Stink Over Perfume at Detroit Workplace

(CBS)  Sometimes scents can be overpowering. A Detroit woman sued the city after she claimed she couldn't work due to her colleague's perfume.

CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano reported on "The Early Show" that city employee Susan McBride complained she was "chemically sensitive" and a co-worker's perfume and room deodorizer made it difficult for her to breathe and do her job -- so much so that she suffered migraines, nausea and coughing.

Ann Curry Thompson, McBride's attorney, told CBS News, "You can't come into a workplace loaded in one of these so-called designer perfumes that broadcasts itself across the room."

McBride won a $100,000 settlement. Detroit city employees in the three buildings where McBride works are now being warned not to wear scented products, including colognes, aftershave, perfumes, and deodorants, or even use candles and air fresheners.

Thompson said, "When you have a stated policy in the workplace, it gives an employee something to point to."

Joelle Sharman, a labor and employment lawyer, said on "The Early Show" an employee would have to prove that a scent actually had a health effect on his or her person to make a case.

She said, "If I triggered a condition that caused substantially something to interfere with your ability to perform in the workplace, if I interfered with your ability to work or ability to breathe, then, yes, and you reported it to your employer, then the employer would have to respond."

"Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith asked if an employer has the right to tell a person they can't use cologne or perfume.

Sharman responded, "A person doesn't necessarily have a right to wear perfume, but the person does have a right to be able to breathe in the workplace. So if an employee comes into work and says to his or her boss, 'I can't breathe, this perfume is triggering a condition that is affecting my ability to breathe in the workplace,' and reports to his or her boss, the boss has to reasonably accommodate that person."

Smith said as he read up on the case, it looks like the boss didn't respond to the complaints.

Sharman added, "The boss did not engage in the interactive process. Had he just communicated with the employee, explored the options, all of this may have been avoided."

However, an employee shouldn't just say another employee stinks, Sharman said.

"I don't think that would be the appropriate approach," she said. "I would go to a person's boss and say, 'The smell is affecting the way I'm breathing. It's causing an allergy or it's affecting my breathing. It's interfering with my ability to work. Can you accommodate me, please?'"

[bmtxmale]

try sitting on an airplane for 6 hours near someone who bathed in perfume. light a cigerette in an airplane and you will go to jail for it. but smelling this swill is ok? where is the justice in this?

[EpiCleora]

Thankfully, this issue is finally being brought to the public?s attention. I?ve suffered from this problem for years (extreme physical reactions to synthetic fragrance). It is truly life changing, and can be debilitating. Worst of all, it is humiliating when no one takes it seriously. Honestly, it would be easier to have cancer, as no one questions the validity of your condition and there is medical treatment available.

I used to adore scented products of all sorts; candles, air fresheners, dryer sheets, you name it. I wore loads of perfume, and even topped it off with scented lotion and powders so it would stay on for a long time wore on. My mother would complain about it and I (sadly, in retrospect) didn?t respect her feelings. That is, until I became ultra sensitive to synthetic fragrances myself. I began to feel nauseated and almost faint everytime 2 of my co-workers arrived in the office. Then, the sensitivity spread to where I reacted adversely to most chemicals: Lysol, Tilex, almost every after shave and perfume, deodorants, etc. It got so bad I couldn?t go to the office and had to work from home, and I stopped going to public places. Shopping in the mall was out of the question. Visitors to my home were (and still are) asked NOT to wear any fragrance at all. It was and still is horrible.

I wish people would stop and think about how fragrance can adversely affect others. It?s not like food allergies where you can simply stop eating what you are allergic to, or look the other way if you don?t like what someone is wearing. In other words, we all have to share the air and it?s not like we can stop breathing.

There is second hand smoke, and there is also second hand fragrance. As much as I hate smoke, interestingly strong perfumes are even worse.

[mernerha]

Hi. I just wanted to say that I am happy to see that people are trying to understand and appreciate the needs of those with multiple chemical sensitivity. There is a professor with MCS at the University I attend and she has been an idol for me for the past year and a half. She has advocated for those with MCS and has done a great amount of research. I am happy to see that she has not let her MCS stop her from doing what she loves and she is determined to make sure others with MCS do not as well. No one should have to suffer in their workplace just because someone else wants to "smell good."

[Rodschild]

Hello, my name is Susan Blackley. I have a wonderful friend that suffers from MCS. This condition is not being taken seriously throughout the medical community.

At the very least, this condition is life altering. At the other end of the spectrum, it is life threatening.

My friend has not been able to come to my house for a visit. I heat with oil, my back up heat is propane. Additionally, even with all the windows open in the summer months, if there is any painting or any other home improvements going on, visitation is impossible.

We meet at the only place that is safe for her. The coffee shop is underground so the heat doesn't have to be turned on. In the summer months we sit outside and it is much better.

I have a sensivity to only certain chemicals. These chemicals would be found in bath and other scent oriented stores. Additionally, certain chemicals that would be found in fabric stores.

I burn no candles and if I have to introduce fabrics of any sort into my house, they have to be aerified for several days.

I'm lucky. I can go and do as I like. People with MCS are very restricted.

By the way, Pam Gibson is the friend.

Susan Blackley

[pgibson93]

Hello my name is Pam Gibson and I have researched the life impacts of multiple chemical sensitivity since 1992 in an academic setting. My research participants are from all walks of life and include teachers, chemists, homemakers, students, and many others. Two thirds of my respondents are unemployed due to chemical exposures in the workplace, lack of work accommodations, and harassment from superiors and co-workers. Few are treated legally and fairly despite the fact that serious sensitivities are covered by the ADA. In addition, people with MCS lack safe access to physicians? offices, community buildings, grocery stores, higher education, and parks due the chemicals present in each of these settings and the lack of understanding by others. Most people would not want to live a life where they were unable to buy their own food, get safe dental treatment, go to a public park, or have an income. Yet every time someone wears perfume in public it lingers and makes that public space unusable by people with sensitivities. Thank you to everyone who is trying to understand this disability and please visit my research website at www.mcsresearch.net if you would like to see our articles and conference papers on MCS.

[JMUBrat]

This is a very serious problem. Chemicals are a problem and are in our everyday world. I have done extensive research on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, know people who have it severely, and also have it myself to an extent. I cannot stand to be around someone's perfume and I (and everyone else) have the right to breathe CLEAN air. Most people would agree that smokers should not be allowed to blow smoke in other people's faces....this is the same thing. They are chemicals that cause that smell....chemicals that then end up in your respiratory system and then wreak havoc on the rest of your body. All people are affected by chemicals on some level.....your health is suffering everyday due to exposure to chemicals. People with MCS just have more severe reactions that are debilitating. A person has the RIGHT to go to work and not be made SICK from toxins.

Another poster made a rather rude and ignorant comment regarding this being the process of natural selection. This has nothing to do with natural selection. Natural selection involves the process of NATURALLY (hence the term "natural" selection) weeding out weaker genes. And if we were going to make that argument, then the people with MCS actually have the stronger genes.....the rest of the population is going to have a problem. If you think about it from a SURVIVAL standpoint (which is where natural selection originates from), the people with MCS have reactions to poisons, toxins, chemicals, etc and therefore AVOID them to keep from becoming ill. The rest of the people, continue to come in contact with toxins, such as perfume, all the time. These toxins are killing them slowly and they do not know it. So who will end up prevailing in the game of survival? The people who stay away from what is killing them.

Make no mistakes. Perfume is a chemical. People should be aware of what they breathe and touch....what they allow their children to be around. There is a reason cancer rates are increasing.....70% of cancers are preventable. What is the cause? Poor diet and exposure to chemicals.

Kudos to Susan McBride for taking this to court and making people more aware.

[bhappy2-2]

Some people truly are sensitive to scents. My sister-in-law is; my brother no longer wears aftershave/cologne and only uses unscented deodorant products because of her sensitivities. Others just use it as an excuse. Several years ago the company I worked for did a renovation in a government building. One morning as we walked by to start work one of the women working in the building got up from her desk, walked to her supervisor and told him "Whatever those guys have in that bucket is making me sick. I'm going home until they are through". Her boss then came to us and told us "Whatever you have in that bucket is making people sick. You'll have to take that out of here and find something else to use". They guy carrying the bucket set it down, asked if he meant 'that' bucket and, after being told yes, dipped his hand into the bucket and proceeded to drink the water from the bucket. We then told him it was only water and it had came from a tap in his building. He called his worker on her cell phone and told her to get back to work; the water in the bucket wouldn't hurt her. She got angry and was down right rude to us for the remained of our work in the building; we had caused her to lose a day off with pay. Her boss was just as angry that one of his workers would stoop to such levels just to get a day off. Since those working for the government have found they can get away with this most do not hesitate to use it as an excuse to go home early or to just not show up.

[barbaram99]

We were in Macy's in the dept where they sell perfumes. I noticed a bowl of coffee beans..I asked the lady why.. She told me the reason. It made sense. I have walked by cars that stink. It is what comes out the tail pike..Manners state it is rude to tell a person they stink,,It could be food eaten,perfumes, etc..There are some perfumes that are over powering.. To find unstented items cost more. Some women feel that wear perfume is part of the female thing.

[Tunafish2010]

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) is NOT an allgergy. It is a physical reaction to low level chemicals which are off-gassing toxins into the environment. I developed MCS after my immune system became weak from an infected root canal tooth that I lived with in my mouth for almost ten years because it was never diagnosed - it almost destroyed my immune system. I was in my mid-fifties at the time and had no idea what was wrong with me, since I never had any problems with teeth or with working in offices before. After my root canal I became sensitive to formaldehyde, then things like air fresheners, colognes, Lysol aerosol sprays, etc. - things found in offices. My firm remodeled its office and I became extremely sick from the new carpets, paint and furniture. The longer one is exposed to low level chemicals on a daily basis, like at work where windows can't be opened and the air circulation is terrible, the worse one becomes. My doctors didn't have a clue what was wrong with me. I had to figure it out myself by going online and Googling my symptoms. I learned that each person's body has a different capability to "detoxify" toxins we drink and inhale. It has to do with our liver function and whether our bodies possess enough of the right enzymes and other things to combat toxins. Some of us once did, but due to daily toxic exposures and/or illnesses that weaken our immune systems, we start to run out of those bodily defenses necessary to help us survive in a toxic world. I became so bad that I couldn't even walk into a Home Depot, a dry cleaners, people's homes, etc. because of chemical off-gassing. I decided to read as much as possible on MCS and detoxification and, while I am not totally cured, I have reduced my reactions to low level chemicals by doing the following: Drinking only filtered water, eating only organic foods - nothing processed. Taking supplements that encourage liver and other organ cleansing (because toxins are stored in organs and fat), cleaning out my gut by doing at-home colon cleanses and then going for colonics. Also, I do a lot of sweating in far infrared saunas which helps eliminate stored toxins in fat. The key is to educate oneself about this illness. Once toxins can be removed from the body, the body can begin to heal itself and thus remove stored toxins more naturally with encouragement from supplements. Naturopathic physicians know a lot about treating people with MCS and other environmentally-caused issues. So do DAN (Defeat Autism Now) doctors because they use methods to treat autism by removing toxins including heavy metals like lead and mercury, from the body. Most people are just plain ignorant about MCS and think people that react to perfumes, cleansers, etc. just do not like the smell. That is WRONG. Our bodies just react in wierd ways to toxins because we don't have strong detoxifying systems and we have no control over that. My MCS symptoms included ringing in my ears, weakness, nausea and motion sickness, burning in my eyes nose and chest, to name a few. Sometimes it would take me several days to get over an exposure. MCS is no fun, esp. when you are the only one in a group of people who reacts. It spoils travel plans because many hotel rooms are full of chemicals on carpets, etc. Airplanes contain contaminated air. We never know when we are traveling to new destinations what awaits us at the other end. I once had to go to three different hotels in the middle of the night after arriving late in a city, and ask if I could "sniff" their guest rooms before I found one that didn't make me sick. Surprisingly, the front office staff were aware of MCS and very understanding, even telling me they see that a lot. Believe me, this is not a fun way to live.

[ClownsOnLeft_Jokers2Right]

In my younger years I had to quit a night job driving a limo because of this. Everyone that went out on the town for the night would literally douse themselves in so much stink before they got in the car, I would be gagging and tasting it in my mouth by the time I dropped them off. It's really amazing that I never passed out at the wheel. It's also impossible to get that stink out of the car, that's why limos smell the way they do when you crawl in.

[erasmus111]

by ClownsOnLeft_Jokers2Right March 17, 2010 4:15 AM EDT
...and tasting it in my mouth...


That's what happens to me. I taste it in my mouth.