Anne C. Steinemann

Anne C. Steinemann
Born	(1961-09-29)29 September 1961 San Diego County, United States
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Stanford University University of California, Los Angeles University of California, Irvine
Known for	Research on Fragranced consumer products: Emissions, exposures, and effects Indoor air quality Disaster risk reduction
Scientific career
Fields	Civil engineering, environmental engineering
Institutions	Stanford University Georgia Institute of Technology University of Washington Scripps Institution of Oceanography Linköping University Florida Institute of Technology Stanford University University of Melbourne James Cook University

Anne C. Steinemann (often referred to as Anne Steinemann; born 1961) is an American civil and environmental engineering academic who has specialized chiefly in the fields of "healthy built environments, indoor air quality, consumer product emissions and exposures, drought management, and climate-related hazards", with a focus on engineering and sustainability.^[1][2] Currently professor of civil engineering at the University of Melbourne and professor of engineering at James Cook University, she has also advised numerous government and industry bodies in the United States and Australia and appeared widely in press, radio, television and website segments communicating her findings to the general public.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Early life and education[]

Steinemann was born on 29 September 1961 in San Diego County, California.^[8]

In 1984 she graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a B.S. (magna cum laude) in civil and environmental engineering. In 1985 she graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with a M.S. in civil and environmental engineering. In 1993 she was awarded a Ph.D. by Stanford University in civil and environmental engineering.^[9]

Career[]

Steinemann began her professional career as an assistant/associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology (1995-2004), professor of civil and environmental engineering and professor of public affairs at the University of Washington (2004–13), and program manager at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (2012–15).

She was appointed as acting/visiting professor at Linköping University (1988–89), Florida Institute of Technology (2001-12), and Stanford University (2010–11).

From 2015 she has been professor of civil engineering in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Melbourne. From 2018 she has also been professor of engineering and chair of sustainable infrastructure at James Cook University, Australia.^[4][10]

Pollutant exposures, indoor air quality, fragranced consumer products[]

Since 2007 Steinemann has focused much of her research on "pollutant exposures and associated health effects, including topics of indoor air quality, consumer product testing and evaluation, exposure assessment, and healthy homes and communities".^[11]

She has published research papers and monographs on the health effects of fragranced products (such as perfume, household cleaners, laundry supplies, personal care products, scented candles and air fresheners), concluding that those products "impair rather than improve indoor air quality" and "pose a range of health and economic risks".^[12][13]

She has found that emissions of carcinogenic and hazardous air pollutants from "green", "organic" and "all-natural" fragranced products were not significantly different from regular fragranced products.^{[14][15][16][17]}

Furthermore, she has noted that "relatively few ingredients of the fragranced product emissions" are "disclosed to the public", that "more than 156 VOCs were emitted from the 37 fragranced consumer products" examined by her, and that of those "156 VOCs, 42 VOCs were classified as toxic or hazardous under US federal laws, and each product emitted at least one of these chemicals".^[18][19] However, of more than 550 volatile ingredients emitted from these products, fewer than three percent were disclosed on any label or safety data sheet.^[20]

Her nationally representative population studies found that 34.7% of adults in the US, 33.0% in Australia, 33.1% in Sweden, and 27.8% of people in the United Kingdom report adverse health effects from exposure to fragranced products.^[21] Adverse health effects include asthma attacks, breathing difficulties, migraine headaches, dizziness, seizures, rashes, and gastrointestinal problems.^[21] The effects are also economic with "more than 20% of respondents entering a business, but leaving as quickly as possible if they smell air fresheners or some fragranced product".^[18][22]

Further, 15.1% of Americans report they lost workdays or lost a job, in the previous year, due to illness from fragranced product exposure in the workplace. Personal costs due to these lost workdays and lost jobs were estimated at $132 billion in one year (2016).^[23][24][14]

Health effects from exposure to fragranced products can be so severe as to be disabling, according to her studies. Across the four countries (US, Australia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom), 9.5% of the general population report adverse health effects that could be considered disabling, according to legislation in each country.^[23][24][14]

Fragrance-free environments were preferred by a strong majority of the population across four countries, as her studies found. For instance, more than twice as many people would prefer that workplaces, health care facilities and professionals, hotels, and airplanes were fragrance-free rather than fragranced.^[24][14]

Awards[]

• 2014 - Science Service Award - Department of Water Resources (State of California), for developing "useful science" to "bridge between the academic research community and practitioners".^[25][26]
• 2011 - Engineer of the New Millennium - National Science Foundation.^[27][28]
• 1998 - CAREER Award - National Science Foundation.^[29]

Select bibliography[]

Books[]

• Fragranced Consumer Products: Emissions, Exposures, Effects by Anne C. Steinemann, Anne Steinemann, 2020.
• Microeconomics for Public Decisions by Anne C. Steinemann, William C. Apgar and H. James Brown. Mason, Ohio: Thomson/South-Western, 2005; 2nd edition, Askmar Publishing, 2010; 3rd edition, Anne Steinemann, 2018.
• Exposure Analysis. Edited by Wayne R. Ott, Anne C. Steinemann and Lance A. Wallace. Taylor & Francis, 2006; CRC Press, 2007.

Refereed journal articles[]

• "The Fragranced Products Phenomenon: Air Quality and Health, Science and Policy", Air Quality, Atmosphere, and Health, 19 September 2020.
• "Pandemic Products and Volatile Chemical Emissions", Air Quality, Atmosphere, and Health 27 August 2020. Co-authors: N. Nematollahi, B. Rismanchi, N. Goodman and K.D. Kolev.
• "International Prevalence of Chemical Sensitivity, Co-prevalences with Asthma and Autism, and Effects from Fragranced Consumer Products", Air Quality, Atmosphere, and Health 12(5):519–527, 2019.
• "Ten Questions concerning Fragrance-Free Policies and Indoor Environments", Building and Environment 159:1–8, 2019.
• "International Prevalence of Fragrance Sensitivity", Air Quality, Atmosphere, and Health 12(8):891–897, 2019.
• "Fragranced Consumer Products: Effects on Autistic Adults in the United States, Australia, and United Kingdom", Air Quality, Atmosphere, and Health 11(10):1137–1142, 2018.
• "Fragranced Consumer Products: Effects on Asthmatics,"Air Quality, Atmosphere, and Health 11(1):3-9, 2018.
• "National Prevalence and Effects of Multiple Chemical Sensitivities,"Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health 60(3):e152-e156, 2018.
• "Ten Questions Concerning Green Buildings and Indoor Air Quality", Building and Environment 112:351–358, 2017. Co-authors: P. Wargocki and B. Rismanchi.
• "Ten Questions Concerning Air Fresheners and Indoor Built Environments", Building and Environment 111:279–284, 2017.
• "Fragranced Consumer Products: Exposures and Effects from Emissions", Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health, December 2016, Vol. 9, Issue 8, pp. 861–866.
• "Volatile Emissions from Common Consumer Products", Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health, June 2015, Vol. 8, Issue 3, pp. 273–281.

References[]

External links[]

Personal website[]

• Dr. Anne Steinemann

Articles featuring Anne Steinemann[]

• Sirin Kale, "Fragrance sensitivity: why perfumed products can cause profound health problems", The Guardian, 16 September 2019.
• Tina Donvito, "15 Spring Cleaning Mistakes That Could Make You Sick", Reader's Digest, 5 April 2019.
• Elisabeth Leamy, "Bothered by fragrances? This story will be a breath of fresh air.", The Washington Post, 20 March 2018.
• "Sensitivity to everyday chemicals on the rise among adult Americans" MSN News, 16 March 2018.
• "A quarter of people have bad reactions to fragranced products", New Scientist, 14 March 2018.
• Sarah Berry, "Fragranced products are making us sick, study finds", The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 March 2017.
• Anthea Levi, "Why So Many People Hate Scented Products", Time, 5 March 2017.
• Maureen Salamon, "Many in U.S. Say 'No' to Scented Rooms, Products", webmd.com, 2 November 2016.

Radio and television programs[]

• "Air Fresheners' Unlisted Ingredients", 60-Second Science, Scientific American, 15 August 2008.