Unpopular Opinion
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I can understand having alternatives and more of the type that don't have any strong aroma or none at all, but can you explain why you would want them outright banned?
I just think that the longer my clothes don't smell like me the better, and having extra fragrance of any pleasant sort would help stave off me coming through for longer.
Not OP but I will take a shot at answering this.
One, fragrance isn't really regulated. There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to exposure to synthetic musks and other synthetics. Studies have found certain musks in tissue and breast milk. They could be linked to issues within the endocrine system. As others have pointed out, these detergents that use high amounts of fragrance can cause skin and respiratory issues.
Two, and I say this as someone that really enjoys the sense of smell, musk is over used. Post WWII every cleaning product began using musk as the main fragrance. Since then, it has become synonymous with clean clothes. Galaxaloid, the main synthetic musk used these days, is in everything including our environment. I remember reading about it being an issue in the Great Lakes.
Lastly, I just find musks to be nauseating. 🤷♂️
Yeah I know it's like AXE body spray, back in my school days it turned changing rooms into gas chambers.
Setting limits on the amount of fragrant compounds and transparency requirements for scented products makes practical sense, and it's not as extreme as banning anything scented.
I have a lot of allergies and certain detergents, especially Gain, will cause me to wheeze and break out into hives. I have walked into or near stores where the employees doused it in so much fragrance that I immediately have an asthma response and run away. Hell, sometimes those automated bathroom sprays set me off.
For me, if my clothes smell like nothing, they are generally considered clean. The worst is when someone visits and the incredibly strong fragrances from their clothes stick to the furniture or bed. Thankfully this issue has been resolved through communication.
Companies are not required to tell you what madness is in their fragrances. Banning them is one thing, but finally regulating and doing more studies on the negative effects would be a start. Stopping stores from spraying it on clothes and in general would be nice too.
There's a river trail I like to walk regularly. The trail crosses over a creek that frequently smells like laundry detergent and occasionally like sewage. Laundry fragrances aren't effectively removed with waste treatment practices. Think of the amount of fragrance that stays on your clothes after at least one rinse cycle. The amount of fragrance being sent into the wastewater systems is much higher than what remains on your laundry.
I can't find any studies, but I would be shocked if that doesn't really mess with a bunch of aquatic life. Considering how popular bait scents and attractant are with anglers, I believe many fish species rely on scent to find food. Laundry fragrance would almost certainly be overwhelming and negatively affect the ability to search for food for those fish.
Maybe I'm just biased since common fragrances can give me migraines.
Maybe you should see if you can find a way to follow up - maybe something isn’t working right or some business is taking a shortcut
I’m sure we’re all biased by our experiences. In my case, I don’t like strongly scented stuff but can generally tolerate it. I think of it in the same box as someone putting on too much perfume/cologne, or someone smoking whatever where the rest of us have to walk through. It’s annoying af.
So my biased attitude is that there are choices and every time I choose an unscented product, I help generate profit incentive for more of the same. I can also choose to make a big deal of it where I live, and I can choose not to spend time or money with people or places that stink.
But it’s their choice too. They can stink if they want to. We can leave your friends behind 'Cause your friends do stink and if they do stink,Well, they're no friends of mine.
As a libertarian I can weigh in here.
Things that are legitimate for the government to control include things that affect other people without their consent.
This means it’s valid to require a driver’s license, but not to require a license to practice medicine. But it is valid to require licensure to be an ER worker (treatment happens there without patient consent).
It also means it’s legit to ban scented detergents, given scents are a communal thing.
I‘m genuinely confused, you don’t think doctors should be regulated? Like, at all?
Interesting take. I do think spread of scents in the environment can be studied.
The practice medicine part of your comment doesn't make sense to me, as it does affect the community. When you need a doctor you need to differentiate between the ones that have studied science for years and know who the specialists are who can best deal with your medical issue, the "doctors" that import a wide variety of spices to make things that treat symptoms at best, and the hucksters that sell glowy rocks and fragrances that supposedly have magic healing power. Licenses do that.