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Pass the Word
by Glenda C. Beall
I was extremely pleased when, upon
making telephone reservations at the Comfort Inn in Asheville, NC, I
was told by the reservation clerk, "We don't use fragrances in
our rooms. We don't use air fresheners or anything with a strong
smell."
I could hardly believe my ears, and wondered if
that was indeed true. When I arrived at the Comfort Inn, which is
clean and nicely appointed, I made my usual "smell test."
How refreshing to enter a motel room and not feel my bronchial tubes
closing. In fact, I breathed deeply to see if I would have any
respiratory problems from polluted indoor air. I did not. I
complimented the motel. I always write a letter to companies when I
find a place that is mindful of the air we breathe and the health of
their clients.
This experience was in deep contrast to my
visit to Cracker Barrel restaurant just down the street from the
Comfort Inn. Knowing that the Country Store area is usually filled
with candles and other "fragranced" products, I donned my
cotton mask before entering. Naturally everyone stared at me
wondering what dread disease I carried inside me.
I had to
suppress a strong urge to climb up on a box and shout out to all the
staff and customers, "You won't catch anything from me, but the
chemical smells emitted from perfume and potpourri and candles in
this room could kill me."
As we get older, many of us
find that exposure to small doses of chemicals we encounter every day
brings on a strong reaction in our bodies, ranging from burning and
membranes swelling in our throats to mental fogginess, unstable
walking and even passing out. In my case, the swelling always leads
to acute bronchitis that goes on for weeks and weeks. The vocal cords
are affected and I become extremely hoarse.
This problem is
called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, (MCS), and is sometimes
mislabeled as immune deficiency. This is not an allergy. The body
doesn't make histamines as it does with an allergy. The ADA covers
people with this problem, and we who suffer with it can ask that
public places make a clean air area for us just as they would provide
for any other person with a disability.
I have learned to ask
for a table away from people wearing perfume just as I ask to be
seated away from anyone who is smoking. Recently at the Olive Garden
in Roswell, GA we asked to be seated in an area where no one was
wearing perfume. However, before long the couple seated near us left
and the hostess seated a woman whose "fragrance" polluted
the air around us. Knowing I would become ill, I asked that we be
moved to another area and we were. The staff was apologetic and that
helped, but it was obvious that my request had made no impact on the
hostess as she disregarded my needs when she sat the second couple.
MCS affects many
people, old and young. Indoor air is more polluted than outdoor air
because we keep our homes and other buildings shut tight to prevent
the loss of heat or air conditioning. Open windows clean out the
stale polluted air and bring in fresh air. But plugging in an "air
freshener" does not make the air in the room fresh. It only adds
to the chemical pollution indoors as it dispenses synthetic fragrance
made from petroleum and other dangerous products.
Looking at me, no
one would recognize that I have a disability. The average person has
no clue that his after-shave or her perfume layered over her body
lotion and hair spray can send me to the emergency room within
minutes of breathing all that fragrance. A sudden asthma attack or
other respiratory condition comes on quickly at times. Spending even
a short time in a room with artificial fragrance or odors can lead to
days of body aches, exhaustion, brain fog, and memory loss for me and
millions of other people who have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
At times I wonder if
some of us will end up living in a bubble because the majority have
not yet learned the effects of chemicals on our children, our elderly
and anyone who breathes in daily the cleaning products, the
pesticides, the laundry detergents and fragranced fabric softeners,
the air fresheners, and most of the sprays that we as a culture have
come to think as synonymous with "Clean.”
Editor’s note - A
shorter version of this article was published in the winter 2010
issue of the newsletter for the Institute for Continuing Learning at
Young Harris College.
Glenda
C. Beall advocates for clean indoor air quality in workplaces,
schools and in homes. She lives with MCS, caused by toxic chemicals
in our environment. Her articles, essays and short fiction have been
published online and in paper. Her Poetry book, Now
Might as Well be Then was published
in 2009. She is on faculty at John
C. Campbell Folk School
where she will teach memoir writing August 21 - 26. Find her online
at www.profilesandpedigrees.blogspot.com
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