Educating Cracker Barrel personnel

More than 5,000 different fragrances are in products that are used on a daily basis. These products include health and beauty aids, laundry aids, household cleaners, paper products, oils and solvents, drugs, plastics, industrial greases, and even foods. Since fragrance formulas are considered trade secrets, manufacturers only have to state fragrance on the label and do not need to identify the chemical makeup.

Today we drove down to Metro Atlanta. In Canton, GA we stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant because my husband loves their beef stew and corn muffins.
For those who don't live in the south, this chain restaurant offers a gift shop area where customers browse while waiting for a table. I've bought and received nice gifts from their stores. Checking out the store is one of my favorite parts of stopping at Cracker Barrel.

As soon as I opened the front door, a "fragrance" hit me in the face. Inside I recognized the "Christmasy" smell that had been sprayed inside the store. How sad. The smell of the good food would have been preferred by most of the older folk who were dining there today.

As we were seated, I told the hostess, "I wish you'd tell your manager that the spray fragrance used here today is really bad for people like me who have asthma. In fact, many older people have lung problems and these sprays are extremely bad for us."
"She forgot what you said the minute she walked away, " my husband said.
"I know. But I am going to keep talking. I can't change the world, but I'll make a difference where I can."

Thankfully, inside the restaurant no potpourri odor ruined the meal. The food was delicious.

My husband headed for the counter to pay the bill. I spoke to the hostess as I hurried past. "I'd love to spend time here and shop, but I can't take the smell."
The young woman called after me, "I told our manager what you said, and he said he'd speak to our retail manager about it. I've never thought about those sprays bothering anybody. I just thought they smelled good."

And so, my husband was mistaken. She didn't forget what I said, and perhaps I educated three people today about MCS -- the hostess, her boss, and the retail manager. Maybe that isn't much, but if we all speak up instead of just getting upset and leaving, our voices will make a difference.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity or Why I Had to Flee McDonald's

Once again, today, I was overpowered by a fragrance so harsh I had to escape the area. While waiting for my order at McDonald's, a man and a woman came and stood beside me. At the first whiff, I assumed the young woman wore the smelly spray, perfume, lotion or whatever caused the fumes that began closing my throat and burning my nasal passages.

I left the counter with my hand over my nose and mouth and rushed as far as I could get from the couple without leaving the restaurant. As I watched for my food to be brought out, the woman took her latte and left.

Good, I thought, she won't be sitting near me. I waited by the side door and took my tray when it was ready.

As soon as I sat down, the smell hit me again. I looked up and saw the guy who had been standing in line near me. He had plopped down fifteen feet away from my table. The odor emanating from him smelled worse to me than a skunk's spray, the chemicals in that fragrance he wore poisoned me. By the time I got out of there, hoarse and coughing, I gasped, sucked in the fresh outside air like it was my final breath.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. More and more of my friends are experiencing the same symptoms -- spending tons of money on doctors who run tests and tell them they have asthma and to stay away from chemicals. Duh!! The asthma is caused by the chemicals we breathe every day, the chemicals all around us, the chemicals we can't escape.

In this world we live in there is no place free of VOCs, parabens and pthalates , not even our own homes. Unless we educate ourselves about these chemical dangers we continue to bring them into our safe places. One friend had her carpets cleaned before Christmas, became ill with shortness of breath, and saw her doctor.

What did the doctor do? With this scenerio, doctors only know to give more chemicals (drugs) to counteract the poisoning by the chemicals in the carpet cleaner.

Where will it all end?

Human exposure and VOCs in fragranced consumer products

Human exposure studies, over the past two decades, have revealed widespread U.S. population exposure to VOCs and the largest contributors of VOCs to humans (nearly 90%) are rather small sources, largely unregulated, yet often within our control. In particular, fragrance compounds, used in a wide variety of consumer products, can be primary sources of human exposure toVOCs. (EPA, 1989; Sack et al., 1992; Wallace et al., 1991a; Cooper et al.,1992, 1995).

Visit The Canary Report to learn more about MCS.