Employees face perfume ban at work to protect allergy sufferers

  • Public workers in New Hampshire will be unable to wear fragrances at work if proposed law is passed

By
Graham Smith

Last updated at 9:06 AM on 13th February 2012

Employees in New Hampshire could soon be banned from wearing fragrances or scented products.

State workers who interact with the public as part of their job will have to go to work au naturel if a proposed law is passed this week.

House Bill 1444 has been proposed by Republican Michele Peckham to protect people with asthma or other allergies.

Kicking up a stink: Public-facing employees in New Hampshire could soon be banned from wearing fragrances or scented products

Kicking up a stink: Public-facing employees in New Hampshire could soon be banned from wearing fragrances or scented products

Exposure to perfume can trigger nasal congestion, a bout of sneezing and a runny nose.

‘It may seem silly, but it’s a health issue,’ Mrs Peckham told the New Hampshire Union Leader. ‘Many people have violent reactions to strong scents.’

The bill will come into effect within 60 days if is approved by the New Hampshire House Of Representatives on Wednesday.

It remains unclear how the proposed legislation would be enforced.

The Constitutional Review and Statutory Recodification Committee, however, is recommending the House kill the bill as a possible constitutional conflict between rights of the individual employee and the health effects on an occasional customer with an allergy to scented products.

Up to one in 20 people suffer from a perfume allergy and it is a common cause of sinus problems, as well as other symptoms ranging from skin rashes and shortness of breath to nausea and dizziness.

The chemical irritant in the scent penetrates the delicate tissue lining the sinuses and triggers swelling.

It is quite rare, however, to be allergic to an entire perfume – usually it’s an individual component that causes the allergy.

This can be quite hard to pin down, as fragrances are blends of different chemicals and sometimes also include natural ingredients.

Dr Stanley Caress, an environmental studies professor at the University of West Georgia, told MyHealthNewsDaily.com: ‘People who have asthma, a large number of them are chemically sensitive, and therefore find fragrant products irritating.

‘Most commercial perfume products, even air fresheners, have chemical make-ups and therefore are potential irritants.’

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Maybe “Eau de Armpit” will be the nouveau scent, followed by thousands of complaints from “normal” people, especially in summer.

I would have thought this is contravening their ‘Human Rights’ that’s what it would be seen as in the EU.

Whatever next?

Of all the things to fix in the US of A this is on the agenda. Only in America.

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