He says those compounds that might cause problems are musk ketone, musk xykene, musk ambrette, musk tibetene and musk moskene. Mersch-Sundermann says the genetic damage only occurs when the musk fragrance interacts with other environmental pollutants that may be in the air. The liver cells used in the test are specially designed to indicate if a substance would have an adverse synergistic effect with other pollutants. In this test, the result was positive. We recommend that people not spray these fragrances into the air.
Genetic damage can lead to the development of cancer.