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Health & Fitness

Smells Like (cough!) Teen Spirit: Fragrance in the Classroom Hurts Students

In August, the Albany Unified School District updated administrative regulations that pertain to environmental safety (AR 3514). In order to improve indoor air quality for students and staff, AUSD added this important clause on page 63: 

"Staff and students shall be asked to refrain from bringing common irritants such as furred or feathered animals, stuffed toys that may collect dust mites, scented candles, incense, or air fresheners and from using perfume or cologne, scented lotion or hair spray, nail polish or nail polish remover, or other personal care products that are not fragrance-free in classrooms or other enclosed areas or buildings."

This is an important measure taken to preserve the health and safety of students and staff in our Albany schools, however such policies need to be implemented and enforced, and people need to know why these policies are in place, and why observing these policies can make a huge difference.

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Students (and staff) who suffer from asthma, reactive airway disease, and other respiratory ailments are particularly at risk when exposed to scented products. The American Lung Association includes fragrances and other scented personal care and cleaning products among their lists of asthma triggers. Anyone who has asthma, or knows someone who has it, understands that asthma attacks are no joke. In fact, asthma attacks can be fatal. Anaphalactic shock is also a risk - especially with such things as nail polish and nail polish removers. 

You may not actually go to the emergency room or die on the way there the next time a student sprays cologne in the middle of math class, but students and staff can also suffer from such things as sinus problems, eye irritation, ear pain, headaches, fatigue, "spaciness" or inability to concentrate, and other symptoms when exposed to fragrances worn by classmates or teachers. All of these things can send you home from school, or at least make it hard to manage in the next class. There are also the more interesting long term effects such as accumulation of cosmetic toxins in breast tissue and other fatty tissues; endocrine disruptors such as phthalates which can affect sperm count, cause birth defects, or other reproductive health problems (see the Not Too Pretty PDF sponsored by the Environmental Working Group); cause liver and kidney damage; and so on. 

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The fragrance industry is largely self-regulated, with very little oversight from the Food and Drug Administration, and so almost all fragrance formulations and scented products reach our shelves without being adequately tested for their impact on human health. Dr. Samuel Epstein, author of The Politics of Cancer and The Politics of Cancer Revisited, said, "because manufacturers are not required to disclose hazardous chemicals used in manufacturing fragrances, consumers have no way of knowing whether their brands' fragrances contain carcinogens. The wise consumer will make the assumption that all synthetic fragrances contain carcinogens" (1998, p. 649).

In 1999, one technical petition submitted to the FDA by the Environmental Health Network of CA (EHN) included a chemical analysis of Eternity perfume and material safety data sheets (MSDS) for each chemical - most of them hazardous. This petition to have Eternity declared "misbranded" drew hundreds of anguished pleas from people who suffer health problems when exposed to fragrances. The FDA could not deny the petition, as the scientific evidence was sound (and MSDS are quite conservative), but it had neither the budget nor the political will to take on the powerful fragrance and flavors (chemical) industries. I was president of the Environmental Health Network at the time, and you can read my letter to the FDA here. The entire petition, docket #99P-1340/CP 1, can be viewed here. The analysis and petition project was created by the late Barb Wilkie, another past president of EHN, and Betty Bridges, RN, founder of the Fragranced Products Information Network

Frequent exposure to consumer and household toxins also add to our "personal exposure limit" (PEL). In today's phone conversation with Don Albright, facilities manager of the AUSD, he told me that PEL is a consideration in determining the less or least toxic cleaning products to be used by custodial staff. Most wise employers know that it just makes good sense to keep toxic exposure levels down to a bare minimum. Dr. Claudia S. Miller, an environmental physician, has coined TILT - "toxicant induced loss of tolerance" - to describe what happens when a person's personal exposure limit is reached. "Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS)," "environmental illness (EI)," and "chemical injury" are other terms. Often, these exposures happen at work, home, or even in health care facilities and schools. When I was president of EHN, many of our members were nurses and teachers who had been exposed to toxic chemicals, including fragrances, on the job and who could no longer work as a result. They had reached their PEL and began to suffer from a cascade of illnesses and symptoms as a result. 

Today was not the first day that my younger son has had to leave class and school because of fragrance use in the classroom. Earlier this year, a student actually got up and sprayed the entire class with a scented product and as a result, I had to take my son home. Today, apparently several people were wearing heavy doses of dueling perfumes and it was all too much. He came home with a headache, runny sinuses, eye and throat irritation, and could not concentrate on his schoolwork. Some cynics may say this could seem like a convenient excuse for a teenager who wants to ditch class, but I could smell everything he experienced this morning on his clothing when he came home and so I know this wasn't merely a ploy. I myself reacted strongly. I have lived with TILT and environmental illness for over 20 years. And this perfume-soaked clothing actually becomes a hazard for me when worn into the house.

Dr. Doris Rapp is an environmental and pediatric physician. She is the author of Is This Your Child? and Is This Your Child's World? In her second book, she mentions that in 1994, the New York State Department of Education acknowledged that "scented products could prevent some children from learning at a level commensurate with their ability" and predicted that "in time, stringent effective measures will have to be taken, not only to control the ingredients in scented items, but to curtail their use in schools and elsewhere" (p. 196). Dr. Rapp also mentions brain SPECT scans which "have shown changes related directly to an offending perfume exposure in both the blood flow and function of the brain after such exposures" (p. 196). 

So for every teen or teacher who thoughtlessly or habitually wears a fragrance to school - or any other public venue for that matter - there is bound to be someone else who is suffering either health problems, learning problems, or both, as a result of this pervasive form of toxic indoor air pollution. As I work to keep my teenager involved and engaged in school I expect that AUSD and Albany High School will implement and enforce the already established environmental safety policies which will create a safe, non-toxic place for him and for all other students in the district. Our young people deserve clean air in the classrooms they are forced by law to inhabit, particularly as accumulated toxic exposures can tip some people into a lifetime of chronic illness and even disability. I will tell you from personal experience, this kind of life is no picnic. It affects my career, marriage, friendships, access to recreation, health care, and public transportation. Do not let this happen to your kids!

I urge concerned parents, teachers, staff, and students to take on the task of making our classrooms fragrance and toxin-free. I urge the AUSD and all administrators to take this problem seriously. 

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