Fabric Softeners Toxic Secrets


January 24th, 2014

You’ve probably all read the memes and emails on wonderful things you can use fabric softener sheets for. What the manufacturers would rather you not know are how the ingredients affect our bodies and our central nervous system .

The chemicals go from our clothes to our skin, our largest organ, and are absorbed through our bodies.  Children, pregnant and nursing women are at increased risk.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lists only 8 Fabric Softeners that meet their Designed for the Environment criteria and none of them are the better known brands.

The most common chemicals found in  name brand Fabric Softeners and their health risks are listed below:

Alpha-Terpineol – central nervous system disorders, highly irritating to lungs; pneumonitis, fatal edema, ataxia (loss of muscle coordination), headaches, respiratory depression

Benzyl Acetate – pancreatic cancer, irritating to eyes and lungs, respiratory coughs and lung irritation

Benzyl Alcohol – headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, drop in blood pressure, upper respiratory tract problems, central nervous system, depression, and death in severe respiratory responses

Camphor – central nervous system disorders, irritates eyes, nose & throat, dizziness, confusion, nausea, twitching muscles & convulsions

Chloroform – headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, irritation of respiratory tract, loss of consciousness, kidney disorders, liver disorders, skin disorders, inhalation can be fatal

Ethyl Acetate – headache, stupor, anemia, leukocytosis, liver damage, kidney damage, irritating to eyes and respiratory tract

Limonene – human carcinogen

Linalool – respiratory disturbances, depression, CNS disorders

Pentane – headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, drowsiness, irritation of respiratory tract, loss of consciousness depression, dermatitis, CNS disorders.