ST. MARYS — The first day back for Elk County Catholic School System students on Tuesday started like any other.
Children boarded buses and swapped summer stories. Teachers launched into lessons and classrooms roared to life after a long summer lull.
Less prevalent were the aromatic staples associated with adolescence — perfume, cologne and body spray — which the Elk County Catholic School System now encourages students to forgo as part of a new fragrance-free school policy meant to reduce health risks linked to the use of artificially scented products.
President Sam McDonald said the policy is an attempt to minimize what he calls “indoor air pollution” and associated health maladies like asthma and allergies triggered by second-hand exposure to “high intensity” fragrances.
These items include perfume, deodorants and body spray typically marketed to teens with names like “Anarchy” and “Hot Fever” and equally assertive smells.
The school system’s new fragrance-free policy asks students, staff, and visitors use unscented personal care products and avoid scented hand sanitizers, cologne, perfume, scented lotions, hair products, candles, air fresheners, and plug-ins. All teachers, students, and staff members are asked not to bring cleaning products, deodorizers or other personal care products into the classroom unless they are identified as fragrance-free, according to the Elk County Catholic School System website.
McDonald said the policy was inspired by the American Lung Association and a nationwide trend away from aromatics due to associated health risks.
In the Elk County Catholic School System, McDonald said the products have sickened employees and students alike, triggering headaches and breathing problems, causing some to miss work and school.
It is those clinical reactions that McDonald said prompted the district to implement the fragrance-free policy.
“It was brought up to us by people within the school who had some issues with regard to clinical reactions to the chemicals found in a lot of scents,” McDonald said. “We looked into it and it turns out more serious than that.”
The issue has even spawned legislative attempts in Pennsylvania to ban perfumed body spray in schools after a high school student suffered a severe reaction to the smell of Axe Body Spray.
Far from attempting to stifle individuality or hygiene, McDonald said the district is simply working to provide a risk-free work and school environment and points to schools, churches, hospitals and businesses across the country doing the same.
“Sometimes the air pollution inside buildings is quite worse than outside,” he added.
As would be expected, there has been concern expressed by parents of Elk County Catholic School System students, and complaints from the students themselves.
McDonald is quick to define the policy as a request, not a mandate, saying, “There won’t be police going around sniffing at people and making sure their laundry detergent is correct.”
For parents who have stockpiled their houses full of brightly-scented products like laundry detergents and soaps, McDonald said there is no punishment for use of scented products, adding, “This is about bending the curve and making them more aware of what they put on and how it can impact other people.”
While some might scoff at the actual impact of “second-hand scenting,” McDonald said the issue presents real health risks to those prone to unpleasant reactions.
The American Lung Association, which provided the template for the Elk County Catholic School System policy, said there are many people who experience unpleasant physical effects from scented products and a growing number of people who suffer more severe reactions to these types of products and chemicals. This condition is known as multiple chemical sensitivities and involves people who have developed an acute sensitivity to various chemicals in the environment, the American Lung Association template reads. It goes on to state that people with multiple chemical sensitivities experience a range of debilitating physical reactions, some even life-threatening, to chemicals used in a variety of scented materials, including fragrances and chemical products.
“This is not something that’s made up. I have people with written notes from doctors excusing them from work or going to a pulmonary specialist in Pittsburgh,” McDonald said. “Some people are annoyed by heavy scents, but this is not for them. This is for people with a clinical reaction to those things. It’s real and exists and we’re trying our best to make a healthy and safe environment for those people.”
High schools in America are certainly heavily scented spaces where artificial fragrances compete with natural pheromones, gym socks and teen spirit.
While McDonald views a totally fragrance-free environment in the Elk County Catholic School System as unlikely, if nothing else he hopes to get everyone to “tone it down a bit.”
He also hopes that allergies and aversions to personal fragrances will someday become as socially accepted as those associated with certain foods and second-hand smoke.
After a few weeks, McDonald said the district will review its fragrance-free environment policy, gauging reaction and impact as it moves forward.
McDonald said it will discuss the policy with parents, adding that students can also make their feelings on the issue known through their student government and communicating with administrators.
