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Hello from Alison Johnson

 

The wave image above is the title screen of the 2018 film that I have produced and directed in order to call attention to a condition that is devastating the lives of millions of Americans. To view the film, visit http://www.chemicalsensitivityfoundation.org.

Some might consider fragrance sensitivity to be a minor annoyance, but for a rapidly increasing number of people it is a life-altering condition that is causing them to drop out of the workforce because they experience strong symptoms like migraines or asthma attacks when they are exposed to fragrances.

This blog will contain posts covering a variety of topics related to fragrance sensitivity and the encompassing condition known as multiple chemical sensitivity. Some posts will be stories from people whose lives have been hugely disrupted by exposure to fragrances and other frequently encountered strong chemicals. Other posts will describe important research about fragranced products and various toxic chemicals. Some posts will consider the role of fragranced products in exacerbating, or in some cases indeed producing, major health problems like asthma and migraines. Other posts will describe the ways in which the Chemical Sensitivity Foundation, which I founded in 2001, is working to influence members of Congress, state legislators, governors, and physicians.

My foundation has launched a campaign to move America (and indeed the world) toward establishing more fragrance-free workplaces, apartment buildings, schools, places of worship, and medical facilities. The cornerstone of this campaign is my recently completed film, Fragrance-Free Workplaces: Wave of the Future? This film can be played on the website chemicalsensitivityfoundation.org or on my personal website, alisonjohnsonmcs.com, which contains detailed information about the many books I have written and the documentaries I have produced and directed on the topic of multiple chemical sensitivity. All my documentaries can be played on the latter site.

In my Fragrance-Free Workplaces film, viewers will encounter the following:

  • A nurse who is a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War and has to struggle on the job with migraines brought on by exposure to perfume worn by other staff members
  • A folk singer whose promising career has been severely limited by her extreme sensitivity to fragrances
  • A New Jersey man who starts to cough and choke when he is exposed to fragrances or fabric softeners. Unfortunately, the hospitals and medical offices near his home use air fresheners. His wife, a former nurse, describes on the film how she cannot even take him to the emergency room in their area during one of his severe attacks because that ER uses air fresheners that will exacerbate his dangerous coughing spasms.
  • The director of a nursing home who explains how she has successfully established a fragrance-free policy in that facility.