Every holiday season, many public spaces decorate, play music, and create atmosphere — but lately, a disturbing trend has started creeping into malls, airports, train stations, and stores: commercial scent diffusion.
This winter, a petition surfaced about Bath & Body Works pumping high-intensity fragrance chemicals into New York’s Grand Central Terminal — affecting tens of thousands of commuters. Whether you’ve seen the petition or experienced similar exposures yourself, this situation raises an important question:
Should any public place be allowed to force fragrance chemicals into the air — especially in a crowded environment where people cannot leave?
Why Forced Fragrance Exposure Is a Problem
For most people, a strong perfume is “annoying.”
For those with conditions like MCS, MCAS, asthma, migraines, or chemical sensitivities, it can mean:
- Chest tightness
- Burning throat
- Head pressure
- Dizziness
- Heart palpitations
- Cognitive fog
- Triggers for anxiety or PTSD
- Full asthma attacks
This isn’t about “disliking smells.”
It’s a physiological reaction to VOCs (volatile organic compounds) found in synthetic fragrances.
VOCs Are Not Harmless
The World Health Organization warns that exposure to fragrance VOCs can:
- Reduce lung function
- Increase airway inflammation
- Trigger headaches
- Worsen asthma
- Contribute to long-term respiratory disease
And the CDC reports that 40% of Americans experience health problems around fragranced products — even more among people with respiratory or neurological conditions.
So when a corporation pumps these chemicals into a major transit hub, a mall, or a movie theater, they’re not creating “holiday cheer.”
They’re creating a barrier to accessibility.
Public Spaces Should Be Safe for Everyone
People with invisible illnesses already struggle with:
- avoiding scented stores
- avoiding cleaning chemical exposure
- avoiding perfume clouds in elevators
- struggling to breathe on airplanes or buses
But Grand Central is not a private store. It’s a public transportation hub, with no fragrance warnings, disclosures, or opt-out options.
The petition raises legitimate concerns about:
- Accessibility under the ADA
- Health risks from undisclosed chemical diffusion
- Exposure for children, elderly commuters, and vulnerable populations
- The precedent this sets for future public-space marketing campaigns
Whether or not you agree with the petition fully, its core message is important:
Public spaces should not knowingly create health barriers for vulnerable people.
Why This Matters for the MCS and Invisible Illness Community
If we want society to understand MCS, asthma, MCAS, and chemical sensitivity, we have to highlight real examples of how daily life becomes unsafe.
This isn’t a political issue.
It’s not an attack on brands.
It’s about a basic principle:
Breathing shouldn’t be optional.
And no commercial company should profit by making essential public spaces inaccessible.
Learn More or Take Action
If you want to read more about the issue, the petition is here:
https://www.change.org/p/ban-the-bath-body-works-holiday-chemicals-being-pumped-into-grand-central
It’s up to each reader whether they choose to sign — my goal is to raise awareness about the real-life impact of fragrance diffusion on people with invisible illnesses.
If you want more background on how scents affect daily life with MCS, I wrote a full guide here:
When Scents Make You Sick: Living With MCS in a Scent-Soaked World
