Clearing the Air: Febreze and the J&J Jab

Raise your hand if you have a bottle of Febreze air freshening or fabric spray in your house. Okay, you can put your hands down. Actually, I have a feeling not too many POM readers have Febreze laying around the house.

I have never used Febreze products, so I do not have any anecdotal evidence pointing to their efficacy. However, the manufacturer, Proctor & Gamble (P&G), purports that it is the first company to develop technology that literally eliminates odors. As asserted by the company: “Back in 1994, a P&G research & development scientist discovered that a fancy little starch molecule used in dryer sheets (AKA cyclodextrin) could actually be used to clean away bad odors from fabrics—without throwing them into the wash. With an obsessive determination over the course of four years, he perfected that technology into a simple, water-based sprayable formula… and in 1998, Febreze Fabric Refresher made its debut.” Essentially, cyclodextrins used in the laundry product trap odor molecules so that they do not reach the scent receptors in your nose. This is curious in light of my previous POM post on chemosignaling and the significance of scents, as well as the phenomenon of anosmia purported to be a common symptom of COVID.

But that is not the full story . . . In its infancy, Febreze was not a marketing success. In fact, as reported in 2016 by Anand Damani, of Behavioural Design, it was a major flop, and P&G desired to promote their product more effectively. Apparently, as Damani elucidated, P&G hired behavioral experts to create a “craving” for the product, by instilling the habitual use of Febreze. In 2012, Charles Duhigg, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, who has a special interest in the science of habits (particularly, the militarized application of the science of habit formation) presented an interesting back story on the creation of the “Febreze habit loop.” He described that P&G had kept an extensive (and proprietary) library of videos of homemakers cleaning their houses, from which they studied their cleaning rituals. From their observations, the company’s R&D specialists had determined that a new marketing campaign needed to focus on the Febreze product being the final touch ritual after a cleaning session, emphasizing that the area cleaned would smell as good as it looked. But there was no reward there, because the product destroyed scents. Duhigg explained that the researchers went back to the lab, and P&G “spent another 3 million dollars inventing a perfume that was strong enough to withstand the chemicals of Febreze, so that they could pour it into the bottles.” Febreze sales skyrocketed, and it became a billion dollar a year product — chemically designed to “kill bad scents.”

My aim in this short essay is to clear the air on this “fancy little starch molecule” — cyclodextrin, and 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HPBCD), in particular. So bear with me, as I geek out a bit on the science. I think, by the end, you will see why I took a vested interest. 

According to P&G, the Febreze family of products doesn’t just mask odors, the embedded technology can “clean away bad odors at the source.” Dr. Anne Marie Helmenstine, chemistry expert and science writer for ThoughtCo, explains that the active ingredient in Febreze is beta-cyclodextrin, an 8-sugar ringed molecule that is formed via enzymatic conversion of starch, usually from corn. Dr. Helmenstine elaborated, “The cyclodextrin molecule resembles a doughnut. When you spray Febreze, the water in the product partially dissolves the odor, allowing it to form a complex inside the ‘hole’ of the cyclodextrin doughnut shape. The stink molecule is still there, but it can’t bind to your odor receptors, so you can’t smell it. Depending on the type of Febreze you’re using, the odor might simply be deactivated or it might be replaced with something nice-smelling, such as a fruity or floral fragrance.” She continued, “As Febreze dries, more and more of the odor molecules bind to the cyclodextrin, lowering the concentration of the molecules in the air and eliminating the odor. If water is added once again, the odor molecules are released, allowing them to be washed away and truly removed.”

Given that cyclodextrins can be used to carry pharmaceuticals into biological systems, an even more intriguing back story to the “sticky molecule” of 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HPBCD or HP-β-CD) is its medical application to treat Niemann-Pick disease Type C (NPC), which is a rare lysosomal storage disease that manifests in children as progressive neurological decline, similar to Alzheimer’s disease. NPC is reported to be not only incurable, but fatal in all cases.

A highly publicized case of NPC was the story of twin girls, Addison (Addi) and Cassidy (Cassi) Hempel. According to Reno Gazette journalist Siobhan McAndrew, the parents of the Hempel twins, Chris and Hugh Hempel, were both Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who “cashed out as some of the first employees of Netscape…” Prior to joining Netscape, Hugh Hempel served as Manager of Engineering and Science markets at Apple, where he helped define the Apple Newton Messagepad — Apple’s first handheld computer. He also held the position of Director at Computervision, an early pioneer in Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) software used by companies around the world to develop automotive and aerospace products. Significantly, Hugh Hempel also sits on the Board of Directors for The Global Genes Project. 

Following is a trailer of a documentary, “Here. Us. Now.” that chronicled the Hempel family’s fight to attempt the innovative application of beta cyclodextrin to stop NPC in its tracks (see here for the full documentary). In her Reno Gazette article, McAndrew reported that Addi and Cassi Hempel died on July 4, 2019 “after an aggressive virus attacked their fragile lungs, causing difficulty breathing and high fevers.” Incidentally, on July 31, 2019 (only a few weeks following the reported death of the Hempel twins), the pharmaceutical company, Mallinckrodt, that produced HPBCD, suspended its use in treatment of NPC in the UK and France, “following a preliminary finding . . . of an unfavorable benefit/risk balance.”

As an experimental drug in 2017, HPBCD was called VTS-270 (see the final video in the References section below, featuring clinical trials of VTS-270 for NPC). More recently, it has also been named, Kleptose. As early as February 2020 — before the term COVID was even bandied about — it was reported that Kleptose may be an ideal adjuvant in impending coronavirus vaccines: “We have products that may help in the formulations currently being developed by the scientific community to vaccinate against the coronavirus.” said Paul Smaltz, Head of the Global Pharmaceutical business unit of the pharmaceutical supplier, Roquette. “Our KLEPTOSE® HPβCD may be part of a helpful solution to speed up the early stage development process and help rapidly scale-up vaccine candidate production. Getting these medicines to market faster cannot only treat the current virus’ threat to global health, but also help prevent the full slew of coronaviruses in this family.” As a pharmaceutical excipient in injectables, Kleptose has been studied for its application to assist lipid soluble drugs in crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB). It should also be noted that cyclodextrins, are viewed as “molecular shape sorters” with unique ion-current flow (conductivity), and have been studied for their application in humans as embedded electrochemical biosensors for biomedical and pharmaceutical research . . . 

Cue the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) jab manufactured by its pharmaceutical brand, Janssen . . .

One of the reported ingredients in the Janssen (J&J) COVID-19 injectable is HPBCD — the very same peculiar ingredient used in Febreze products, and studied in the clinical trials for Niemann-Pick disease type C (Janssen provided the HPBCD drug, VTS-270, for the trials). Following is the full publicly revealed list of ingredients (also see the FDA’s Fact Sheet for Recipients and Caregivers here) in the current Janssen COVID-19 vaccine:

• Recombinant replication-incompetent adenovirus type 26 expressing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein
• Citric acid monohydrate
• Trisodium citrate dihydrate
• Ethanol
• 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HBCD)
• Polysorbate-80
• Sodium chloride

As a reminder, like HPBCD (also formulated as VTS-270 or Kleptose), polysorbate 80 — on which I previously reported in August 2020 — is able to breach the permeability barrier to our brains. In clinical studies, it has been demonstrated that polysorbate 80-coated nanoparticles increase the brain uptake of a pharmaceutical payload. In my August 2020 post, I highlighted the dangers of “leaky brain” and how this could be weaponized on a global scale, with an excerpt by neuroscientist Dr. James Giordano: “The brain is and will be the 21st century battlescape . . . You will encounter some form of neurocognitive science that has been weaponized . . . in your personal and professional lives . . . It is valid, valuable, and already in operational play . . . might be targeting individuals on a level that allows either direct attribution or covert engagement with non attribution . . .” 

Are these COVID serums, including the J&J injectable, intended to make their way into the brains of those who are jabbed? Is there any chance they could be the catalyzing substances to ultimately usher in a Global Brain? I referenced Ben Goertzel and his concept of the emerging Global Brain — within the context of impending COVID injections — in July 2020 in my post, “Trojan horse here, Trojan horse there, Trojan horses everywhere”: “Additional Trojan horses packaged within Technocracy, for example, include cashless and coinless currency (cryptocurrency), and purportedly “safer” vaccines embedded with nanotechnology. These advanced technologies will support the transhumanist agenda, with one potential end goal being the creation of the artificially connected ‘Global Brain.’ Listen to this recent discussion with Ben Goertzel (CEO and founder of SingularityNET) with respect to their intentions.”

I find it ironic that the tagline for Febreze is “We’re out to make the world breathe happy.”

The moral of this essay is if you want to breathe happy, I suggest avoiding chemical concoctions in spray bottles — and if you want a breath of fresh air, not only may you want to avoid wearing suffocation devices on your face, you may also want to avoid similar synthetic concoctions in syringes. 

Endnotes (on cyclodextrins, the J&J jab, and strange coincidences):

1) One inventor of cyclodextrins is Knut M. Wittkowski. I imagine most POM readers may recognize his name, as he has been quite vocal since the beginning of this COVID operation (primarily featured as “opposition” to lockdowns; also see here, here and here). In the case of Wittkowski, he has a patent pending on a variation of a cyclodextrin. His cyclodextrin derivative (a slightly different pharmaceutical composition than HPBCD) is referred to as hydroxypropyl-alpha-cyclodextrin (HPaCD), and his patent application notes the subtle substitution, as it claims that HPBCD is ototoxic (and even nephrotoxic), and therefore, he was seeking a less toxic alternative for similar medical purposes. Following is a pertinent excerpt from Wittkowski’s patent application:

“In lieu of, or in addition to, active agents, cyclodextrins and/or HP-cyclodextrins can optionally be coupled to carriers. Carriers include nanoparticles (e.g., gold nanoparticles, silica nanoparticles, carbon nanoparticles, etc.), liposomes (or surfactants used to make liposomes), polymers (synthetic and natural (carbohydrate, peptide/protein, nucleic acid), and hybrids and/or combinations thereof), and other cyclodextrins.“

“Advantageously, coupling cyclodextrins to carriers can increase the load if cyclodextrins/HP-cyclodextrin [sic] delivered to each cell. Without wishing to be bound by a particular hypothesis coupling cyclodextrins and/or cyclodextrins derivatives to carriers may also change the mechanism of cellular uptake to the endosomal uptake. Thus, the cyclodextrins and any active agent will be delivered to the lysosomes where it is desirable to complex cyclodextrins according to the inventive subject matter with lipids.”

I suspect much more could be unpacked in relation to Wittkowski and cyclodextrins, and his company, ASDERA (within the context of COVID) . . . Perhaps someone reading this may want to dig further?

2) The reported developer of the J&J jab is Dr. Dan Barouch (also see here). As revealed in a March 2021 article called “Jews in the News: Mark Bomback, Judy Blume and Dan Barouch,” the father of Dan Barouch is Eytan Barouch. The article mentions that Eytan Barouch is an engineering professor at Boston University. However, it neglected to mention that Professor Barouch’s research at B.U. involves electronic microchip manufacturing and simulation, including studies in wave propagation. He co-invented a method “applicable to the microchip and nano-technology industry, as well as to microwave applications.” Interestingly, Dr. Dan Barouch (the son of the Barouch duo) was one of 28 researchers involved in a study published in JAMA on May 13, 2021, titled “Immunogenicity of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines in Pregnant and Lactating Women.” The study suggested that COVID-vaccinated women pass vaccine-elicited antibodies to their fetuses through the bloodstream and to their infants through breast milk. Do you find it curious that Dr. Barouch seems concerned about pregnant and lactating women, especially given his father’s research efforts, and my most recent post (coincidentally published on the very same day as the JAMA study) focused on potential issues related to this population?

References:

“Cyclodextrins” International Journal of Pharmaceutics, by Sergy V. Kurkov and Thorsteinn Loftsson, August 30, 2013 (abstract only)

“Recently, it has been observed that CDs and CD complexes in particular self-assemble to form nanoparticles and that, under certain conditions, these nanoparticles can self-assemble to form microparticles. These properties have changed the way we perform CD research and have given rise to new CD formulation opportunities. Here, the pharmaceutical applications of CDs are reviewed with an emphasis on their solubilizing properties, their tendency to self-assemble to form aggregates, CD ternary complexes, and their metabolism and pharmacokinetics (emphasis added).”

“Cyclodextrins and Iatrogenic Hearing Loss: New Drugs with Significant Risk” Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, November 8, 2017

“The long-term impact of HPβCD use as a maintenance drug, and the mechanism(s) of ototoxicity, are unknown. β-cyclodextrins preferentially target membrane cholesterol, but other lipid species and proteins may be directly or indirectly involved . . . It is possible that HPβCD acts upon several targets—for example, ion channels, tight junctions (TJ), membrane integrity, and bioenergetics . . .”

“Cyclodextrins” Toxicologic Pathology, by Valentino J. Stella and Quanren He, 2008

“At high doses of HP-β-CD . . . maternal body weight and food consumption were decreased, suggesting maternal toxicity.” 

“Mallinckrodt is committed to VTS-270 and Niemann-Pick Disease Type C1 Patients” Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals 

“Mother Alleges Biotech Firm Stole Data From Her Sick Children” Forbes, by Ellie Kincaid, January 8, 2018

“Update: Twins who were face of controversial rare disease treatment have died” Science, by Meredith Wadman, July 18, 2019

“Mom Diagnoses [sic] Her Twins’ Rare Condition” (very brief clip), Anderson Live, March 27, 2012 (see video below)

“Hugh Hempel: Global Genes Tribute to Champions Gala” September 27, 2012: 1st Annual Tribute to Champions of Hope, The Global Genes Project (see video below)

“Tackling Coronavirus: The role of Roquette’s KLEPTOSE® HPβCD in the fight against COVID-19” July 10, 2020 (see video below)