not mean that all of their products are safe for your baby. Do not assume that if a company makes a
great moisturizer, you should buy the rest of their products.
Also, do not assume that people succeed in the cosmetic business while being led by only one aim:
to make you healthier and help you live longer. Every enterprise is started with a business plan that
involves some sort of profit gained at the end of the year. The manufacturer can save millions by
replacing just one costly natural extract with some synthetic brew. So always check the ingredients;
be vigilant and skeptical, even if it comes to organic beauty.
Back to synthetic aromatics. Benzyl acetate, a jasmine-flavored relative of benzyl alcohol, was
generally recognized as safe by the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA) expert
panel. However, a 2002 study conducted at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, suggested that this
synthetic fragrance compound may be carcinogenic in rodent studies, causing liver and bladder
cancer (Waddell 2002). This study caused quite a stir in the scientific community, but so far benzyl
acetate sits happily in drugstore aisles, listed among ingredients in many bestselling products,
including award-winning moisturizers, mascaras, and antiaging products.
Butylphenyl methylpropional (also known as Lilial or lilialdehyde) is a widely used fragrance
compound found naturally in the essential oil of chamomile. Allergic contact dermatitis caused by
Lilial was first reported and well studied in 1983 (Larsen 1983). Currently, this lovely floral
synthetic fragrance is used in both elite fragrances and drugstore shampoos, deodorants, tanning
lotions, and hairstyling products (Buckley 2007).
Almond-smelling benzaldehyde can be easily derived from apricot, cherry, laurel leaves, and
peach seeds, but now is most often made from toluene. In 1977, it was proven that benzaldehyde is a
strong contact irritant, but it remains one of the most frequently used fragrance components. Its highest
reported concentration of use was 0.5 percent in perfumes. Benzaldehyde is generally regarded as a
safe food additive in the United States and is accepted as a flavoring substance in the European
Union. Benzaldehyde rapidly metabolizes to benzoic acid in the skin, is absorbed through the skin and
by the lungs, and is distributed to all the organs. In 2006, fragrance manufacturers, via the Cosmetic
Ingredient Review, assured that benzaldehyde is not a carcinogenic, reproductive, or developmental
toxicant at concentrations used in cosmetics (Andersen 2006). However, a new 2007 study
determined that “exposure to aldehydes represents potential risks to human and animal health,”
scientists from Chem-Risk in Colorado wrote. They found that this chemical induced formation of
stable DNA-protein cross-links in cultured human lymphoma cells (Kuykendall et al. 2007). In plain
English, benzaldehyde promoted cancerous cell growth. Today, synthetic benzaldehyde is contained
in many popular shaving foams, deodorants, moisturizers, and some “soothing” baby products. As for
me, I don’t find this information soothing, do you?
Synthetic fragrances may smell like the real deal, but they cannot fool our bodies. The synthetic
fragrance molecules aren’t recognized by our immune system as safe. Because our DNA has evolved
over millions of years, and synthetic fragrances have been in use only since the 1920s, every cell in
our body is programmed to accept only truly natural, volatile compounds found in herbs and fruits.
What does our body do when hostile substances attack it? It kicks back, and the outcome of this
fight is not beautiful. Asthma, migraines, hyper activity disorder in children and adults, rashes,
depression, and seizures have been linked to synthetic chemical fragrances. New studies linking
synthetic fragrances to cancer and diabetes come up daily.
Asthma, migraines, hyperactivity disorder in children and adults, rashes, depression, and seizures