Oust Ouch

Our current apartment, like a previous one, has no fan for ventilation. It's not a fun situation. In order to eliminate some of those... questionable odors we've been using a combination of candles (works well) and method room spray (works not-too-well). About a week ago my wife declared that she had had it with our stinky bathroom and suggested we buy some Oust. Sounded great, so we bought some.

And it worked. Mostly.

The room did lose its unpleasant scents, sure, and those scents were replaced by an artificial "clean" smell. But then I read the label and noticed a few problems. You can follow along.

First red flag: Before using product throughout your home, use in one room and wait 24 hours to ensure that no one has any physical reactions to the product. Wow, really! 24 hours. That's scary.

Second red flag: Asthma and allergy sufferers: Consult your physician before using this product in your home. That's not good, either.

Third red flag - not listed on the website - states that birds should be cleared from any area where Oust is being used. Just birds. Specifically birds.

That scared me a lot, even more than the first two warnings. Apparently this stuff attaches itself to airborne molecules and deodorizes them in what is probably a very, very scientific way. But it has some sort of weird effect on birds. And I'm really scared for what it is.

We've stopped using the stuff and it's going back to the store. I dislike a stinky bathroom too, but I'm not sure I want another deadly chemical introduced into the home.