This is Not a Fragrance Allergy {The 5th Sense in the News}
A man aboard a flight bound for Seattle had the misfortune of encountering a fragrance he couldn't take. According to Dr. Leonard Altman, from the Northwest Allergy & Asthma Center, his case shows you can be over-sensitive to certain perfumes and smells, but it's not technically an allergy...
"Some people just have a heightened sensitivity to smells," he said. "It somehow stimulates a neurological reflex, and if you stimulate it the wrong way, it leads to headache, nausea, vomiting, things of that nature."
He says confined areas, like planes, only compound the problem."
Read more at Man Passes Out from Perfume on Seattle Flight
There have been recurrent concerns about the use of perfume in public areas for fear they would trigger "allergies".
The European Union even have used the term to define their policies on the industrial use of perfumery materials (fortunately for now, they have not proposed to cut down trees that produce allergenic pollens).
