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Shutesbury goes 'fragrance-free'



By SCOTT MERZBACH, Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 18, 2001 -- SHUTESBURY - Next Town Meeting, skip the musk aftershave and the flowery cologne. This town is making its public meetings "fragrance-free."

The effort, apparently a statewide first, seeks to inform residents that perfumes, colognes and aftershaves may harm others, says Town Administrator David Ames.

"It is a long process," said Ames, who suggested the idea to the Board of Selectmen in late August. "People don't normally think about a fragrance bothering other people."

Lorraine Greiff, director of the Massachusetts Office on Disability, said she is unaware of any other Massachusetts community taking this step. But her office, which assists people in dealing with various sensitivities, already conducts fragrance-free meetings and encourages employees not to use personal products that contain fragrance.

"I think it's just fantastic," Greiff said of Shutesbury's move. "There are so many people who have adverse effects to perfumes and strong fragrances."

Ames said he has received several calls thanking the town for the fragrance-free policy. In his job as both the town's administrator and coordinator for the American With Disabilities Act, Ames said he has seen residents who had to leave meetings, overcome by fragrances.

There are no penalties for wearing perfume or an enforcement mechanism. "I think it's an education, more than a restriction," Ames said. "We're certainly not going to smell people who come to meetings and say you can't come in."

Peggy Wolff, director of the Environmental Health Coalition of Western Massachusetts, said the decision benefits people who suffer from chemical sensitivity or allergies.

Wolff said awareness education is probably preferable to enforcement. She said fragrance-free products are becoming more widely available. The coalition is producing a brochure with information on issues such as scented dryer sheets and hair sprays, and to a lesser extent shampoos and soaps.

Wolff said fragrances contain volatile organic compounds that can be breathed or absorbed through the skin, causing nausea, headaches, dizziness and other assorted maladies. Their effect on individuals depends upon the immune and central nervous system.

"It's an access issue for people with multiple chemical sensitivity, as well as people with allergies and asthma," Wolff said. "It's as if you were in a wheelchair and there were no ramp."

Another frequent analogy is to second-hand cigarette smoke, which likely would prompt many to leave a room.

"Having been involved in ADA training, I've known that people have sensitivities to fragrances," Ames said.

In an August letter to all boards, committees and heads of departments, Ames wrote that meeting notices and legal ads will contain the words: "Call 259-1214 for special accommodations. Hearing is a fragrance-free zone."

Ames wrote that several Shutesbury residents have multiple chemical sensitivity: "We owe it to these residents to provide them with fragrance-free zones so that they may attend public hearings."

A sign stating that M.N. Spear Library is a fragrance-free building will soon be installed, with a sign expected to follow at Town Hall.

While Shutesbury may be at the forefront of local communities, it is not uncommon for some public events or private agencies to be fragrance-free.

Hampshire Fitness in Amherst and the Jewish Community Center are both fragrance-free. Safe Passage, an agency for battered women in Northampton, asks visitors and volunteers not to wear fragrances. And the Hilltown Choral Society's annual holiday concerts last year were advertised as fragrance-free.

Wolff said one city that has gone farther than Shutesbury is Halifax, Nova Scotia, which has declared itself a fragrance-free city.

Other accommodations have been made for allergy sufferers in public buildings. In Leverett, the Board of Health asked school officials not to put any permanent carpeting in classrooms because of potential harm from dirt trapped in the carpet and the toxicity of glue that would secure it.

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