smells nice [home fragrances]? I've stopped buying all the branded washing gels and liquids, they make me feel ill:

Source: https://madesafe.org/pages/mission-vision

Air fresheners are a source of indoor air pollution and either directly emit or cause the formation of numerous substances associated with negative health effects. In studies measuring the different substances that air fresheners emit, researchers have found numerous chemicals associated with toxic effects.

These include: volatile organic compounds (VOCs),[5]benzene,[6] formaldehyde,[7] toluene,[8] m,p-xylene,[9] phthalates,[10] and more. For example, formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, has been measured at high levels. Levels were found to be even higher when air quality was measured during simultaneous use of multiple scented products (cleaning products, air fresheners, and perfume).[11] High concentrations of VOCs[12] have been measured in the emissions from numerous air freshener types too, including sprays, plug-ins, solids, and more.[13]

I’m fussy about scents and don’t like the standard air fresheners or understand why laundry has to smell so strong.

BUT the anti science claims from some are ridiculous. For those at the back:

Everything is a chemical and poison is in the dosage.

Zoflora is nasty stuff though and there seems to be a bit of an obsession with air fresheners, laundry scents etc judging by the amount of TV adverting I saw when in the UK a few months ago. I found it quite odd.

Apples contain formaldehyde. Best keep away from them.