Botton: I'm fuming mad over bad smells - News And Society

Opinions ? Guest Contributor

Overpowering fragrance has one public transportation user overwhelmed.

Recently, I was seated on a crowded bus to Manhattan from the New Paltz area, where I live. At one of the stops, as the procession of new riders snaked up the aisle, I tried to predict which of them would take the seat next to mine. I silently prayed: ?Please don?t let it be a stinker,? a strategy that sometimes works. Other times, not so much.

After craning his neck to see if there was another empty seat further back, a thirtyish man dressed in business attire parked himself next to me. In an instant, I was gasping for air.

It was a multifarious assault, a combination of body odor and antibacterial soap, with top notes of cologne. Apparently this man was a sweater; soap alone was no match for his stench. He thus found it necessary to douse himself in a musky fragrance, as if two olfactory wrongs made a right.

As my eyes started to tear and the back of my throat began to close, I stood up to assess whether there was a different seat I could relocate to. But all the seats were taken. I was stuck.

If it were up to me, no one would ever wear perfume, cologne or flowery powders ? the scourge of allergic people like me who just about go into anaphylactic shock within two blocks of a Sephora. I would never emerge from hugs with friends smelling like (and choking on) their favorite fragrance; my couch wouldn?t stink for days after they visited me.

I am not alone in this revulsion to strong personal smells: There is a burgeoning fragrance-free movement. According to a paper by Christy De Vader of Loyola College and Paxon Barker of the University of Maryland titled ?Fragrance in the Workplace is the New Second-Hand Smoke,? the fragrance-free movement stands to ?gain a quicker hold and garner more attention than did passive smoking,? and laws pertaining to safety regulations can be applied to limit fragrance exposure in the workplace.

?Men and women. . . . contribute their own personal ?chemical soup? to the general ?chemical soup? that the general public breathes,? they write. ?This use of personal care products containing synthetic fragrance creates a ?bubble? of toxins for the wearer that continues to emit toxins hours after the product was initially used.?

I was trapped in just such a bubble that day on the bus. I tried turning my head sharply to suck in the air from the row behind me through the small space between the chair back and the glass. But the man?s various smells followed my nose, enveloping me whole. Ultimately, I had no choice but to breathe through my mouth.

An hour-and-a-half later, I emerged from the bus into the Port Authority terminal lightheaded from mouth-breathing and in the throes of an allergy attack. To add insult to injury, my hair and clothes held on to his scents all night.

It?s hard to think of anything more selfish and rude. Allergies aside, what makes a person think anyone else would want to smell his or her perfume any more than we?d want to hear the music blaring in his or her headphones? Or breathe in cigarette smoke? If we can prohibit people from stinking up public parks with second-hand smoke, as Mayor Bloomberg would like to do, why not also prohibit them from also filling our lungs with the chemical toxins found in synthetic fragrances?

While I realize that a comprehensive fragrance ban would be ridiculous to enact and try to enforce, is it too much to ask that people forgo needlessly generous splashes of Acqua Di Gio and Euphoria?

Heavy fragrances are equivalent to air pollution, especially in public spaces. So how about a little consideration? That?d be a breath of fresh air.

Botton is a freelance writer living in Rosendale, N.Y.

Source: http://newsandsociety.org/botton-im-fuming-mad-over-bad-smells

survivor redemption island cast disney cruise pirates of the caribbean oklahoma city thunder kevin durant