While my sympathy is admittedly for the worker being forced from employment by unnecessary pollutants such as fragrances and pesticides (which are also scented so most folks don't complain about the odor), astute management can learn much from the following information. Petrochemical-derived fragrances do not "freshen" the air, nor do they "clean." Fragrances pollute the air, bodies of users and nonusers, and the water downstream where fish and wildlife can then be affected.

I fervently hope the information on this page helps workers, students, patients and others who are still fighting for their right to breathe air unpolluted by perfumes and other synthetically scented products, including the wide variety of personal care products for men, women and children, as well as products such as pesticides, fabric softeners and air "fresheners." I hope it will also serve Human Resources officers trying to learn more about fragrance sensitization and how to accommodate the person with it. While you may be accommodating only one individual now, you may well be sparing the health of untold others down the road . . . and saving your organization many dollars spent on staff as they take sickleave. Common reactions include cold- or flu-like symptoms.

"Accommodation" without access is not accommodation. This is what happens when any one individual is allowed to use and wear air-polluting perfumed products in the workplace that includes already scent-sensitized individuals, for which "accommodations" are supposedly being made. For the scent-sensitized individual, accommodation is an empty word without fragrance-free access.

Human Resources managers and other management staff, please keep in mind the quote, "Justice delayed is justice denied." Using delaying tactics and escalating the requests for accommodation to the point of unreasonableness serves no one, while denigrating your harbinger. Fragrance-sensitization is not "catching" but it is preventable. One never knows when one will encounter that one perfume exposure that puts one over the edge into extreme fragrance sensitivity. People do not "build immunity," rather their toxin thresholds lower.

Working toward "fragrance-free accommodation" may sound scary to the employer, but it need not be. LISTEN to your employee. Most solutions for that individual's level of sensitivity are easily achieved IF you have encouraged a polite, responsive workforce in the first place. Of course, if you gain your knowledge from the chemical industry front organizations and apologists, geared to stultifying the already fragrance-sensitized indivdual, you may find yourself free of that otherwise valuable but fragrance-sensitized employee . . . plus a few more whose bodies will react in other ways to the proliferation of nonessential products synthesized from hydrocarbons. Workplaces that strive to clear the air for all have noticed that their workforce is more productive and sickleave is used less often. True Indoor Environmental Quality makes economic sense. It makes health sense. It makes access a part of accommodation.

We, the already fragrance-sensitized people, ask that folks do not wear perfume, cologne, aftershave and other scented products including fabric softeners to work (healthcare facility, school, place of worship, etc.). We do ask that our colleagues, fellow meeting attendees, etc., use the versions of personal care products that do not contain petrochemical-derived fragrances, but that isn't asking for an unreasonable accommodation . . . not with fragrance-free deodorants and other products now openly advertised on radio and television and readily available in the market. We are not asking that our colleagues (managers, doctors and nurses, teachers, students, etc.) not use fragrances to their heart's content in their own homes. That is their proragative. But if they choose to use these products, which are released to market without full substantiation of safety, I suggest they use them only among nonpregnant, consenting adults. We also may ask that those who use scents wear clean clothes that are not saturated with fabric softeners or their various fragrances from previous occasions. But really, how outlandish a request is that?

The proliferation of petrochemically derived perfumed products pollutes the air. For all.

Save the air for the already chemically injured and you will save the air for the not-yet injured. Chronic diseases such as asthma and other upper and lower respiratory diseases, cancers, migraine and other headaches, Parkinson's, rheumatoid arthritis, etc., are as much an ENVIRONMENTAL ILLNESS as is MCS.

August 2004: The fragrance industry recognizes that perfumes "cannot clean the air." See RIFM RESPIRATORY SAFETY PROGRAM at http://www.rifm.org/WHITE%20PAPER%20IAQ%20DIsola%20v2%2004082004.htm

We ALL are stakeholders when it comes to breathing.

Best wishes to all of you! -- barb wilkie
EHN President