Title: Strong fragrance and perfumes in washing detergents and other laundry products

Autistic individual

Experience

I try to go for a walk in the woods at least two times a week. This is a place with a gorge with a fast running river that comes from the hills, with thick forest on either side and countryside beyond that. It should be a place where a person can take a walk and enjoy fresh air from the trees and the river. I go in the morning and I can tell that the air is fresh, or at least it should be fresh. If there are no people there I can smell the lovely subtle smells that come from nature. But most mornings the air is tinted with the smell from people's fragrances. I can smell even if someone has passed 10 or 15 minutes earlier as the perfume smells get trapped in pockets of air and linger for a long time. These perfume smells are usually from the washing detergents that they use to wash their clothes, as well as the fabric "conditioners" or "softeners" and, worst of all, "scent boosters" designed to last and last. Some brands are stronger and more permanent than others, but they all taint the air, so I can no longer smell the river, or the trees, or the moss and earth and leaves underfoot. The nature smells make me feel happy and alive but the human chemical fragrance smells make me feel anxious and nauseous. The worst ones burn my throat and my nose. When I get closer to the people I feel panicky as the smell gets more and more overpowering, as though there is no space left in the air where the smell isn't. I sometimes have to cover my face as I walk past, this makes me feel embarrassed and awkward. It is strange that they seem so at ease in the cloud of strong perfume that surrounds them, strange that it does not also burn their nose and throat or sting their eyes. Strange that they do not themselves yearn for fresh air and to smell the forest that they have come to walk in. Modern laundry products have a stronger smell than they used to and the fragrances are also designed to be more persistent and enduring than they used to be. Even the stream close to where I live smells of these fragrances downstream of where the "treated" sewage is discharged into the water.

What could have made the experience better?

I don't think it's necessary to make these fragrances so strong, in fact I am sure it is harmful for people's health to be breathing this in all the time. When the air and the rivers smell of perfume then it has gone too far. We need clean air and clean water to live a healthy life on this planet. So do all the other creatures who live here. Manufacturers should not be allowed to make such strongly scented products. I think people have become desensitised to them which is why they make them stronger and stronger all the time. My experience of the whole world would be better if these fragrances did not fill the spaces where other people are. It's another reason why I avoid being in a space with other people. My tips for other people who experience the same thing is always to have with you a scarf or a neck gaiter made from natural fibres, so when you are forced to be or pass through somewhere with a strong and unpleasant smell, you can cover your face. I have a cotton scarf and a merino wool "buff" which definitely helps to filter some of the fragrance away. But sometimes I feel frustrated when the entire forest is polluted by these smells, I feel as though the right to clean air and to smell the pure forest smells has been taken from me by companies who do not care about the impact of their products. I think clean fresh air should be a right for all humans that we should try to protect. There are lots of things that we can choose not to do, but choosing not to breathe is not one of them.