(NaturalNews) Personal care products that are popular with young people and teens can prove lethally toxic if accidentally misused. This assessment was clearly confirmed in the United Kingdom recently in the media reports of the conclusion of a Coroner`s inquest into the sudden death of a 12 year old boy from Derbyshire, central England, at the beginning of 2008.
Daniel Hurley was found unconscious by his Father in the bathroom of the family home on January 7th 2008. Although the boy was transported to hospital and further unsuccessful attempts to revive him were made, he was pronounced dead five days after being admitted to Queen`s Medical Centre in Nottingham, UK.
Typical of many adolescents, Daniel was apparently a regular user of personal care products such as hair gels and deodorant sprays. On this fateful occasion it seems he was just `too generous` with the amount of Lynx Vice underarm spray deodorant he applied. It was confirmed that the chemicals used for the propellant gas in the deodorant spray overwhelmed Daniels lungs leading him to suffer cardiac arrhythmia, after which he collapsed in the bath never to regain consciousness.
The manufacturers of Lynx brand deodorants, the multi-national company Unilever Plc, were absolved of any responsibility for the death, in the records of the inquest, due to the fact that they apparently provide adequate advisory information on the deodorant packaging. However, these warnings were evidently not sufficient to stop Daniel Hurley from using the product too intensively within his typical home bathroom.
The verdict reached by the inquiry was `accidental death`. It seems that even the tragic death of a twelve-year-old child is insufficient impetus to inspire a call for any change in the use of dangerous personal care products ingredients, even though they may be known to be able to devastate the cardio-vascular system after accidental inhalation. It would appear that continued use of known toxic chemicals, including propellant ingredients that can cause almost instantaneous death, are acceptable to both the authorities and general public as long as some small print appears on the can.
The product that killed young Daniel Hurley, just a couple of weeks after Christmas 2007, was Lynx Vice under-arm deodorant spray, something that might typically be given as a Christmas gift. This brand has become hugely popular with young men and even pre-teen boys in recent years, thanks largely to clever marketing and merchandising. For example, the personal care product manufacturers routinely utilize advertising imagery that implies that the more of this spray deodorant you apply the more irresistible you will become to the opposite sex.
In recent years TV commercials have featured images of legions of attractive and aroused women throwing themselves at `nerdy-looking` guys due to what the manufacturers call the `Lynx Effect`. There has also been a recent TV campaign featuring images of the deodorant spray turning a man into `chocolate` after which he becomes (naturally) irresistible to every woman. This horrific advert also includes the grotesque imagery of the smiling `chocolate man` being literally dismembered by a female admirer.
The promotional devices used for Lynx Vice, backed by Unilever`s huge marketing budget, even include a complex online `computer game` based around the concept of a `Vice` officer (undoubtedly chosen for his likeness to the eminent actor Morgan Freeman, who has played many similar roles in major movies) investigating why `women are going bad` in his local neighbourhood. Naturally the way that women are turning bad is that they become sexual-predators after encountering the scent of the deodorant on any young man wearing the product. You can take a look at this sophisticated `teen friendly` promotional material here:
http://www.lynxvice.com/ where the marketing claim is clearly and boldly stated: Lynx Vice "turns nice girls naughty".
Many youngster are introduced to the themes and images of sex and violence at an ever younger age these days thanks to the TV, Internet and marketing-infested multi-media world we live in. Young adolescents are particularly vulnerable to being influenced by the promise that a products may make them more attractive to the opposite sex. Promoting deodorants using free online games and sophisticated erotic-themed advertising is evidently a method that effectively increases sales for the product manufacturers.
But the issues here are manifold. At the very least responsible parents might consider taking a firmer position against their child`s use of products that not only utilize morally dubious marketing tactics, conveying highly-questionable sexual ethics, but that also utilize potentially-lethal toxic ingredients in their manufacture.
Underarm deodorants are a particular favorite with adolescents and teens, and parents should be guiding them towards better, safer choices for achieving good, natural personal hygiene standards. Whilst gas-propellants are one issue, some under-arm deodorant products also contain aluminium-based ingredients that are best avoided due to their possible implication in the development of other serious health problems in the long-term, such as dementia or Alzheimer`s Disease. If your teenager wants be attractive to the opposite sex it is hoped that more effort would be applied to assisting them to develop such characteristics as: a broad range of interests, a rounded personality, and open and confident manner. Children and teens should be dissuaded from thinking that some highly questionable chemical spray will lead to them becoming the sexual magnet that product advertising promises.
Whilst condolences are evidently due to the Hurley family, it is sad that the tragic death of Daniel has not been used more effectively to bring attention to both the questionable marketing ploys used by personal care manufacturers and the lethally toxic ingredients regularly used in many of their products that can be found in the bathrooms of millions of homes around the world. Unilever Plc and other personal care manufacturers will, as ever, be anticipating a major increase in sales of their products as Christmas approaches, with many ignorant gift-buyers falling for their seasonal merchandising efforts. It is to be hoped that informed parents, at least, will refuse to buy such products this Christmas and that they will do their best to help their children and teens elect to use healthier, natural methods for preserving personal hygiene, or at least to discover and use safer alternative products.
A free eBook listing the toxic chemicals regularly found in skin care, haircare, personal products and cosmetics is still available from:
http://www.gonando.com/healthier-lifestyle-ebooks.html. A range of safer alternative, all-natural deodorants and other personal care products, can also be found here:
http://www.saferalternative.com. If this article and these
links affect the way you choose to buy personal care products this year, then your family is sure to avoid the lethal impact that the
Lynx Effect had on Daniel Hurley. Have a happy, healthy Christmas and a safer, healthier 2009.
About the author
Al G Smith MSc BSc - Has been working and teaching in the food related sector for over 30 years and is currently a website publisher (
http://www.gonaturalandorganic.com) and Independent Representative for the World's first extensive range of Certified Organic skin care and cosmetics (
http://www.saferalternative.com).
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