Do Fabric Softeners Make You Sick?

Exposure can result from the outgassing of vented dryers or from treated fabrics (e.g., clothes, sheets, towels), which are in close proximity to you. Questions to ponder:

• Have you been enjoying a walk in the neighborhood and found you have suddenly fallen without realizing why?
  
  
• Do you get a numb feeling in the side of your face -- and the doctors can't find the reason?
  
  
• Do you get a sudden onset of dizziness or a headache?

Fabric softeners, like other fragrant products, contain petrochemicals, used in untested combination. These chemicals can adversely affect the central nervous system (CNS) -- your brain and spine.

CNS exposure symptoms include: aphasia, blurred vision, disorientation, dizziness, headaches, hunger, memory loss, numbness in face, pain in neck and spine. CNS disorders include: Alzheimer's Disease, Attention Deficit Disorder, Dementia, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Seizures, Strokes, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

If you use fabric softeners (liquid or sheets), STOP!

• Save the container as evidence -- doctors can request analysis.
  
  
• If made ill by fabric softener used by another person, give product name if known.
  
  
• Provide a description of your symptoms.
  
  
• Take this paper to your doctor to help document your symptoms.

Act Now

If you suffer symptoms from exposures to fabric softeners --

• Telephone 1-800-638-2772; press 1; press 999 -- to file an official complaint with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Say you want to file a report on a hazardous product. Emphasize central nervous system disorder symptoms. Allergic symptoms are not given priority in Commission investigations. Demand a recall. Please have everyone you know who reacts to fabric softeners call. The tally will be useful in litigation and publicity.
  
  
• Telephone 1-301-504-0424 -- consumer product reports are available (for a fee) under the Freedom of Information Act. Request any of the following: 1) Emergency Room reports; 2) Death Certificate reports; 3) Consumer Complaints; 4) In-depth Investigations.
  
  
• Telephone 1-800-543-1745 -- Proctor and Gamble (Downy & Bounce); 1-800-598-5005 -- Lever Bros. (Snuggle); or, contact the manufacturer of the product you know makes
  you ill.
  
  
• Call the Air Quality Management and the Air Resources agencies in your area. File a complaint. Request a list of their board members. Ask for information regarding their policies for presenting issues to their boards. Request the boards consider the issue of scented fabric softeners in dryer exhausts as a factor in outdoor air pollution -- fragrance products are made with petrochemicals used in untested combinations.