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.

中文翻译：

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在吸引与回避之间：从香水使用到无香政策。

 背景

根据一项全国代表性调查，19.9% 的德国人口描述了接触芳香消费品对个人健康的各种不利影响。这项研究调查了这些对香水敏感的人与普通公众相比是否具有更高的风险意识，他们是否表现出不同的对香水的安全行为，以及他们是否减少接触香水，从而减少风险。

 结果

香料的存在会对参与公共活动产生重大影响。一半对香味敏感的人曾经被阻止去某个地方以避免接触香味。超过一半的人更喜欢无香料的替代品（产品、洗衣房、酒店、飞机、医疗保健设施或工作场所），而也有一些对香料敏感的人表示更喜欢加香的产品和空间。一半对香味敏感的人使用香水是为了让自己更有吸引力。此外，有很多人喜欢无香料替代品，但对香料不敏感。大约一半的普通民众表示，如果他们知道某种芳香产品会排放有害的空气污染物，就不会使用该产品。这表明与香料的存在相关的健康影响被证明是影响对香料及其使用的态度的几个因素之一，但不是唯一的因素。给出的答案揭示了影响风险意识和安全行为的多个方面。调查结果显示，每人因在工作场所接触芳香产品而患病，平均损失7.4个工作日，估计德国个人经济损失为14.5 * 10 ⁹欧元/年。

 结论

将其健康影响与接触香料联系起来的人的比例很高，这表明现有的风险沟通工具太弱，即使对于那些意识到风险的人（例如对香料敏感的人）也是如此。这些数据证实了尊重认知失调、确认偏差和赤字模型在风险管理中的不足是多么重要。与香料相关的不良健康影响问题已经达到了一个需要立即采取行动的程度：这项研究的结果是支持无香料政策的有力论据。