“I have to wear my mask to do laundry in the basement because of mustiness and other people’s fragrances.”
~ Marie LeBlanc
Marie also shared an artistically altered image of her wearing her mask while waiting to see a doctor, because people were ignoring the fragrance-free signs on the wall behind her.
Marie wearing a mask because of fragrance at the fragrance-free doctor’s office
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For more info on masks, please see
When We HAVE to Wear A Mask to Breathe and Function
…
This doctors surgery, clearly,
is not in England. You will not see a fragrance free notice anywhere. MCS is not recognised at all. In fact you are treated as if it is all in your mind. How backward is that.
Apparently there are a lot of signs up in Canada, because the Canadian and Ontario Human Rights Commissions recognize environmental sensitivities as a disability that needs to be accommodated.
Enforcement is often lacking though, meaning the person with the disability still ends up having to leave, not the person who ignores the policy.
Marie was lucky that the mask allowed her to stay, sometimes, other times, oftentimes, a mask is simply not enough.
Regarding attitudes, I think things may shift soon. Too many people are affected now.
The latest Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) report on air pollution included indoor pollutants and things like air “fresheners”, and mentioned “sensitivities” several times.
https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/every-breath-we-take-lifelong-impact-air-pollution
Article about the report: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/12166395/Secret-air-pollutants-in-our-homes-claim-thousands-of-lives.html
Also, see these posts and share the links with doctors and other medical staff:
Report from Women’s Voices for the Earth: “Unpacking the Fragrance Industry: Policy Failures, the Trade Secret Myth and Public Health“.
https://lindasepp.wordpress.com/2015/12/16/the-fragrance-industrys-toxic-secrets/
and
Canada’s top medical journal, the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), article “Artificial scents have no place in our hospitals”
http://www.cmaj.ca/content/early/2015/10/05/cmaj.151097
It will take more people requesting and advocating for safe, fragrance-free environments. Indoor smoking has been banned in most places, fragrances will be soon too.