Don’t take our word for it. Here’s every fact on this site, with its evidence grade, its caveats, and a link to the source, so you can check us.
We start you on the strong ones: findings that have been replicated or come from one large, well-controlled study. Moderate and weak facts are here too, labeled for what they are. Use “Link to this fact” to share a single card.
Fragrance is everywhere / Measured in people or real products
In the US, everyday chemical products (paints, inks, glues, cleaners, personal care products, and pesticides) now release about twice as much air-polluting vapor as cars and trucks: 7.6 vs 3.5 million metric tons in 2012.
Strong evidence: All chemical products, not fragrance specifically; coatings/inks/adhesives are 58%.
Fragrance is everywhere / Measured in people or real products
Scientists can identify which everyday products are polluting a city's outdoor air just by measuring a handful of specific chemical fingerprints: a silicone compound (D5-siloxane) for personal-care products and citrus/pine-scent chemicals (monoterpenes, mostly limonene) for fragranced products, confirmed by mobile-lab measurements across New York City, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Denver.
Strong evidence: Outdoor air only; four US cities, no LA data; tracer status is based on population-density correlation and inventory apportionment, not a direct source test.
Source: Gkatzelis 2021, Environmental Science & Technology Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Government agency
There are no longer any pristine, unpolluted places on Earth: endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as PFOS have been measured in marine-mammal tissue from the Arctic to remote Southern Hemisphere waters, far from any point source, carried by long-range air and ocean transport and biomagnified through food webs.
Strong evidence: Illustrated with wildlife biomonitoring data (marine mammals), not a direct measurement of fragrance or consumer-product chemicals specifically.
Source: WHO/UNEP 2012 Link to this fact
Information, not medical advice. See also: myths we won’t tell you.