Less Fragrance in Cape Cod School?

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Wouldn't it be great!

C. May

May Indoor Air Investigations LLC

1522 Cambridge Street

Cambridge, MA 02139

617-354-1055

www.mayindoorair.com

www.myhouseiskillingme.com

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" On Cape, air of worry over student fragrances-Allergies spur call to go

scentless "

By Kathleen Burge and Janice Nickerson, Globe Staff And Globe

March 8, 2006

<http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2006/03/08/on_cape_air_o

f_worryover_student_fragrances/>

BOURNE -- As age-old teenage mating rituals play out in his school's

hallways, Barry Motta detects a menace. It smells like Axe body spray and

Deliciously Kissable Love Potion Fragrance.

After Motta, superintendent of Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School,

learned that some students' asthma attacks and headaches may have been

triggered by fragrance-drenched peers, he gave up his own cologne and wants

to encourage students to do the same.

This week, Motta asked the School Committee to formally consider whether to

discourage students from arriving at school awash in perfume, cologne, and

body sprays. Details of a proposal are being worked out, but if the high

school adopts a policy, it would become one of the first in the country to

ask students to go scentless.

But getting students to comply is likely to be a challenge. Spending on body

sprays, a lighter version of cologne favored by younger men and women, has

skyrocketed in recent years, from $6.2 million in 2001 to $99.3 million in

2005, according to ACNielsen. And companies market their fragrances to teens

as the key to wooing the elusive object of their affections.

Students in some of the more strenuous courses at Upper Cape Tech, such as

carpentry, rely on body sprays to refresh themselves after class, when

there's no chance for a shower, said Mark Dillon, the senior class president

and a carpentry student.

''I haven't thought about not wearing it, " said Dillon, who uses Axe or Old

Spice body sprays. ''Most people, they don't want to be smelling bad all

day. "

But, he said, ''There's a way you can wear it, but not drench yourself in

it. "

Motta said he will not try to completely ban fragrances at the school, and

contended that students who ignore a policy would not be sent to detention.

School officials are still trying to figure out how to enforce a

perfume-discouraging policy.

''Certainly our approach upfront is one of cooperation, " he said. ''We're

just asking the parents and the kids to try to be sensitive. "

Motta sent out a letter to students and parents in January, asking them to

cut back on scents. He also asked the school staff, in a Jan. 26 memo, to

refrain from using fragrances. He said that many people are sensitive to

fragrances and that the Institute of Medicine has put them in the same

category as secondhand smoke in triggering asthma.

''We are in the process of establishing a Fragrance Free Policy for the

student handbook, " Motta said in the memo.

After the school board meeting Monday, word of Motta's proposed policy

attracted so much attention that yesterday the superintendent called a press

conference in the school cafeteria and made clear he was not advocating a

complete ban on fragrances.

Schmitt, the school nurse, said she has talked to four students and one

staff member who had reactions to strong odors of perfume and cologne. ''A

lot of people were totally unaware their fragrances were affecting other

people, " she said.

The American Lung Association warns that perfume, like any strong scent, can

trigger an asthma attack.

Dean, a freshman at Upper Cape Tech, easily gave up his Axe after

Motta's letter home in January. Now he wears regular unscented deodorant.

Motta said many parents supported his efforts, contending that they had

tried on their own to encourage their children to have a lighter hand when

applying body spray or perfume. Deena Kinsky, whose son attends Upper Cape

Tech, said she could support a policy that encouraged students to be more

aware. ''If they were saying, 'No, you can't wear anything with fragrance,'

that's ridiculous, " she said. ''But if they're just asking people to be

aware of it, I don't think it's a big deal. "

The teen body-fragrance market is hotly competitive and includes the Olsen

twins' enterprise (Coast to Coast NYC and Coast to Coast LA) and

Boston-based Gillette Co. (Tag body spray). ''Use Touch under your arms, and

it's only a matter of time before some sensitive, sexy ladies want to touch

the rest of you, " promises the makers of one scent of Axe deodorant.

Some workplaces, including Brigham and Women's Hospital, have long

discouraged employees and patients from wearing fragrances. At Brigham and

Women's, patients and employees are asked to avoid all scents other than

''minimally scented personal care products. "

Shutesbury's public library offers 2 1/2 hours of fragrance-free

book-browsing each week, times when only scent-free patrons are supposed to

enter the library. And the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, has asked residents

to voluntarily be fragrance-free in a host of public areas, including buses,

classrooms, courts, and municipal offices.

In the United States, however, courts have not been willing to uphold

outright bans on fragrances, said , founder of the Chemical

Injury Information Network, a Montana-based organization that monitors the

issue nationwide.

But advocacy groups for people with chemical sensitivity, asthma, and other

illnesses have fought for policies discouraging or banning fragrances from

public places.

Kathleen Burge can be reached at kburge@....

© Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

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