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Between attraction and avoidance: from perfume application to fragrance-free policies.

ABSTRACT: Background:According to a national representative survey, 19.9% of the German population describe various adverse effects on personal health upon exposure to fragranced consumer products. This study investigates whether these fragrance-sensitive persons have a higher risk awareness compared to the general public, whether they show a different safety behavior concerning fragrances and whether they reduce exposure and hence risk. Results:The presence of fragrances can have a major impact on the participation in public activities. Half of the fragrance-sensitive persons have ever been prevented from going to some place to avoid exposure to fragrances. More than half of them prefer fragrance-free alternatives (products, laundry, hotels, airplanes, health care facilities, or workplaces), while there are also fragrance-sensitive individuals, who indicate to prefer fragranced products and spaces. Half of fragrance-sensitive persons use perfumes to feel themselves more attractive. Furthermore, there is a large number of persons who prefer fragrance-free alternatives without being fragrance-sensitive. Around half of the general population indicate not to use a fragranced product if they know that it emits hazardous air pollutants. This shows that health effects associated with the presence of fragrances proved to be one out of several factors, but not the only one, which influences attitudes towards fragrances and their usage. The answers given reveal the multitude of aspects influencing risk awareness and safety behavior. According to the survey results, 7.4 workdays were lost due to illness from fragranced product exposure in the workplace per person on average, with estimated personal economic costs of 14.5 * 109 Euro/year in Germany. Conclusions:The high prevalence of persons who correlate their health effects with exposure to fragrances shows that existing risk communication instruments are too weak, even for people who are aware of a risk, like fragrance-sensitive persons. The data substantiate how important it is to respect cognitive dissonance, confirmation bias and the inadequacy of the deficit model in risk management. The issue of adverse health effects associated with fragrances has reached a dimension, which requires immediate action: The results of this study are strong supporting arguments in favor of fragrance-free policies.

SUBMITTER: Klaschka U

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7366882 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Between attraction and avoidance: from perfume application to fragrance-free policies.

Klaschka Ursula U

Environmental sciences Europe 20200717 1

<h4>Background</h4>According to a national representative survey, 19.9% of the German population describe various adverse effects on personal health upon exposure to fragranced consumer products. This study investigates whether these fragrance-sensitive persons have a higher risk awareness compared to the general public, whether they show a different safety behavior concerning fragrances and whether they reduce exposure and hence risk.<h4>Results</h4>The presence of fragrances can have a major i ...[more]

PMID: 32834911

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Project description:IntroductionMany European schools implement smoke-free school policies (SFSPs). SFSPs may decrease adolescent smoking by causing adolescents to perceive stronger antismoking norms, yet there exists no quantitative evidence that indicates for which norms and for whom such effects may occur. This study therefore assessed to what extent adolescents' perceived antismoking norms among best friends, teachers, and society at large were associated with SFSPs, and whether these associations were moderated by adolescents' level of school connectedness.Aims and methodsSurvey data were collected in 2016/2017 on 10,653 adolescents aged 14-16 years old and 315 staff members in 55 schools from seven European cities. Associations of adolescent-perceived SFSPs and staff-reported SFSPs with best friend, teacher, and societal antismoking norms were estimated in multilevel logistic regression models, adjusted for demographics and school-level smoking prevalence. We tested for interaction between school connectedness and SFSPs.ResultsAdolescent-perceived SFSPs were positively associated with antismoking norms by teachers (odds ratio [OR]: 1.46, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.15-1.85), were negatively associated with antismoking norms by best friends (OR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.67-0.99), but were not significantly associated with antismoking norms by society at large (OR: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.74-1.02). All interaction tests between adolescent-perceived SFSPs and school connectedness were nonsignificant. Staff-reported SFSPs were not associated with any norm and showed no significant interaction with school connectedness.ConclusionsWe found that SFSPs are associated with adolescents' perception of more antismoking norms by teachers, but less antismoking norms by best friends, irrespective of adolescents' level of school connectedness.ImplicationsSmoke-free school policies, just as many other tobacco control policies, are assumed to foster adolescents' perception of antismoking norms. Still, current evidence does not demonstrate which antismoking norms may be influenced by SFSPs and whether this influence is equal for adolescents with different levels of school connectedness. This study suggests that SFSPs foster adolescents' perception of antismoking norms by teachers, but may concurrently lead to the perception of less antismoking norms by best friends, irrespective of adolescents' school connectedness. SFSPs may therefore need to be complemented with interventions that target antismoking norms in adolescent peer groups.

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Between attraction and avoidance: from perfume application to fragrance-free policies.

Publications

Between attraction and avoidance: from perfume application to fragrance-free policies.

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