By Ron McGrath

I recently wrote an article about living with environmental illness (“Vendor Voices”, Megaphone #43, November 27, 2009) and the feedback from my customers has been overwhelming. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the condition, environmental illness is basically an extreme sensitivity to the environment around me, especially when it comes to fragrance and scent.

The article was well received and some customers have told me they never realized using perfume could have that affect on people, others have shared that they also have a friend who is sensitive to fragrance.

A few people mentioned that entering a certain cosmetic soap store on Robson Street gives them an instant headache. I don’t know how people can work there since, even when the doors are closed at night, you can still smell the fragrance outside the store. Even a waitress at a nearby coffee shop told me she can tell who works at the soap store from the smell on their clothes.

Many people don’t realize that environmental illness exists because the topic doesn’t get enough attention and people who live with the disease are not taught about prevention. Stricter laws on the chemicals we use are long overdue.

For instance, cleaner solutions in plastic bottles with triggers, which you find in most restaurants, can be hazardous. Kids working at our local restaurants like to think they’re a toy, and I have witnessed two teens spraying each other in the eyes. The amazing thing is that it goes unreported to the restaurant managers.

About two years ago a waitress in a restaurant told me she had an awful headache in the centre of her forehead. I always tried to stay away from this particular woman because I knew she was a fragrance user. Sure enough, after collecting my coffee I suddenly had a pain right in the centre of my forehead—in the exact spot she had pointed to on her head. This headache was surely due to the perfume she was wearing.

My objective is to bring awareness of the everyday chemicals we use and the harms of being exposed to them. I also want people to know that there are alternative products we can use to help change our lives and make this a more environmentally friendly world.

Ron McGrath sells Megaphone at the corner of Cambie and 8th