Air Fresheners: A New Warning for Aquarists

See: Mystery of the White Reef Slime

As readers of the CORAL Magazine Weekly Newsletter will know, our good friend Lance Ichinotsubo, author of The Marine Fish Health & Feeding Handbook, has been struggling with a deadly affliction of suffocating white slime that appeared in two of his clients' reef aquariums.

It turns out that we may be unwittingly poisoning our reefs, and ourselves, with common, over-the-counter air fresheners. When heavy-duty commercial odor control chemicals are employed, aquariums in the same building can be severely affected.

If you have any concerns, read this unsettling NRDC report, sent to us by Lance's partner, Mikki Ichinotsubo, an avid marine aquarist herself:

"Of all the products in the home, clean-smelling air fresheners seem
to pose little risk. But the fresh scent of air fresheners may mask a
health threat—chemicals called phthalates (pronounced thal-ates) that
can cause hormonal abnormalities, birth defects, and reproductive problems.

"NRDC’s independent testing discovered phthalates in 86 percent (12 of 14)
of air freshener products tested, including those marketed as “all-natural” or
“unscented”—and none of the products we tested listed phthalates on their
labels. To protect consumers, government regulators should follow up by doing
more thorough tests on these products and enacting basic measures to limit
exposure to these chemicals. Meanwhile, consumers may wish to avoid using air
fresheners—especially in places where there are children or pregnant women."

NRDC CLEARING THE AIR Article & Report