High School Proposes 'Fragrance Control Policy'

March 7, 2006 — -- No scents may make good sense at a Massachusetts high school.

The Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School in Bourne, Mass., has reviewed a potential fragrance-control policy that would forbid students and staff from wearing strongly scented perfume.

School superintendent Barry Motta proposed the policy after a few employees and students complained of headaches. Students said their headaches began after "girls sprayed a lot of perfume in class," Motta said.

"Basically, it's educational in making parents and students aware of what the issues [with fragrances] can be. It's creating sensitivity and awareness," said Motta, whose district manages 670 students. "Perfumes can trigger asthma and migraine headaches."

Enforcing Policy Expected to be a Challenge

Motta admitted his district has a lot of issues to investigate, including potential enforcement as well as the individual rights of students and staff. So far, he said, he has received an "overwhelmingly favorable" response from parents.

Wanda Miller, executive director of the National Association of School Nurses, said she is not surprised that a school district should have to deal with this kind of issue but said it would be very difficult to enforce such a ban.

"Hair goop, half of the ChapSticks have scents -- we're not just talking about perfume, we are talking about almost any product," Miller said. "It would be extremely difficult for a district to ban a scent and be able to monitor it."

While NASN has no official position monitoring scents, Miller said she has heard of schools banning peanut butter in the school cafeteria if students have peanut allergies.

"There are schools that have individually chosen to restrict things in the buildings, a variety of different things," Miller said.

Motta was not aware of any other schools with a similar fragrance policy but said that a school in Vermont was working on drafting similar guidelines.

"It's so new," he said.

Medical Perspective

Dr. Claudia Miller, professor of environmental and occupational medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, and co-author of "Chemical Exposures: Low Levels and High Stakes," called the Cape Cod consideration an "important step" that should also include eliminating the use of some white-board markers and cleaning agents on campuses.

"There is a subset of population that is so sensitive to fragrances. It affects their ability to concentrate and affects mood," said Miller, who is an allergist by training. "There have been studies on [the effect of] fragrances on people with asthma. Different people have problems with different things that can affect their central nervous system or cause respiratory problems."

Not a lot of scientific studies have been done on the effect of fragrances, but anecdotal evidence suggests that some individuals are very sensitive to fragrances.

"You don't put something in the air that people can't avoid," she said. "Some of the new fragrances are very strong." She said how some patients described feeling sick after smelling strong scents.

Miller compared the presence of fragrances to cigarette smoke and suggested that since people do not have any choice about breathing the air around them, bans on scents might spread across the country much the way that smoking bans have.

Motta, in the letter he sent to parents about the new fragrance policy, mentioned that the Institute of Medicine put fragrances in the same category as second-hand cigarette smoke.

"It is one person's right to smoke and the same thing is true for fragrances," Miller said. "People's right to smoke ends at your nose. Are we moving that way in fragrances, as well? It's an open question."

The Cape Cod district plans to hold a meeting on the policy in the next couple of weeks. A final decision on the fragrance-control measure likely won't come for a few months.