This is actually a steadily growing problem, and not exclusive to people who attend Kingdom Halls.
At all of the hospitals where I have trained and worked, there is a fragrance-free policy. It's difficult to enforce, naturally, because people automatically assume that fragrance-free means body odour.
Environmental sensitivities and allergies are becoming more and more common. The ductwork and ventilation systems of older buildings (like the 85 year old hospital where I work) are loaded with nasty stuff. Birds like pigeons roost and nest in the vents to the outside. At least 2 or 3 times a year, my colleagues and I have had to shoo bats away from patient corridors and find a way to catch them. You can rest assured (or not!) with the knowledge that if bats have found their way into a building, their excrement is around too. Not to mention what chemicals filter into the ventilation system from the labs and the morgue. We breathe the dust from all this crap and it's no wonder people become sick.
At the age of 38, I'm finding that there are some patient rooms that I simply cannot enter without my eyes starting to burn and water. If the oncoming staff at change of shift approaches me after having recently sprayed their hair with something to keep it in place, or has put on perfume, it only takes a few seconds and my eyes start burning and watering, my nose becomes congested and I begin coughing. If the exposure is longer than a few minutes, I end up with a migraine.
I had similar problems when we installed new carpeting in our home. Thank goodness it was summertime and we could air out the carpet smell over the course of a couple of weeks.
I'd probably not be able to make it through a meeting at the Kingdom Hall these days. You just can't convince people to stop wearing perfume because it renders someone else breathless. In a poorly ventilated, windowless environment (which is what most modern Kingdom Halls are) there is no relief for someone with fragrance allergies. Having to be in that environment for up to 2½ hours at a time would be torture for me now. You can't control what someone in front of you or behind you is going to be wearing. The brothers with the roving microphones are the worst as their cologne wafts past you as they march up and down the aisles to do their part.
While I'm not discounting your 'suggestion' that some people might be feigning an allergic condition to get out of having to attend meetings, Metatron, the problem is a lot more serious than you (evidently someone who is unaffected) believe it to be.
Here's a brief synopsis of items that can trigger MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) in the article that follows:
http://healing.about.com/library/weekly/aa010119b.htm
Perfumed fragrances are just the tip of the iceburg among the chemicals we are exposed to on a daily basis that can be categorized as irritants. Everywhere we go we are confronted with a variety of man-made products and waste by-products that have the potential to insult our senses. Here is a short list:
gasoline
diesel exhaust
acetone
fabric softeners,
scented laundry detergents
acetate (often in hairspray)
nail polish paints
magic markers
carpet solvents
deodorized cat litter
scented shampoos and conditioners
propane/butane
cigarette smoke
bug spray
furniture polish
mothballs
Adrienne Buffaloe, MD, medical director of New York City's first chemical-free Environmental Medicine Center reports in her article entitled It's a Serious Problem More Often Than You Think!!! that there are over 70,000 chemicals commercially produced in the United States alone. Pretty mind-boggling. Needless to say, our earth is filled with man-made compotents that are potentially harmful to our bodies and well-being.
Those afflicted by chemical sensitivities experience very real consequences. And although the medical community is now diagnosing more cases of MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitiviy) globally the treatment is is not fully recognized as a clinical syndrome by mainstream medical practitioners.
I know you were being facetious when you 'suggested' that it was an easy way out of going to meetings, Metatron. But people who do that are doing a disservice to those of us who truly do experience physical hardship of this kind. I'm glad you've been spared from it because it means that you can do things that I used to take for granted, like taking my kids to a crowded movie theatre and not having to think about sitting close to an exit in case I need to step out for a breath of air or to go and rinse my eyes.
Love, Scully
It is not persecution for an informed person
to expose a certain religion as being false. - WT 11/15/63
A religion that teaches lies cannot be true. -WT 12/1/91
