What is a ‘Fragrance Free’ Zone ?

Fragrance Free zones and buildings are areas where people are prohibited from wearing or using any product that contains a scent. The list of banned items includes cologne, aftershave, air fresheners, incense, and anything else designed to produce an odor, even if the odor the product produces is marketed as a ‘good’ one. Also banned are a wide range of products whose primary purpose is not to produce a scent but that are sold in scented versions. Examples of such items include: hair-spray, laundry and hand soap, hand lotions, fabric softener, shampoo and conditioners, make-up, cleaning products, and many, many more.

It is not enough to merely avoid applying or using these products inside the fragrance free area you enter. If you are going to be entering a fragrance free area anytime during the day, then you must not use any scented products anytime that day. Using a scented conditioner after a morning shower and then going to a fragrance free doctor’s office in the afternoon is a ‘No-No’.

Is This ‘Fragrance Free’ Stuff a Bit ‘Over The Top’ ?

It took years of indifference before the world began to awake to the dangers of second hand cigarette smoke. But it finally happened. The harmful contents of second hand smoke are now widely acknowledged for what they are: a danger to everyone’s health. ‘Fragrances’ on the other hand are still thought of by most people as something desirable. Perfumes and colognes are meant to attract members of the opposite sex. Air fresheners are meant to replace ‘bad’ smells with ‘good’ ones. The irony is that, like cigarette smoke, virtually all scented products are ‘bad’.

What makes it possible for humans to smell these products is the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) they contain. Lo and behold, VOCs are what make up the gaseous portion of cigarette smoke. What most people call an ‘air freshener’ is more correctly described as a mixture of chloromethane, 1,4-dioxane, acetone, acetaldehyde and several dozen other chemicals with tongue-twister names. In the U.S. and most other countries, there are no laws to require that these contents be displayed on the label. This lack of disclosure does not change the fact that many of them are known to be carcinogenetic. “Fragrance” is a dangerous and misleading word for describing these products. That said, the term is loved by marketers since it implies something good rather than reflecting the serious health dangers of the products they’re selling.

Why Is ‘Self-Policing’ Important ?

In societies where workplaces, public buildings and public transportation have become ‘smoke free’ zones, ‘cigarette cops’ are no longer needed. Public ostracism and the nasty looks brought about by lighting a cigarette within a smoke free zone are enough to intimidate all but the most hardened smoker. The same restraints don’t affect people who chose to ignore the no-fragrances rules. This is partly because most people don’t yet accept the health dangers of ‘fragrances’ and partly because there is no visible sign when a fragrance is being worn. If someone comes into a movie theater, sits next to you and lights up a cigarette, they won’t be long getting ejected. If someone enters a fragrance free movie theater and sits down beside you smelling like they spilled a bottle of perfume over themselves, changes are your only option is to move yourself to a different part of the theater.

Continue reading at: Advice.com