Did you know that air pollution causes 1 in 6 deaths worldwide?

I don’t know what the study authors considered pollution, but it’s made up of more than car exhaust and aerosols. One reason I love this great PSA by Spare the Air is that it brings to mind two other major air pollutants:

Yes, wood smoke can be as harmful to your health as secondhand smoke! And many folks don’t just burn well-seasoned wood. Duraflame is a popular firewood brand that contains chemicals to help it start easier. A lot of folks use charcoal briquettes to start fires, which were originally a byproduct of making car tires. I had a babysitter who burned all her trash, including milk jugs. So it’s important to raise awareness about the health effects of fires at home.

When I say, “spare the air,” I think about two other big sources: scents and non-tobacco-smokables.

While here in California we’ve succeeded in making smoking tobacco less cool and keeping most indoor spaces tobacco-free, the same laws do not apply to non-tobacco products such as electric cigarettes and marijuana. As vaping has grown in popularity and weed has become legal, I’ve seen proponents using these products in non-smoking areas. There’s a large camp of vapers and marijuana smokers that contend these products are not harmful. But vaping has a litany of health risks for both vapers and bystanders, including “popcorn lung” and nanoparticles of metal. This article lists just 10 of the dangers. After researching the matter, the University of California banned e-cigarettes and vaping, citing health risks. As far as smoking marijuana goes, I am well aware of the health benefits and use the plant in edible and tincture form myself. I shouldn’t have to worry about secondhand marijuana smoke from my neighbor making me high and compromising my safety, though.

Exposure to scents is a huge, under-recognized problem. A recent study found that

fragrance sensitivity is not only a common issue, but can be quite severe. One-third of the study participants reported experiencing one or more health issues from scented products (whether they used the items themselves, or were exposed to them in public places).

I can testify to this myself, as other people’s fragrances have sent me to the emergency room multiple times. When I’m at my most sensitive, I’m confined in my home. Yet even becoming a hermit does not save me from scents’ pervasiveness. My neighbor uses scented laundry products, so every time they do the laundry I have to rush inside and batten down the windows. A simple trip to the drug store is a major challenge as it’s filled with fragrances from all the products they carry.

Even if you are not sensitive to scents or chemicals, you should be concerned about their inescapability. In 2011,

A survey of selected scented consumer goods showed the products emitted more than 100 volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including some that are classified as toxic or hazardous by federal laws.1 Even products advertised as “green,” “natural,” or “organic” emitted as many hazardous chemicals as standard ones.

The University of Washington, Seattle tested 25 different products, many of them leaders in their category.

A single fragrance in a product can contain a mixture of hundreds of chemicals, some of which (e.g., limonene, a citrus scent) react with ozone in ambient air to form dangerous secondary pollutants, including formaldehyde.2 The researchers detected 133 different VOCs. Most commonly detected were limonene, α- and β-pinene (pine scents), and ethanol and acetone (often used as carriers for fragrance chemicals).1

Who wants to breathe formaldehyde? Who wants their children and pets breathing in acetone? Strange, I don’t see any raised hands…

We as a society need to raise awareness about these health risks and take action to mitigate them. Yes, that would likely mean eliminating fragrances in millions of products and perhaps the end of the perfume industry. It would mean eliminating vaping and smoking of all kinds. It would mean converting homes which wish to have hearth fires from wood to natural gas, and perhaps also adding filters to chimneys.

Most of all, it requires thinking about consent. Air is a shared resource. I do not consent to breathe the scent, marijuana, wood smoke, or e-cigarette vapor others spread via the air. Yet I do not have a choice. No one should be forced to breathe harmful substances. So let’s spare the air, and each other.