Hotel room chemistry, resort pool trichloramine, holiday sunscreen, aircraft fume events and tourist souvenirs.
15 chemicals in this category
Cabin air on commercial aircraft is supplied by "bleed air" drawn from the jet engine compressor — it passes through the engine's hot sections before being cooled and delivered to the cabin, and is never independently…
Holiday sunscreen use is quantitatively different from everyday SPF application — a beachgoing family may apply sunscreen to children multiple times per day for two weeks, to large body surface areas including skin th…
Chemical UV filters in sunscreens are organic compounds that absorb ultraviolet radiation and convert it to heat. They are distinct from mineral UV filters (zinc oxide and titanium dioxide) which physically scatter UV…
DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) is the most widely used active ingredient in insect repellents worldwide, effective against mosquitoes, ticks, midges, and other biting insects. It has been used since the 1940s. DEET…
DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) is the most widely used and most effective insect repellent available for consumer use — it is the recommended active ingredient for malaria and dengue prevention in tropical travel d…
Galaxolide is a polycyclic synthetic musk — one of the most widely used fragrance compounds in the world. It has documented estrogenic activity, bioaccumulates in human tissue, and has been detected in breast milk and…
Tourist souvenirs — cheap jewellery, painted ceramics, coloured glassware, toys, and decorative items sold at holiday destinations — are a well-documented source of heavy metal exposure, particularly in children. Regu…
Oxybenzone is one of the most common UV-absorbing chemicals in chemical sunscreens. It is absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream — confirmed by FDA research — and has demonstrated estrogenic activity. It is al…
Parabens are synthetic preservatives that extend the shelf life of personal care products. Cheap, effective, and ubiquitous — found in the majority of shampoos, moisturisers, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products. Th…
Permethrin is a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide modelled on natural pyrethrins from chrysanthemum flowers. It is one of the most widely used insecticides in gardens, homes, and agriculture. Highly effective against a…
PFAS are a family of over 12,000 synthetic chemicals defined by their extremely strong carbon-fluorine bonds — the strongest in organic chemistry. This is why they do not break down: in the environment, or in the huma…
Aircraft cabin air is typically drawn from hot compressed air bled from jet engines — a system known as the "bleed air" system. If engine oil seals develop small leaks, engine oil (which contains tricresyl phosphate (…
Trichloramine is the compound responsible for the characteristic "pool smell" — a smell most people associate with cleanliness. It is not the smell of clean water. It is the smell of chlorine reacting with urine, swea…
The familiar "swimming pool smell" is not chlorine — it is trichloramine (nitrogen trichloride, NCl₃), a volatile chloramine formed when pool chlorine reacts with nitrogen-containing compounds in human body fluids: ur…
Hotel rooms are a concentrated source of indoor VOC exposure — they are routinely cleaned with multiple chemical products, sprayed with room fresheners and fabric disinfectants between guests, and contain furniture, c…
← All categories