| The Home page of ILPI's Safety Data Sheet (SDS) Resource, the leader in SDS information since 1995! | |
| The history and philosophy behind this resource. | |
| A curated collection of books and reference materials concerning Safety Data Sheets and closely related topics. | |
| Paste your plain text SDS into the SDS-Demystifier, and it will be converted into a hypertext-enriched document with links to detailed explanations of each key term. | |
| An extensive list of frequently asked questions about Safety Data Sheets including regulations, content, compliance, and more. | |
| A humorous take on Safety Data Sheet jargon. Fill in the blanks on our entry form to generate a personalized Unsafety Data Sheet to share with your coworkers. | |
| Since 1995, we've maintained this massive curated list of the best places to find Safety Data Sheets on the Internet. | |
| You are here! Way more than a glossary, this hypertext-enhanced resource covers hundreds of SDS-related terms and expert knowledge. Each entry includes both the SDS relevance and links to additional authoritative resources. | |
| Archived results of Safety Data Sheet related polls taken by some of our millions of site visitors | |
| The OSHA regulations behind SDS regulations, including the inspection guidelines and over 400 official interpretations letters under the Hazard Communication Standard | |
| Commercial suppliers of SDS authoring and management software as well as cloud compliance services. | |
| Commercial companies that will create SDS's for your specific needs as well as SDS translation companies. |
Safety signs, banners, and scoreboards? Get yours at Safety Emporium!
Anosmia
Definition
Anosmia is the loss of the sense of smell. Do not confuse this term with, insomnia, which is loss of sleep.
Hyposmia is a diminished (lowered) sense of smell. Anosmia can be considered complete hyposmia.
Dysosmia or parosmia is a distorted sense of smell.
Additional Info
Safety Emporium has a great lineup of gas cylinder signs, storage racks, clamps and more.
Anosmia can be temporary or permanenent and can be induced by chemical exposure, head or brain injury, illness, and other factors. Although it may at first glance appear to have no major impact or even some benefit in everyday life, anosmia means doing without the little joys of life - the scent of food, fresh air, fine wine etc. Anosmia can even be fatal. How?
- Certain toxic chemicals have strong detectable odors at low levels. But at higher levels, these saturate your smell receptors ("olfactory fatigue") and you can no longer smell the material. See SDS Relevance below.
- An anosmic person can not smell smoke in a burning building.
- An anosmic person might not detect that the food he is eating is spoiled.
In June of 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning for people to stop using three versions of an over-the-counter (OTC) cold "remedy" called Zicam, which was reported to have caused over 130 cases of anosmia, some after just one dose. This incident highlights the need for FDA regulation of herbal supplements and other such (homeopathic) "remedies" that are not currently subject to any government oversight in the US.
A preliminary study found that olfactory (smelling) loss brought on by upper respiratory infections can be lessened or reversed through the use of a glucocoricoid (steroid) medication (Archives of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, 2009, 135(10), 1000-1004. DOI: 10.1001/archoto.2009.141).
Reduction or loss of smell and taste (dysgeusia) ia a hallmark symptom of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 virus) infection. This change can last weeks or months, but is reversible in most cases.
SDS Relevance
Section 11 (toxicological information) of a material's Safety Data Sheet will tell you is anosmia is a known symptom of exposure. If a substance can cause anosmia, do not rely on the odor to detect it!
For example, hydrogen sulfide, H2S, has the distinctive odor of rotten eggs at or below 10 parts per million (ppm) in air, but most people can not detect it at higher concentrations. If you were exposed to an H2S leak and the concentration went above 10 ppm, you might be lulled into thinking that the leak had stopped because you could not smell it anymore. Unfortunately, H2S can be fatal at concentrations of several hundred ppm.
Likewise, even the ethyl mercapatan odorant used in natural and propane gas can fade over time due to rust, air or water in the tanks, fuel lines, or pipelines. Even concrete can absorb odorant, so if one smells gas in a basement, turns off the source and leaves, he might think everything is OK when he returns and discovers the smell is gone (but not the gas) and BOOM. Even if you don't have anosmia, relying on odor alone can have fatal consequences. See the last two links below for examples.
Further Reading
Ensure safe laboratories with laboratory signs and labels from Safety Emporium.
- Smell - Impaired at the NIH's MedLine Plus Medical Encyclopedia.
- Overview of Smell and Taste Abnormalities at the Merck Manual Professional Version.
- Some Causes of Anosmia at MSD Manual Professional Version.
- Causes of Anosmia at Mayo Clinic.
- Smell For Life campaign from Monell has lots of useful information.
- SDS for Hydrogen Sulfide at Airgas.
- Safety Message: Natural Gas Odorant and Odor Fade at Philadelphia Gas Works.
- A study commissioned by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPSC) details how odorant can fade in liquified propane; astonishingly, the level can be low on one fill and high on the next after a set period of time!
- Anosmia in COVID-19: Underlying Mechanisms and Assessment of an Olfactory Route to Brain Infection in The Neuroscientist 2020, 27(6), 582-603.
- Smell - what & how (more academic) by Tim Jacobs, is part of a larger site regarding smell and taste.
- The science of scent, a TED talk by Luca Turin.
See also: acute toxicity, chronic toxicity, neurotoxin.