Bath & Body Works Wallflowers Home Fragrance solid room deodorizers or fresheners

The reports, as CPSC published them

1. No one hurt

   Made Sep 21, 2023 · , sent to the company Oct 5, 2023 · , published by CPSC Oct 27, 2023

   The product, in the report: Bath & Body Works Wallflowers Home Fragrance Plug-Ins, air fresheners

   So, our 60-lb dog was dx’d with atypical Hypothyroidism this past May, 2023 & started on thyro meds. He did great. Then ~5-6 weeks later, mid-June, he began displaying increasingly worrisome neurological symptoms (sx), which began with confusion, nystagmus, an eye squint (I’d initially thought maybe he’d scratched it on a hike, but then the other sx presented & worsened), a serious flinch/head dip whenever we’d reach toward him as if he was experiencing depth perception difficulty, a pronounced head tilt/wobble, difficulty walking (ataxia), uncoordination, weakness, body sores. When we consulted our vet, we both wondered if the new meds may be the cause, so we stopped them. However, the sx all worsened that week, to the point he was crying frequently, sleeping/staying in bed a lot, walking sideways with a sidewinder-like walk (an inability to walk forward in a straight path at times), & fairly unable to navigate his world here, but we noted he would get a bit better once we were outside on our daily walks, or just outside in general. So, the thyro meds were restarted, per the vet, along w/ Prednisone, in case it was a tumor, or similar, until our appt with the neurologist a couple of weeks out. A few days later, we decided to all go away for 4th of July. Within a day, his sx all radically decreased there. 1-2 days later his sx were pretty much gone. We counted our blessings that he had greatly improved, & figured maybe he’d had another episode similar to one he’d had late December, 2022, although it wasn’t exactly the same experience (and we NOW suspect the December episode may have been the first one related to the Bath & Body Works Wallflowers Home Fragrance PlugIns b/c I started using them more regularly around the early winter holidays). After returning back home a few days later (around 7 pm), he again displayed the same sx the next morning (12 hours!). So, I figured, it’s something in this house precipitating these sx. My first thought was the multiple B&BW Wallflowers Plug-Ins I’d recently replaced. I pulled all of them out of the electrical outlets, and aired out the whole house. Within a day, his sx improved. 2 days later, and the sx were virtually gone. I can’t say for certain it was the Plug-Ins, but my husband & I are fairly convinced it was. The significant physical changes when away from home, and then again upon return to the home were so dramatic & pronounced, it practically cried it out loud to us. Since then, I’ve done a fair amount of reading about these types of products, & I’ve learned they contain lots of toxic chemicals. Things like (but not limited to) Formaldehyde, Phthalates, Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs), & Propylene Glycol (which is banned in the EU), along with essential oils, many of which are toxic for cats, dogs & birds. And btw, none of this is healthy for humans, either, but I suspect bc they are plugged in at nose height for most pets, they get a stronger dose of the aerosolized chemicals/toxin, & they also likely get it on their feet/fur, which animals then lick. I feel terrible for using these unnecessary things in our home & putting him though this. We did take our dog to the neurologist & no organic cause was determined to be present. These products are clearly toxic, and had our dog not responded in such a dramatic way, I would still be using them. I worry about the danger they present to children, too, as they spend fair amounts of time on the floors and also put lots of things in their mouths. These products should not be on the market for us to bring into our very homes! They compromise the general public’s health!

   Model

   Wallflowers Home fragrance

   Bought from

   Online & at the Novi, MI store

   Bought

   Nov 5, 2022, about then

   Where

   Novi, Michigan: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Unspecified

   The reporter’s relation to them

   Unspecified

   As this report names them

   Brand Bath & Body Works Wallflowers Home Fragrance, made or sold by Bath & Body Works

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Incident, No Injury

CPSC’s disclaimer

Sources