Tag Archives: barriers to access

Show You Care, Clear the Air!

Apparently fragranced items (including toys) are  top sellers as Christmas gifts (and for other occasions). Unless you have told everyone you know NOT to get you anything fragranced, there’s a high likelihood that you’ve recently received something aromatic, something that you may or may not understand the consequences of having and using.

Most people have no idea that these and other products that stink contain harmful chemicals that damage our health (as well as the health of future generations). We don’t know because these ingredients are secret (unlabeled), unregulated, and we have not been educated.

For those of you who are beginning to understand there’s a problem,  and having been the unfortunate recipient of a toxic gift from a well-meaning friend or family member, but have wondered what exactly you can do about it (other than thinking of regifting it * please don’t), here is an up and coming post-gift-giving-receiving activity you can take to let vendors and manufacturers know you won’t accept their toxic secrets!

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When Women Don’t Relinquish Fragrance

Guest post by By Heidi Utz

Several years ago, I posed to my women’s group a simple question: Can we ask members not to wear fragrances here? A hush fell over the room, then a silence so vast you could have heard a vial of Obsession drop. The same sweet women I’d grown to respect morphed into a pack of rabid wolves. No perfume?! It was as if I’d proposed giving up coffee, sugar, and styling gel in one fell swoop.

Since then, I have spent much time puzzling over their response. Are we so addicted to our scented products that the very notion of relinquishing them strikes terror in our hearts? Or is it more that the perfume industry has done such a stellar job in marketing its wares? Even in Santa Fe, where a comparatively high level of health-consciousness exists, we’re still susceptible to those redolent magazine ads, featuring the young and glossily naked in their evidently perfume-induced attractiveness.

But what if perfumiers, like chemical producers, were forced to include in their ads the manufacturer’s safety data sheets (i.e., the very interesting ways each spritz affects your liver)? Sound far-fetched?

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It’s Only A Little Fragrance

How many times have we heard it’s “only a little fragrance”?

Telling a person with MCS/ES that there is “only a little fragrance”

is like

telling someone with Celiac Disease that there’s “only a little gluten”

or

 telling someone with a peanut allergy that there’s “only a little peanut”

or

telling someone who uses a wheelchair that there are “only a few steps”.

It’s not ok.

telling 103It’s NOT ok.

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MCS and EHS Included in New National Council on Disability Transportation Report

Press Release from National Center for Environmental Health Strategies

~ Mary Lamielle

Transportation Update NCD

… excerpts …

National Council on Disability Transportation Report Addresses Chemical and Electrical Sensitivities; Recommends Changes in Policies and Practices to Improve Access

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UnStopped and Able Until…

I have heard that new ads are out and insinuating people will somehow feel richer  merely by inhaling mysterious blends of chemicals.  Please don’t be fooled. Seriously.

“Unstopables …  will add an indulgent level of luxurious scent to every load of your laundry. Add as much as you wish for up to 12 weeks* of scent enhancement so you can smell like the lifestyle you—and your wardrobe—deserve.”

They fail to mention that your neighbors who get migraines may think that the “scent enhancement” emanating from your dryer vent (which was designed to emit moisture, not chemicals) is not such a good thing for them, their asthmatic children, or for their aging parents who have lung disease and whose window is yards from your vent.

Apparently we also don’t deserve to know what we’d be inhaling if we use these things! P&G will only refer us to the self-regulated fragrance industry’s voluntarily disclosed list of over 3000 ingredients, most of which are petroleum derived. (Scroll down for a PDF of the list, which took quite a bit of sleuthing around their other website to find).

I’ve designed a few new ads for them, simplifying some of their marketing messages into plain English for you :

UnStopped and Able Until

There’s more, much more…

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