The personal care products we use on a daily basis significantly affect indoor air quality, according to new research by a team at EPFL. When used indoors, these products release a cocktail of more than 200 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air, and when those VOCs come into contact with ozone, the chemical reactions that follow can produce new compounds and particles that may penetrate deep into our lungs. Scientists don’t yet know how inhaling these particles on a daily basis affects our respiratory health.
The personal care products we use on a daily basis significantly affect indoor air quality, according to new research by a team at EPFL. When used indoors, these products release a cocktail of more than 200 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air, and when those VOCs come into contact with ozone, the chemical reactions that follow can produce new compounds and particles that may penetrate deep into our lungs. Scientists don’t yet know how inhaling these particles on a daily basis affects our respiratory health.
The EPFL team’s findings have been published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters.
It all began when Dusan Licina, a tenure-track assistant professor at EPFL, and his group drew up an apparently unremarkable shopping list: roll-on deodorant, spray deodorant, hand lotion, perfume and dry shampoo hair spray—all produced by leading brands and available in major stores across Europe and elsewhere.
