[OKC] From the Green Lantern: Smells Like Green Spirit

[Miles, Karen]

Smells Like Green Spirit


Are air fresheners bad for the environment? 

By Brian Palmer 
 
Is air freshener earth-friendly?  I like having air fresheners around
the house, but the other day it occurred to me that I don't know what
exactly they're puffing into my living room. Am I despoiling the planet
by freshening my air?
 
Air fresheners seem to occupy a special place, along with Hummers and
offshore drilling, in the environmentalist's doghouse. Maybe it's the
synthetic smell or the phony alpine meadow on the packaging. But the
Lantern suspects people have never gotten over the chlorofluorocarbon
crisis of the 1970s and '80s.
Americans fell for the flowery goodness of canned aerosol air fresheners
in 1956, when the S.C. Johnson Co. first released Glade. (It was a big
year for aerosols. The company rolled out Raid insecticide around the
same time.) The magic ingredients in the aerosols were
chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs. These propellants
<http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/aerosol-can3.htm>  are
nontoxic, unlikely to explode, and don't react with other ingredients.
Then two chemists published a paper in 1974 showing that CFCs could
break up ozone molecules, which protect us from ultraviolet light. In
1985, scientists confirmed the breakdown of ozone in the stratosphere,
and over the next seven years most countries agreed to phase the
chemical out. (Check out the Green Lantern's full update on the ozone
layer <http://www.slate.com/id/2229859/> .)
While manufacturers quickly developed CFC-free aerosols, the public
soured on spray cans. Companies have since developed alternative ways to
perfume your living room, most of which rely on some form of automated
delivery system. The most common use heat to evaporate the fragrance or
fans to disperse it.
Does the new generation deserve a clean bill of environmental health? 

Article continues at: Smells Like Green Spirit
<http://link.email.slate.com/r/JDFMTT/EWUFJ/D499SJ/I9CSR/FDD8M/SN/h> 

 
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