Camphor

                       Camphor

In today’s day and age chemicals constantly surround us. We live in a chemical world but are all chemicals we use bad for us? Whether its getting our nails done, cleaning the bathroom or even rubbing vapour rub on our chest when we’re sick we use products that are a medley of chemicals to give us the results we want. One ingredient in these products is called Camphor. As an ingredient camphor is used as fragrance, denaturant and/or a plasticizer. As a fragrance and denaturant the goal of camphor is to deter people from ingesting whatever product it is in. As a plasticizer (such as in nail polishes) it softens the end product.

Camphor is a chemical that can be produced naturally from the Camphor tree. These trees grow mainly in China, Indonesia, Japan and Taiwan.  Camphor has a long history of use in China dating back to the 13^th century. It was used for embalming the dead as well as ingredient in soap. It also was used for medicinal properties since the time of the black plague used to dull pain. As such it was made into a folk remedy as a cure to all ailments as people then didn’t understand the science behind it.

I know what you’re thinking; with such a long history of being used camphor must be safe for us since humans aren’t extinct. This is partially true. Camphor has been found to not cause cancers in people. It is only dangerous if we consume large amounts of the pure substance. Since Camphor is used as an ingredient it is fairly diluted in the products we use as at most it can cause skin irritation and redness. Camphor is only dangerous when it is the pure substance as high or prolonged exposure can lead to convulsions, nerve damage and then can result in death.  In Canada regulations only allow for Camphor to be 3% of the concentration of the product being used therefore it is relatively safe to keep using the products with camphor in it due to the small amount actually present.