As summer approaches, especially during the rainy season, the humidity and temperature are ideal for insect egg reproduction. Housewives are inevitably using moth repellent products in their closets to ensure safety. However, few people realize that the substances released by camphor balls can enter the body through the skin when the clothing is worn, causing great harm to the body. People have become accustomed to using various shapes of camphor balls (such as: camphor balls, mothproof fragrant tablets, bag-shaped, hanging fragrant cakes, synthetic camphor, etc.), which are refined from petroleum or coal tar, and are colorless, transparent, flammable, and have a special aromatic odor. They are carbon hydrocarbons that have been processed into various shapes of mothproof products. The main components are: p-dichlorobenzene, naphthalene, and synthetic camphor. They have a strong volatility and a certain toxicity.
Camphor balls containing p-dichlorobenzene and naphthalene are classified as pesticide products and are generally used for preventing moths in industrial or agricultural products. They are not suitable for use in household items. Extensive research has shown that benzene-based substances pose a significant health hazard. Therefore, the World Health Organization has classified them as strong carcinogenic substances.
Now, the main anti-moth products on the market, based on camphor balls, all contain these ingredients, but merchants cover up this fact to make profits. They know that these products are harmful to the body, but they claim that they are low toxicity or do not contain toxic ingredients, and so on. No matter what kind of signs the merchants use, the toxic substances in the raw materials will not change.
The director of the Shanghai Radiation Management Institute, Lu Shuyu, said, "The content of p-dichlorobenzene in the insect repellent exceeds 95 percent."The above compounds are toxic volatile organic compounds. Long-term exposure to these compounds can cause symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting, skin allergy, and numbness in the limbs. Excessive use can also lead to lung dysfunction, liver damage, and respiratory tract stimulation. In severe cases, it can even cause cancer." Professor Jin Xipeng, a toxicology professor at the School of Public Health of Fudan University, has conducted specialized research on the toxicity of p-dichlorobenzene. He believes that even if p-dichlorobenzene is used to prevent moths, it should be used cautiously, especially paying attention to the protection of the elderly and children. Because p-dichlorobenzene can be inhaled into the human body through the respiratory tract, using food contaminated by it and local skin contact can also cause poisoning. According to his introduction, p-dichlorobenzene began to conduct a large number of experimental studies in the late 1940s abroad, and it was considered to have liver and kidney toxicity, and also affected the thyroid. High-dose use of animals has a definite carcinogenicity, and for humans, it is a suspect carcinogen. In the developed countries such as the United States and Japan, almost no moth repellent of p-dichlorobenzene and synthetic camphor balls can be seen on the market. In 1995, in the article "General Situation of p-Dichlorobenzene and Toxicology Research" by Lu Kezhu and others of the Labor Hygiene Teaching and Research Section of Shanghai Medical University in the 11th volume of the 9th issue of "Chinese Public Health Magazine", it can be said that p-dichlorobenzene has liver and kidney toxicity, and may also damage the thyroid... It is a definite animal carcinogen."In 1996, an article entitled "Toxic Effects and Carcinogenicity of p-Dichlorobenzene" was published in the "Foreign Medical Journal Health Science" by Xu Dandan from the Environmental Health Detection Institute of the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine... It points out that "acute or short-term exposure to PDCB (the abbreviation for p-Dichlorobenzene) can cause respiratory irritation, skin allergic purpuric lesions, and glomerular nephritis. Long-term exposure to PDCB for several months to 15 years can affect the lungs, the central nervous system, and can damage the liver.
The book "Luzhou Home Décor" from the third issue of 2005 emphasizes this point, warning people to be vigilant against the health-harmful "benzene". Benzene is the most important aromatic hydrocarbon, associated with products such as alkylbenzene (detergents), dyes, insecticides, preservatives (camphor balls), and plastics. The above large amount of evidence shows that various shapes of aromatic camphor balls and insect repellents are harmful to the human body. They should never be used as mothproofing for household items (such as wardrobes, furniture, books, etc.).
