Jane Powerson air fresheners
One of the more sinister inventions of modern life is the plug-in air freshener, quietly puffing out regular doses of multisyllabic chemical substances. These zephyrs of pong don't just mimic a "clean" atmosphere; they're also designed to pump out nostalgia. One popular product is redolent of baby lotion - "to remind you of the purity and innocence of baby after bath".
The small print on the packaging, however, is stiff with warnings: "harmful to aquatic organisms"; "may produce allergic reactions"; and "keep away from children". The artificial fragrances don't actually clear the air: they add more stuff to it. This can interact with what's already floating around, such as residue from other household products, and form toxic alliances.
A study by the University of Bristol concluded that the volatile organic compounds released by air fresheners (sticks, sprays and aerosols) could be hazardous to infants and pregnant women. In households where air fresheners were used daily, babies suffered significantly more diarrhoea and earache, while mothers experienced more headaches and depression.
We've become so used to scented life now - from the soap in our early-morning shower to the freshly-laundered sheets at the end of the day - that we equate cleanliness with perfumedness. In the rush to fragrance our lives, we've passed over the traditional ways of our mothers and grandmothers, when it was enough to dispel a bad smell without overlaying it with an unnaturally sweet one.
So, let me recommend the trusty, odour-eating bread soda. Sprinkle it on musty carpets and leave for an hour before vacuuming, and use it to swab out rubbish bins or your kitchen compost container. Its pH opposite, vinegar, is reputedly useful for removing burnt-food smells and cigarette smoke. A shallow bowl of vinegar, or a towel dampened with vinegar and water and whirled around like a fan, dissipates the odours.
A colleague tells me that an onion, cut in half or in pieces, absorbs paint smells and cigarette smoke, while cinnamon sticks, cloves, vanilla pods or lemons simmered in water impart a pleasant, entirely natural smell throughout a house. Cut flowers are another natural air freshener, and house plants help clean the air of pollutants. The cheapest and most natural way of purifying the atmosphere inside the house, however, is to open all the windows and doors, and let in the fresh air.