I love WIRED magazine and the What’s Inside article, while entertaining, also makes me think twice about our consumption. The “Valium for Rats, Viagra for Mice” is a must read. Click this link to see the page from the magazine.
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/11/st_whatsinside_hugoboss/
I get headaches from fragrances and am searching for the chemical culprit to my migraines. It’s so hard to find out the ingredients in these fragrances to attempt to troubleshoot my issue. I am curious how WIRED Magazine gets the information for these articles. Do the companies willingly give it up, knowing that a free mention in a hip magazine is worth it? Even if the mention makes people think about the chemicals that are used and ponder how those chemicals could affect them.
Please share your thoughts after you read this article.
Interesting. I know for certain I react to limonene in my former toothpaste and no doubt benzoates too, two of the ingredients in Boss.
I’ve always heard that 90%+ of the chemicals in fragrance are derived from petrochemicals. I’ve found that I am super-sensitive to petrochemicals like new asphalt, charcoal lighter fluid, and propane gas, so I assume this might be the problem for me when it comes to fragrance too.
I’m curious to see if you can identify precise ingredients that trigger your migraines. I know of one person who reacts to the salicylates.
Thanks so much for linking to my blog. I appreciate it so much.
Good luck!
I’m the editor of the What’s Inside page. As you say, the page is intended to make readers think about what we eat, drink, slather on our skin, use to clean our houses, etc. Glad you’re enjoying it.
To answer your question: We get our information from ingredients the companies are legally obligated to publish, either through the Food and Drug Administration or on their own product labels. We’ve also used court documents and conducted our own independent analyses.
Adam, I’m impressed that you took the time to leave a comment. That’s awesome!
OK, Adam says WIRED gets their information “from ingredients the companies are legally obligated to publish…” etc., That seems to imply that the fragrance could contain other ingredients that the company is not legally obligated to publish. I’ve read that the ingredients in perfume are generally trade secrets and companies are not legally required to list them, at least not all of them.
If that’s the case, I wonder how can we ever know which element we might be reacting to?
Adam,
Thanks for your response.
This inspires me to do a little digging myself.
That is a lot of work that goes into one page. I’m glad you and your staff do it. My household is a long time subscriber to WIRED and it’s by far one of our favorite Magazines.