Time to stop making scents?

By PAT SEREMET HARTFORD COURANT OU'RE SITTING IN A THEATER, flipping through the playbill, listening to the orchestra tune up, when suddenly you're engulfed in a floral-scented fog. You hear at the end of the aisle, "Excuse me; excuse me; excuse me," as she and her mushroom cloud of perfume take the seat next to you. The aroma runs over you like a Mac truck. Obsession? No, it's Shalimar. No, no it's Escape. Whatever it is, the woman is drenched in it. And now you are, too. When dabbed or sprayed, fragrances can be lovely enhancements to the otherwise raw, human animal scent. But, increasingly, one hears cries from the chemically sensitive and the shrill demands for buildings to have fragrance-free sections. The snowball against perfume might well become an avalanche. Canada took the lead in what's known in Halifax as the "war on perfume." Since 1991, the athletic center at Mount St. Vincent University in that city imposed a ban on perfumes and deodorants. Then the Universalist Unitarian Church in Halifax followed suit and denounced perfume products. When St. Michael's Catholic Church there reserved a perfume section (especially for those wearing My Sin, we suppose) and a nonperfume section, people from other parishes switched to St. Michael's. There was no mention of how people react to the aroma emerging when the priest waved the incense. Earlier this spring, Shutesbury, a town in Western Massachusetts, held its annual town meeting with three seating sections: those not wearing fragrance; those who weren't wearing fragrance that day but might have trace amounts on their clothes; and those wearing fragrance. Health concerns Can perfume be the new cigarette? Will we be preached to about the dangers of secondhand scent? Cologne-gate has reached eau such extremes. A husband in Stuart, Fla., recently had his wife arrested on a charge of aggravated battery for wearing excessive perfume. David Taylor claims his wife, Linda, knowing he suffers from "extreme chemical sensitivity," deliberately doused herself with perfume, burned scented candles and filled the house with lavender-scented sachets. OK, so she sprayed bug spray and Lysol, too. In a world full of odors (many not pretty), is perfume becoming a health concern? Is it possible that heavy perfumage can cause allergies? Dr. Louis Mendelsohn, an allergist at Hartford Hospital, says no. "It's not a true allergy; it's not an immunological reaction," he says. "It's an irritant. Some people just can't stand certain smells." Mendelsohn -- himself an Old Spice man -- acknowledges that odors bother some people more than others, although he thinks it's mostly "an emotional thing not based on science." But out of respect for others at Hartford Hospital, he says, the medical staff is requested not to wear strong perfumes. Irritating presence For those who can't tolerate a scent, it's a serious matter. Elaine Weiner, 75, of Hartford, Conn., found out quickly about how her husband, Irwin Weiner, 76, reacts to perfume. "My first date with her," he says. "I made her take a shower before I'd take her out." Elaine says she was wearing "a very light toilet water called White Rain." "He walked in, and he started choking and gagging," she says. "And he asks, 'What are you wearing?'" They've been married 55 years, and she hasn't spritzed since. All their soap is fragrance-free, and they only light candles when it's a birthday. "I go by a candle place," Irwin says, "and I tighten up. I can't breathe." "I had to give up wonderful seats at the opera," he says, because of the proximity of a heavily doused season-ticket holder. And he had to watch a show at a local theater from the side, standing, because of another fragrance offender. On the bright side, Irwin can stop and smell the roses. Flowers don't bother him. At the Fragrance Foundation in New York, aptly named director Rochelle Bloom is well aware of people's sensitivity to perfumes. "We've all been in situations where the fragrance precedes the person," she says. And she says that talk of fragrance-free sections is a subject that "comes and goes. It flares up, and it kind of goes away." Bloom prefers to speak of the goodness of fragrances. "They're used to treat people, as in aromatherapy," she says. "And they're used to lift people's spirits." Declining sales But the spirits might be using a little less joy these days. Fragrance sales in U.S. department stores decreased by 3.5 percent last year, generating sales of $2.8 billion, according to the NPD Group, which tracks that market information. New launches of Chanel's Chance and J.Lo's Glow, targeted to young women, were, however, big hits. With overall fragrance sales down for the year, Bloom notes that candles and room fresheners are the fastest-growing fragrance category. If women are dabbing less on the wrists, they're evidently lighting more on the fireplace. "People want to surround themselves with fragrance," Bloom says. "They're doing it for themselves." Bloom is sensitive with her own fragrance use. "When I wear a fragrance to work, I use a lighter version, or a bath and shower gel," she says.