Laundry fragrance booster pellets and kids
The bottom line
Laundry fragrance boosters are intended to extend the smell of fresh laundry for weeks beyond the wash date. Currently available products are relatively safe, even when swallowed by children.
Prevention Tips
These products can have vibrant colors and pleasant scents that can be attractive to children. Keep them out of children’s sight and reach.
Fragrance booster pellets will dissolve in your hand. If someone picks up a pellet, wash their hands with soap and water.
This Really Happened
A 4-year-old girl took a laundry fragrance booster bead and stuck it up her nose. Her father could no longer see the pellet and was worried, so he called his poison center, who advised him to have his daughter blow her nose and have a drink of water. Since these products dissolve quickly, the poison center felt that it would dissolve and run down the back of her throat. The poison center called back 6 hours later and was told that the girl had no symptoms after blowing her nose and drinking water.
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What are laundry fragrance boosters?
Laundry fragrance boosters are scented, dissolvable beads that promise to extend the smell of fresh laundry for weeks beyond the wash date. This could mean that a towel washed 3 weeks ago and sitting in a linen closet can still smell fresh when you take it out to use. They are intended to dissolve quickly in wash water and adhere to or incorporate into the fabrics that they touch. They have fragrances that are immediately noticeable, but which are also slow-release so as to persist for weeks.
Common fragrance booster ingredients
Polyethylene glycol (PEG) 8000 is a common ingredient in laundry fragrance boosters and can make up 75–99% of the product. Polyethylene glycols can be found in many other products and have a wide range of uses. For example, PEG 3350 is a well-known laxative that is taken prior to colonoscopies. The number after the name stands for the average molecular weight of the particular PEG in a product. As the number increases, the toxicity of the product decreases. Numbers higher than PEG 3000 are not readily absorbed. Laundry fragrance boosters also contain small amounts of perfume.
Are fragrance booster ingredients toxic if swallowed?
If a small amount, such as just a taste, of a PEG-containing laundry fragrance booster is unintentionally swallowed, there is minimal need for concern in terms of toxicity. There can be some minor irritation in the mouth. A drink of choice should be given to dilute it; 8 oz for adults and 4 oz for children is enough. Even a mouthful of fragrance booster swallowed by a child will usually be safe enough to be managed at home with poison expert guidance. However, there will likely be stomach upset, nausea, and perhaps some vomiting. Never try to make someone vomit.
What to do if someone has swallowed or tasted a fragrance booster
If someone has swallowed or tasted a laundry fragrance booster, use the webPOISONCONTROL online tool to get immediate help, or call your poison center at 1-800-222-1222. Whether online or by phone, expert guidance is always free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day
