Take a sniff around your home.  Are you proud of your pine-fresh floors, the floral scent of your bathroom, or the cinnamon candle in your bedroom? Advertisements remind us of the necessity of a "fresh smelling home," making us feel self conscious about the everyday smells in our lives.

In a world of anti-bacterial and squeaky clean, we've become afraid to embrace our natural scents. We perfume ourselves silly, and it's costing us more than our paycheques. 

In fear of body odour, pet smells, foot stench and bad breath, some feel we've lost control of our senses.  

Perfumes are so pervasive that we've stopped even noticing their presence. Have you ever tried to buy shampoo without a fruit or floral scent? How about laundry detergent? Now they're being injected into floor and bathroom cleaners, placed in our shoes, on fabric softeners, and sprayed onto our home's "soft surfaces."

And some researchers claim all that scent may be bad for your health. While fragrances have been used in personal care products for ages, only recently have they become synthetic chemical concoctions. According to the National Academy of Sciences, 95 per cent of chemicals now used in fragrance are synthetic compounds, often petroleum based. ( Medical News Today, 19 Jun 2004).  

Listings of scent ingredients in our products are unregulated, and only have to be labelled on the package as "fragrance."  Meanwhile, some research suggests the chemicals may act as hormone disrupters (possibly causing birth defects in boys and early puberty in girls), carcinogens (causing cancer), and neural damage to those who apply them. 

The fragrance industry defends their use of the chemicals in question, maintaining that ongoing independent research has concluded they are safe.  The Fragrance Materials Association of the United States, for instance, contends that while the use of some phthalates has been questioned, and indeed banned from products in the European Union, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has conducted frequent tests on the chemicals, and has concluded that they pose no calculable threat at the level of exposure presented.

Paul Fox, a spokesperson from Proctor and Gamble, assures that his company has rigorous safety protocols, which ensure that all their household items and packaging are safe for both consumers and the environment.  He confirms that all requirements are met for each country in which their goods are marketed and sold.

Stacy Malkan, Communications Director for the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, is less confident. She's been fighting for increased awareness and government regulation surrounding the personal care products industry. She says that no level of exposure is safe, and that the political climate of deregulation has fostered the growth of cheap ingredients, to the extent that we've lost control over our own exposure.

"Now we're in a mess where all these chemicals are everywhere and there's not a good safety net that requires companies to be responsible for the chemicals they use and choose the safest alternatives."

Because of the lack of labelling, many consumers are unaware that their products could be unsafe, and Malkan challenges that most chemicals have not been tested for health effects. This is in contrast to the European Market, which Malkan reports is making drastic changes to the way chemicals and household products are regulated.  "Europe has passed REACH, which will require companies to  safety test chemicals that have been used for decades.  This will result in changes in the market globally, as awareness increases about the toxic nature of certain chemicals.."

REACH stands for "Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals." The European Commission reports that the system, which was adopted in June, 2007, strives to improve human health by minimizing exposure to dangerous chemicals. Europe has also banned toxic substances from electronics, personal care products and other consumer goods.

Although supportive of the system, Malkan worries what will happen in the North American market if new regulations aren't adopted here quickly. 

"We don't want it to happen last here," she says, fearing that all the products that don't pass  European safety standards will be sold in North America. "We'll become a dumping ground."

That's why she emphasizes the importance of consumer power.  "I believe we can change the industry, we've already seen it," she urges. "Companies are starting to see that's where the money is, and making products better."

In the meantime, for the sake of personal health she recommends avoiding unnecessary exposure to synthetic chemicals by choosing products with simpler ingredient lists, avoiding synthetic fragrance, and avoiding unecessary products like bubble bath and air freshener, which provide "gratuitous exposure to chemicals."

"I think it's a good idea in general to reduce exposures where they're not necessary."