Perfume blogger dismisses concerns from a member of our community

Posted on Jan 19, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Susie Collins

I love it when people who have absolutely no medical expertise make flippant comments about allergies and sensitivities to chemicals.

Now Smell This: A Blog About Perfume reports on Perfume is the Rodney Dangerfield of the Art World. Angela writes:

I look forward to the day when saying “perfume stinks” is seen as a sign of ignorance. Maybe, instead, that person will lean toward a friend discreetly wearing scent and say, “Your perfume is — interesting. Tell me about it.”

In the comments she writes:

“I know a few people, too, who claim to be allergic to fragrance, but I think they’ve just had a bad reaction standing next to someone soaked in something particularly loud. All of these people can wander into a Marriott or a Hilton, where fragrance is pumped through the air, without a hitch.”

Excuse me, who’s ignorant? I love it when people who have absolutely no medical expertise make sweeping, flippant comments about allergies and sensitivities to chemicals. The truth is many of us with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity cannot wander into a Marriott or Hilton without risking our health. Neither can we visit malls or casinos or walk through an airport without a mask. Scent marketing blocks our access to banks, office buildings and even hospitals.

Now Smell This is a popular blog, and at about comment #180, a member of our community, Elaine Willis, left a comment for Angela:

People who CLAIM to be allergic to perfume most likely are! [Commenter] Klytaemnestra does not understand that someone can develop the sensitivity over time. Although I can appreciate the discussion here, I hope it can be appreciated that for 3 out of 10 people, perfume is a health hazard; and for a smaller but growing number – perfume and other petro-chemically enhanced products, are life-threatening.

Angela obviously thought Elaine was over exaggerating, and so flippantly replied: “Oh my! 3 out of 10 people! I guess I count myself as one of the lucky ones. I’d sure hate to be allergic to perfume when the world is awash in scent–everything from cleaning products to buses to malls and hotels seems to be scented these days.”

When another commenter recommends “a more judicious approach in putting perfume or scent into everything and everywhere,” Angela pronounces,”I think a lot of people don’t even notice it anymore, yet they squawk when they smell it on a person.”

The truth is that the toxicity of modern fragrance formulations is a serious health issue for everyone, not just people with Environmental Illness and/or Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

Saying “I think a lot of people don’t even notice it anymore” about what is a serious disability rights issue is 15-20 years behind the times. In America, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, which include sensitivity to modern perfume and fragrance, is recognized as a disability by the Social Security Administration, Housing and Urban Development, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, among others. Click here for a list of published peer-reviewed articles documenting the “realness” of MCS.

This chemical sensitivity condition is not rare and the numbers of people who have it are growing. A national survey found 11.2% of respondents reported increased sensitivities to common chemicals and 2.5% had been medically diagnosed with MCS. Perhaps even more relevant to this discussion here is that this same survey found 31.1% of respondents said that sitting next to someone who was wearing a scented product was “irritating.” So going without perfume in schools, hotels, banks, airports and other public places is a good idea because it improves air quality and reduces potential harm to others as well as yourself.

Toxic modern fragrance is a health issue that affects everyone and a disability rights issue that affects people with respiratory illness including people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Clean air is everybody’s business, and seeing this issue as a fundamental health issue is the only way we will ever get consensus on taking the necessary action to protect everyone.

Now Smell This is a blog with a lot of readers, why not go an tell Angela how you feel about a product made from unregulated toxic chemicals choked with phthalates known to cause reproductive harm and petrochemicals known to trigger asthma, migraines, respiratory distress, central nervous system problems and more. Tell her how you feel when your body is exposed to perfumes in public places and your eyes burn and itch, your throat and limbs swell up, your skin burns, or a migraine is triggered.

I would have forgiven Angela her blog topic had she not been so flippant when Elaine told her that perfume can indeed be life threatening. I wish Angela could experience Multiple Chemical Sensitivity for just one day, it might make her have second thoughts about flipping off someone trying to tell her perfume can be extremely dangerous for a large part of the population.

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Tags: Air, Asthma, Cosmetics, Environmental Illness, Fragrance, Indoor Pollution, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Perfume, Personal Care, Products, Sick Building, Stink, Toxic

28 Responses to “Perfume blogger dismisses concerns from a member of our community”

Connie Rae

20. Jan, 2010

IT is sooo difficult to be gentle with that kind of callous ignorance.
the person running the blog, now smell this, someday may find herself in court slapped with a lawsuit for assault with a deadly weapon. Not by me, of course, I don’t go out in public anymore, not to church, or to shop, or to play.
Synthetic fragrance in public places (especially those made with petrochemicals…can you imagine putting that behind your ear?) has made a walk in the park hazardous to my health, like walking in a mine field.
Wear your perfume. Canary Report and the Canaries will be there to hold your hand when you go over the cliff.

Reply to this comment
- Susie Collins
  
  20. Jan, 2010
  
  Aloha Connie, it was hard for me not to get a little snarky in this post. I wouldn’t have felt so offended if the blogger hadn’t been so condescending about Elaine’s comment. I mean, Elaine was telling her that perfume can be life-threatening– should’t that warrant some compassion, at least some curiosity, some desire to debate? I try to keep things civil around here even in the midst of a heated debate, but that blogger just bugged the beejeebers outta me!
  
  Reply to this comment
  - Connie Rae
    
    21. Jan, 2010
    
    arggg….i lost my reply!
    just wanted to say “GO, GIRL!” I would let my snarks out if it didn’t hurt so much right now…I am glad you went after those fragrance diva’s, but I think they just giggle and give each other points for hurting someone, whether with words or fragrance…it is just the world they are living in right now..sad…I don’t have the CNS to get snarky…someday;)
    You do it for us…
    Meanwhile, I got an image of all of us Canary’s flocking around Elaine, wings fluttering away any bad words or fragrances…I am so thankful for the canary report community.
    
    Reply to this comment
    - Susie Collins
      
      21. Jan, 2010
      
      Aloha Connie, sorry we lost your reply. I think you were posting it at the exact same moment we were switching to this new format. Things are a bit jumbled today on the site as we work out the kinks. Thanks much for your patience! xo
      
      Reply to this comment
Diane

20. Jan, 2010

After nearly 30 years of being chemically sensitive to perfumes, laundry soaps, fabric softeners etc…I am forced to stay away. I have asked my family members over and over again to NOT wear scents. Nobody gets it nor do they want to, so I’m staying away from the exposures. I Praise God for my children who understand. I have great friends who also get it. It comes down to backing off from siblings that don’t care and rebuilding my life with those that do understand. Some of us have to make those choices. They can find someone else to use as their scape-goat. I don’t see the MCS that I have been plagued with changing anytime soon.

Reply to this comment
- Susie Collins
  
  20. Jan, 2010
  
  Aloha Diane, 30 years! That’s a long time to be struggling with this. It’s so sad when people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity must turn away from blood kin to find a new tribe, a new support system, a new community. This is a recurrent mystery in the lives of canaries: why don’t people get it, why won’t they change for us, why won’t people who say they love us change for us? It’s heart breaking. Family is supposed to be the place a person can go to for refuge from the storm. So when family becomes the danger, it shakes us to the core. You are lucky your kids and great friends get it, they all deserve a canary feather in their cap.
  
  Reply to this comment
- Willow Carver
  
  21. Jan, 2010
  
  Hi Diane:
  I just hit 30 years too!
  
  Reply to this comment
sharin

20. Jan, 2010

GRRRRRRR. oh that makes me SSOooo mad, I could spit petroleum.
I probably could to, as with many other MCSer. I wonder do they have a saliva test from labs or that a MD can order that CAN measure petroleum in our bodily fluids?
Diane- I think it was your post that said, we need to rebuild out lives with family and friends that do understand, I love that. sad, but your right!

Reply to this comment
- Susie Collins
  
  20. Jan, 2010
  
  Aloha Sharin, LOL. I did feel spitting mad when I read that blogger’s comments in response to Elaine! Dab a little of that behind your ears, dears.
  
  Reply to this comment
Susie Collins

20. Jan, 2010

Don’t miss the great discussion about this post happening on The Canary Report’s facebook fan page! http://www.facebook.com/TheCanaryReport

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Diane

20. Jan, 2010

I forgot to mention my husband. I would be dead without his understanding and love. Back when I became so ill and the doctors around here said that it was “all in your head” hubby supported me. He could tell by the glazed over look and the coughing and all the other reactions I was having that I was a chronically ill person. He stood up to the Internal Medicine Specialist when he said, “why don’t you just go home and be a good wife and mommy!”
Hubby moved and renovated a home that I can comfortably live in. I tolerate it well. So through all of the struggles, there have been blessings.

Reply to this comment
- Susie Collins
  
  20. Jan, 2010
  
  I understand that blessing, Diane. I too have a husband who moves mountains to make sure I am kept safe. It is because of him that I am able to pay it forward with this blog and network.
  
  Reply to this comment
  - Diane
    
    20. Jan, 2010
    
    Hi Susie,
    
    Yes…we have blessings out of our brokenness! I am so thankful that I didn’t have to go through all of this alone!
    
    Reply to this comment
Gustavo Hinojosa

21. Jan, 2010

I finally told my supervisor something he was wearing was really hurting me. His response, “It’s the same aftershave I have always worn.” Repeatedly I have told co-workers I can’t tolerate any fragrance, but no matter what I say, it falls on deaf ears. It’s the same at church. It’s sad just how callous some can be when they don’t understand the effect their fragrance has on others, or don’t care to understand.

Reply to this comment
- Susie Collins
  
  23. Jan, 2010
  
  Aloha Gustavo, it’s the “don’t care to understand” part that always baffles me. “Callous” is a good descriptive word, at church no less!
  
  Reply to this comment
Diane

21. Jan, 2010

Gustavo…I’m sorry. I know your pain very well, over and over again. Your Supervisor has the same attitude that we all have had to deal with, If it doesn’t affect me…then it must not exist! Since this whole ordeal started for me back in 1981, I have gone through so much that I could write a book. Just in the last couple of years, I’m doing better with my attitude though because instead of fighting the issues….I have learned to accept it. I can’t change them or me. I still have to run from smells etc…which makes me look like an idiot, but oh well. I have also accepted the fact that words can not describe what I live with to my five sisters, and therefore, I have let them go too. God has given me some wonderful and powerful friendships instead and I have three daughters and a hubby who really do get it. Perhaps there are people that will bless you along the way and their words will be healing music to your ears.

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Jeanne

21. Jan, 2010

Susie,

Thank you for posting this. I visited the perfume blog you mentioned here and I was outraged by the cavalier attitude that blogger displayed when she replied to Elaine’s valid, respectfully-worded comment. It is very upsetting.

I have been asking family members for many years now to please, please not wear fragrances around me. This holiday season was the first time they all seemed to have listened and remembered.

It is the first holiday get-together season I can recall where I didn’t have to leave early, go outside for air (in the snow), etc. They all seemed to remember this year at once. (Usually there will be one person who forgets and that will alter the day greatly). This was big progress!

If it has taken me all these years to get my parents and sisters to do this (the nieces and nephews are blissfully fragrance-free and my brother-in-law doesn’t wear cologne), I certainly don’t expect strangers who write or follow a perfume blog to “get it”.

However, I was taken aback by the comments there. Rather than respond appropriately to the fact that perfume can even cause life-threatening reactions in some people, the blogger mocked Elaine’s comment. I was stunned at the sarcastic and irresponsible reply made to Elaine’s remarks.

Speaking of Elaine, “job well done”!

Jeanne

Reply to this comment
- Susie Collins
  
  23. Jan, 2010
  
  Aloha Jeanne, how wonderful that your family went scent-free for you! Ahhhh, they all get gold stars! I, too, was stunned at the flippant attitude of that blogger upon hearing that her product was capable of causing life-threatening situations. And then as more criticism has comes in to her post, she’s decided to just ignore it. Shame!
  
  Reply to this comment
Sharon Wachsler

22. Jan, 2010

Hi fellow canaries,
Here’s what I posted on the “Rodney Dangerfield” blog. Shockingly (koff!), no response from dear, dear Angela.
-s
Angela,
I agree with you on several points. First, you are lucky not to have adverse reactions to perfume, yes. And second, I agree that you would most certainly hate it if you became chemically injured, and perfume was no longer was enjoyable, but sickening (literally).
I used to be lucky, like you. Then I suffered several months of carbon monoxide poisoning, and it damaged my immune and central nervous system, causing multiple chemical sensitivity. One of the worst triggers for me is perfume.
You are also right that probably most people who refer to a “perfume allergy” do not in fact have an allergy. Usually an adverse reaction to perfume doesn’t cause an allergic reaction — that could be controlled with an antihistamine. Instead, the exposure causes a physiological response akin to being poisoned. Exposure to perfume causes me migraines, vomiting, trouble breathing, nausea, dizziness, cognitive impairment, and other debilitating symptoms. Some of the symptoms happen immediately upon exposure, and others occur as delayed reactions for days, weeks, or months after.
I could certainly never go into a Hilton or Marriott — not without being carried out on a stretcher. I would be made ill by just about every furnishing in the place and every fume coming off every person.
To go anywhere, such as my doctor’s office or the health food store, I must use oxygen and a filter mask.
Obviously since you blog about perfume — in a positive way — you and your readers will not “get” me, much as klytaemnestra feels many people do not “get” her. The difference between us is that you and she choose to expose yourself to the chemicals in perfume, and just as I had no choice in being chemically injured, I also don’t have the choice of breathing or not on the rare occasions I leave my home.
I ask you and your readers to please give some thought as to the effects your choices have on others. And the choices they might have on you, some day, if you end up being unlucky.
You can read more about MCS on a special page of my blog devoted to it: http://aftergadget.wordpress.com/about/about-sharons-disabilities/how-mcs-affects-sharon/
Peace.

Reply to this comment
- Susie Collins
  
  23. Jan, 2010
  
  Aloha Sharon,
  
  Thank you for leaving that sterling comment on Angel’s blog. Did you notice that once people with MCS starting weighing into that discussion, all the carefree conversation came to an abrupt end? I’m hoping that all those very engaged readers of Angel’s blog post had some seeds planted in their chemically-influenced brains.
  
  I’m sorry to hear about all your health struggles. Thank you for visiting The Canary Report to leave your comment, Sharon, because I did not know about your blog. What a beautiful; tribute to Gadget, he was magnificent! I’m very sorry for your loss. I was moved to tears to read your story, but some were tears of joy looking at those puppies! I’ve added you to my MCS blogger resource page and will include you in my blog rounds. Thanks much for visiting. Be well.
  
  Aloha,
  Susie
  
  Reply to this comment
Connie Rae

22. Jan, 2010

Well, done!

Reply to this comment
- Susie Collins
  
  23. Jan, 2010
  
  I thought so, too, Connie! You and I both always admire those commenters that know how to leave the one-two punch in defense of people with MCS, don’t we?
  
  Reply to this comment
Sharon Wachsler

23. Jan, 2010

Thank you very much, Susie! Yes, I did notice it got verrrry quiet over there! Huh, wonder why?
Thanks so much for your kinds words about my blog and for adding it to your MCS blogger resources!
I think we might have actually made some teensy dent in some of the pickled brains there, because I did get some hits on my blog, esp. the MCS page, that came from that site!
Keep up the good work!
Peace,
Sharon

Reply to this comment
- Susie Collins
  
  24. Jan, 2010
  
  Well done, Sharon! I hope it got some of them thinking about the products they are buying and the impact their choices have on others. Good job!
  
  Reply to this comment
Connie Rae

24. Jan, 2010

Yes, Susie, we do admire commentors that defend MCS …I really am afraid if I let my snark out I won’t be able to put it back:)
The first eight or so years of my injury, I was fullspeed ahead, Dursban propelled, snarky, in defense of those with MCS ,thinking I would contribute to stopping the insanity!
And still appreciate those who are able, though I know they suffer for it.
Now, I have been concentrating on people who want to learn and change. It stills revs up the CNS, but the results are soothing.
This discussion is so good…and so volatile in churches, public spaces and families.
Sharon signed her note, ‘Peace.’.
Peace..
My pain shouldn’t be a political, spiritual or control issue…it is what it is. My hope is that we are moving closer to the day when it is a humanity issue, a compassion issue.
Ya, know I am old enough to remember that in our church at least, most people didn’t wear perfume or make-up.
It was considered worldly. That church would have been a true Sanctuary.
“Peace…, not as the world gives peace….let not your heart be troubled.”
Thank all of you…HUGS
.

Reply to this comment
- Susie Collins
  
  24. Jan, 2010
  
  Aloha Connie, wonderful observations! I wish everyone thought about toxic perfume and make-up that way, as a distraction not worthy of attention and certainly not worthy of our money. xoxo
  
  Reply to this comment
celia

25. Jan, 2010

I guess we are realizing that there are people ‘out there’ who are cruel.

There’s no way around it.

Or . . .

*they* simply don’t want to face reality, because it would mean a sacrifice on *their* part.
It’s sad, but I can’t say I am surprised.

A man with a ph.d. in chemistry ‘attacked’ me once, basing his right to do so on the fact that, “even natural things are chemicals”–

ack–

hugs to those who have experienced this sort of bigotry and meanness.

Reply to this comment
- Susie Collins
  
  25. Jan, 2010
  
  Aloha Celia,
  
  I have heard that false argument before about “even natural things are chemicals.” Yes all things are chemical, and nature even makes toxins and toxic chemicals that can possibly harm us, but that does not then mean that humans can make and distribute synthetic toxic chemicals willy-nilly resulting in ill health of living things and the environment.
  
  It’s especially cruel and unjust when people (and corporations) are given the information about the harm these man-made chemicals are doing, and they decide to continue their course of action anyway.
  
  It hurts to the bone when others feel we canaries are not worth caring about. Thank goodness we have each other to turn to for comfort, support, and knowledge.
  
  Aloha,
  Susie
  
  Reply to this comment