Bill seeks common scents when wearing fragrance

Updated: March 11, 2008 - 1:45 AM

Bill would back anti-fragrance campaign in schools.

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Listen, kid: She's not into you. And no amount of body spray or cologne is going to change that.

Cheeky commercials for Axe body spray promise the product will be an irresistible draw to the ladies. But a lot of boys who use such sprays, and girls who lather on perfume, don't understand how a little of the stuff goes a long way.

On Monday, Rep. Karen Clark, DFL-Minneapolis, introduced a bill that would ask those folks to consider the effects of such scents on others.

"It's a voluntary opportunity for schools to do an educational campaign on why they might want to limit and phase out fragrances in the schools," Clark said.

The bill calls for the education and health commissioners to pick school districts on a voluntary basis to develop language for an anti-fragrance educational campaign that would include letters to parents, fact sheets, websites and e-mail.

Fragrances are increasingly a problem for people with environmental sensitivities, allergies and asthma, Clark said.

She said she was approached about the bill by an administrator and students from Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis. She credited the students with steering the project to an awareness campaign rather than an outright ban on fragrances.

"They were very wise. They said: Our peers won't stop wearing perfume because somebody tells them they have to," she said.

ERIC M. HANSON