Note to self: no lavender aromatherapy spray made in India for me

Sure, I have a can of Lysol spray around here, a bottle of Febreze. Sometimes there are bad smells to get rid of. Mostly, though, I just open a window for a bit. Fresh air: nothing like it.

I don't go in for scented candles, either. No vanilla eucalyptus for me!

And the thought of plugging something containing liquid scent chemical into an outlet makes me shudder. 

It's not as if I don't like things to smell good. Sometimes I get lemon or orange flavored scented liquid hand soap. And lemon or orange flavored scented cleaners. I love peeling an orange, cutting up a lemon, and releasing those wonderful smells. I love having my Christmas tree up. The smell of fresh balsam is almost heaven in my book. I love the smell of baking. And of bacon. I love anything lemon verbena: soap, hand cream, spritz...And when I buy myself peonies or roses - surprisingly cheap at Whole Foods - I seldom walk by the vase without inhaling.

Mostly, however, I'm just not into anything aroma that's not natural. I'm also not into anything Walmart. So I wouldn't have ever been in possession of any lavender-and-chamomile-scented aromatherapy room spray purchased there. Good

thing. Turns out, it could be a killer.

There was the 53-year-old woman from Kansas who went to the ER after spending a few days coughing and short of breath. She likely suspected covid. Turns out it was something even worse.

Then there was the 5-year-old boy in Georgia with a bacterial infection that spread to his brain and killed him.

A couple of others came down with mystery diseases but didn't die. One was a 4-year-old girl from Texas who was discharged but 3 months later was still wheelchair bound and unable to speak. The other, a 53-year-old man from Minnesota who was admitted after his family found him weak and in an "altered mental state."

They were all diagnosed with something called melioidosis, and the presence of burkholderia pseudomallei.

But where was it coming from?

Through incredible sleuthing (including genome sequencing), government scientists were able to ID source as the room spray sold at Walmart.

In August, the CDC issued an alert about the melioidosis cases. In October, the agency put out a news release announcing the cases were connected to a Better Homes & Gardens aromatherapy spray.

Consumers who had purchased the product was warned not to use it. (Source: WaPo)

You wouldn't have to tell me twice!

Anyway, Walmart stopped selling it, and:

On Nov. 2, Walmart recalled about 3,900 bottles of the “Essential Oil Infused Aromatherapy Room Spray With Gemstones” and five other Better Homes & Gardens products “due to the presence in two bottles of a rare and dangerous bacteria and risk of serious injury and death,” the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced.

Those gemstones weren't very righteous...

[The CDC's Julia] Petras warned that anyone who still has the product should immediately stop using it, place it in two resealable bags and return it to Walmart as soon as possible. The Consumer Product Safety Commission also recommends putting the bottle in a cardboard box and cleaning any surface the spray might have touched.

Yikes!

This reminds me of the protocol for one chemo regimen my husband went through. It involved wearing a pump for a couple of days, which continuously ran chemicals into Jim through a port in his chest. After 48 hours, it was my job to don my protective gloves, carefully pull the needle out of his port, make sure no chemo escaped, and package everything up in the elaborate hazmat packaging they sent us home with and Fed Ex it off to someplace in Michigan to be disposed of. 

So, yikes!

Those who return the product for destruction will receive a $20 Walmart gift card.

Which I guess is a good return on a product that cost four bucks. But still seems like it could have been a bit more, given the hassle of returning it for disposal.  

Kudos to the scientists who were able to solve this mystery and likely save more than a few people from serious illness and even death. (Can you imagine your 5-year-old kid dying because you sprayed a bit of lavender around? Beyond awful...)

Anyway, I'll be sticking to my general fatwa on spraying chemicals into the air. And when I do, I'll try to remember to open a window, too.