Fragrance oils & aquatic life

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I was looking at a MSDS sheet for a FO recently and it said it was very toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects. I’m curious about how it’s transferred. Like, does it mean if we had scented, say a shampoo with this fragrance and went into the ocean; is this harming aquatic life? Does it need to be in larger amounts? Does anybody have any knowledge on this subject?
 
Toxicity in an aquatic environment becomes a concerning issue when average or local concentrations rise to levels that begin to affect the most sensitive organisms, like the small crustaceans and other organisms they use for aquatic toxicity tests. The amount of fragrance you might carry into the ocean on your hair would be extremely minute to start with and when/if released, it would be rapidly diluted. On the other hand, history has shown us over and over again that the old saying “Dilution is the solution to pollution” does not hold up in a world full of humans. I did a quick scan using Google Scholar and found many scientific publications that relate to detecting and removing “scented molecules” from wastewater. Given the high demand for perfumed and otherwise scented products, wastewater treatment technology advancements are essential. Detection is also important because there are new, slightly modified and perhaps proprietary molecules being produced all the time and also because compounds released to the environment can degrade to new and sometimes more toxic compounds. Another potential approach to reducing any problems would be for the fragrance manufacturers to produce safer products that don’t persist in the environment. I imagine it is challenging. Or, we could all stop using scented products…

The answer isn’t necessarily to turn to EOs, which also carry a lot of environmental baggage. See, for example:
https://www.earthisland.org/journal...y/the_environmental_impact_of_essential_oils/
edited for clarity
 
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In the context of SDS/MSDS's my understanding is it's more about proper disposal. In the event you need to dispose of it, a fragrance oil labeled as toxic to aquatic life shouldn't be poured down the drain- you'd need to follow local guidelines for proper disposal of hazardous waste. When diluted properly into a finished product it's essentially the same as any other scented consumer product and doesn't need special handling.

It can certainly be debated whether any of these chemicals, whether from synthetic or natural sources (plenty of EOs have the same warnings) should EVER be going in our water- it probably depends on the chemical. On the one hand, "the dose makes the poison" as they say; on the other, some chemicals persist and accumulate and some may have unforseen effects, and we don't necessarily have all the information. That ultimately leads to the question of whether fragrances should be used at all, and I don't think there are easy answers. Personally I'd like to see a lot more transparency from manufacturers so we could make responsible decisions with more information. But I don't see that happening on the scale that would be required.
 
Don't take SDS (MSDS) documents out of context. An SDS written for a particular fragrance oil applies to the fragrance oil alone, not to products in which you might find the FO.

An SDS is meant to advise firefighters and emergency and spill response personnel about what to expect and how to deal with problems such as a 55 gallon drum of a fragrance oil spilled over the highway and leaking downward in mass quantities into the local stream. Spilling a box of scented soap is not in the same category of hazard.

As another example, some FOs have a low flash point, say 120 F. In other words they burn readily when exposed to flame. Will soap that contains that FO burn that easily? That's one example that should clue you into the fact that the SDS for the fragrance isn't the same as the SDS for the soap that contains that fragrance.

Look at SDS documents for commercial soaps (like Dove) to get a more realistic idea about the potential hazards of the soap you make -- the toxicological, medical, spill response, etc. issues for the soap.
 
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