Background: Nova Scotia has caught the attention of the fragrance industry because of our widespread scent free programs. The international media picked up on some exaggerated articles that claimed we have scent police, kick elderly ladies off busses & out of city hall, that a student was handed over to the RCMP & almost got a criminal record, that we believe DDT and perfume are the same, and many other twists of the truth!

Halifax City Hall, NS Tourism (vacationers fear being arrested!) NSAEHA and others spent much effort doing interviews and correcting the misinformation. Something good has come from this. There is now international awareness of the topic. We got calls internationally from those wanting to know how to get scent free programs in place.

Currently: The Canadian Cosmetics, Toiletry and Fragrance Association (CCTFA) sent out invitations to NS government and civic leaders and a few stakeholders for a meeting 8:30 to 10:30 Tuesday, June 20th for presentations by the industry and a question and answer period. They said they wanted an open forum for discussion with stakeholders on the scent issues. NSAEHA, CASLE, unions or others, were not invited, but they did invite Dr Fox, who declined, the Lung Association and Karen Robinson who declined for health reasons, but agreed to send a designated alternate. A call went out among our allies to be sure stakeholders knew what was happening, but also to call for help. Help came from EISC's Judy Spence (Ottawa) who contacted Albert Donnay and who then contacted Betty Bridges. (Betty Bridges of Fragrance Products Information Network, Virginia, USA and Albert Donnay of MCS Referral and Resources, Baltimore, MD, USA.) We met by phone to strategize the approach. So, the plan was to quietly set up a press conference of our own so as to be sure the health and safety etc. info was part of the day. We needed money to bring Betty and Judy and Albert here, and we needed a good plan.

EISC first met with CCTFA (last week) to request that their morning presentations be expanded to include our input). They declined. Then they declined our request for a round table discussion in the afternoon. Then they declined a public debate for the evening. The alternate press conference was the obvious choice, but we had to embargo the press releases so as to avoid counter actions.

There was a very busy week of preparation. Betty and her husband drove here from Virginia! Albert flew in the evening before - in time for the final press kit preparations and planning session at a barbecue at Eric's. Judith sent out the embargoed media releases bearing the logos of the four organizations, and we followed up with phone calls to alert the press. The only regret was that Judy couldn't come. She had been central to the planning stages.

On the day, Mr Low, president of the CCTFA said they were in Halifax to educate people on responsible perfume use. He said the industry recognizes some people claim to be very sensitive to fragrances, and he hopes they are getting medical treatment. He strongly suggest you wear perfume "responsibly" by keeping it within your "scent circle". (THAT would be a feat!) There was no acknowledgement, that I saw, of the prolific everyday use of fragrances in many products besides perfumes. They use no carcinogens or toxic chemicals, said Mr Low. They claim to test all fragrances, (but they don't make the tests or the ingredients public due to trade secrets). They are completely safe, said Mr Low. As safe as your food, said Mr Low. Safer than E.Coli or areas with high traffic death rates (!!), said another. Mr Low said their sales in NS had dropped but were now up to normal rates again (to suggest this tempest in a teapot has passed) and he explained away the scent programs here as fads!

They assert that it isn't a health and safety issue, but seem to ignore strong evidence to the contrary from many reputable sources. They do not make public their ingredients or details of their own testing. It seems they do not realize that "trust me" doesn't work very well since most of us have been around to witness the tobacco industry say "trust me, its safe" and same for silicon breast implant issue and lots of others.

There were two security guards outside the elevator and one in the hall outside the room! One of our people was walking along with a government dept rep who asked one of the guards why they were in the hotel "Is if because of the fragrance meeting??" affirmative. "But this is HALIFAX!" (incredulous).

Our NSAEHA team did us proud! Suits and suitcases and facts and figures and teamwork. NO one could call us rude or ill-informed or "activists" as the industry likes to do.

Ten media came to our press conference and that is a lot for Nova Scotia! Eric Slone, (who was voted our interim president at the last board meeting) was moderator and read the NSAEHA statement and EISC statement. Betty spoke well next and then Albert finished it off with style. They did a tremendous job. We can't thank them enough for coming here at considerable personal sacrifice and at short notice.

SO, we left our press conference to go to the CCTFA's and we were all stopped at the door! What was that about an open forum for dialogue? We had allowed them at our press conference. No matter. We had prepared the press well in our press conference with all the facts and questions they needed, and also several stayed afterward and kept Betty and Albert busy with interviews until 2:30!

There were interviews on CBC TV and ATV Live at Five, Shaw (Cable 10) will air theirs in Halifax in Saturday at 9:30, Sackville area Thursday 6pm, Friday 9:30am 12 noon and 5 pm. There were balanced articles in all 4 major papers: Chronicle Herald, Daily News, National Post and Globe and Mail. Canadian Press did one too. CBC radio did news clips all PM and I am not sure how long into the evening. CJCH interviewed Mr Low and Karen R. Wednesday a.m. and did clips in each news broadcast over the morning. I did not hear if other radio stations did pieces.

The CCTFA has announced a major public awareness campaign here for the next month. Please write or call into media when you see misinformation, or to give positive feedback. Scent free programs benefit all of us and all help is needed to keep the progress we have made these past years.

P.S. how heartwarming it was to have donations from $100 to $500 US even, coming in from all over North America from groups and individuals who share our fight, who recognized this was important, and who are rooting for us. We need NEVER feel alone out here hanging off the edge of the continent. We could use more help to cover the costs. Still need about $400.00....

Please mail your donations, marked "Halifax Scent Action" or something similar, to

EISC,
536 Dovercourt Ave.
Ottawa, Ontario, K2A 0T9.
A tax receipt will be issued to you.