Editor:
I’d like to know who the ding-dong was who decided it was a good idea to put scent into hand sanitizers?
Not just an ordinary scent, either - it’s an atomic scent. It’s a scent you can’t wash off with ordinary soap and water. You can’t even get it off with Mr. Clean and, believe me, I’ve tried.
The only way to get rid of this stuff is to let it wear off naturally or rub your hands raw, with successively caustic solutions, until you ultimately win.
Every place I go, I am directed to spritz my hands with their special brand of stink when I go in and when I go out, until by the time I am finished running my errands, I can’t stand to be in the same room with myself.
Lord help me if I am trying to eat a meal with that smell on my hands. Every time I wave my hands past my face, my eyes burn, I sneeze into my mask and I feel nauseous, sometimes even a little unsteady on my feet. What is the purpose of this? Who does it serve? What is the benefit?
We don’t need scent in hand sanitizer. We are trying to sanitize our hands, not stink them up. Manufacturers need to stop putting scent in everything and if you are going to use scented hand sanitizer in your establishment, do not insist that I spritz myself with it.
Some people are deathly allergic to scents. Some people can have anaphylactic-like symptoms or asthma attacks when exposed to these seemingly innocent products.
When something new is as widespread and ubiquitous as hand sanitizers, great care should be taken in choosing an appropriate product, that everyone can use safely. There was a time when hand sanitizers were in short supply and businesses were grateful to get whatever they could get, but those days are past, hand sanitizers are abundant now.
Choose the unscented ones and consign the scented ones to the trash heap where they belong. Unscented sanitizer works and it’s less likely to offend or put anyone at risk.
Betty Gray, New Westminster
