Purple Wren: Bathroom Blogfest '07: What About Those Sprayers?

One of my pet peeves is those automatic fragrance sprayers they have in some restrooms - like that's going to get rid of bad smells? All it does is add to the odors in the room and cause distress to a lot of people who have sensitive respiratory systems (asthma, etc).

There's recent information that spraying in particular is adding to the numbers of people that have asthma. Sorry to say, not a surprise to me. Finally it's becoming recognized so we can do something about it.

Images According to a recent article on BBC, "Spray air fresheners, furniture cleaners and glass cleaners carried the highest risk [of asthma]."

And another article in MSN claims "Using household cleaning sprays and spray air fresheners just once a week can increase your risk of developing asthma, new research suggests."

How about some fresh air - through the ducts or open windows.

It's well documented that indoor air is significantly more polluted than outside air and that can't be more true than in a bathroom that's enclosed and has vast numbers of people spraying and spritzing in addition to the fragrance from the automatic sprayers and the cleaning products.

An EPA article on indoor air quality states "In the last several years, a growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes and other buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities. Other research indicates that people spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors. Thus, for many people, the risks to health may be greater due to exposure to air pollution indoors than outdoors."

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What do you think about it? We all need to protest.

I know people who disable the devices. That's a short-term answer. Sometimes people ask for the MSDS (material safety data sheet). Start asking questions.

Have you seen the ads about heart disease that feature women with really messy hair. The point is if we could see the heart disease as easily as we can see our hairstyles, we would make changes. We can use that argument here - if we could see the damage that is being caused to our internal organs as a result of these chemicals, we would immediately stop using them and would be lining up to protest their use in public facilities.

Read what other participants in Bathroom Blogfest '07 are saying: