Editorial | What the smell is going on?

— by Lin McNulty, Editor, Orcas Issues —

Step through the door of any store — even on our pure island — and you may be met by odors that either you like or not, notice or not, or might immediately put you in respiratory distress.

If you step into a bakery, you probably would not be thrown aback by the smell of freshly-baked bread; it would well be enticing. If you enter a cafe that specializes in deep-fried fish and oily fries, it would not be unexpected to smell that one even before you walk in the door.

Orcas Issues recently published a piece from Jeff Bossler calling our attention to the outside air quality in our corner of the world. There is obvious worldwide concern about the outside air we breathe.

But outside air is not all we breathe. And there are many of us making our indoor air as toxic as possible with products that promise to bring the freshness of outdoors to your home — whatever that may mean.

Perfumes, colognes, dryer sheets, hair spray, scented candles, air “fresheners,” and even a before-you-go toilet spray have marketed their way into our daily living. What are we trying to cover up with these scents? I have left a local business simply because there was somebody in there reeking of perfume.

Give me a break; if we can all acknowledge that our outside air may not be all that healthy for us, how can we, then, consciously fill our homes and businesses with scents that may be just as deadly.

At the same time how can local businesses assault customers with stinky chemicals? Business owners, please take a long sniff at what you are putting out there, especially businesses that rely on a sensitive or compromised patronage.