Welcome to our new column, designed to provide pre-designed letters for various purposes and other information for MCS activists. This month's letter is regarding fragrance applied to bills and catalogs received in the mail Dear XXXX;
I have been a customer of your company since XXXX. Recently, a concern in regards to your company's practice of adding fragrance to catalogs and bills has arisen. I would like to address this issue as it not only affects me, but also many of your customers and would be customers.
Fragrances, such as common cologne, were scientifically shown to reduce air flow velocity and produce neurotoxicity in mice in a study by Anderson and Anderson at Anderson Laboratories. Many people who make up your customer base have ailments such as asthma, chemical sensitivity, and other respiratory disorders and these people are even more susceptible to the effect of fragrances. In fact, it is estimated that 20 million Americans have asthma, 16% chemical sensitivity, and 30 million suffer other respiratory disorders. People with these conditions can suffer exacerbation of their condition, and even serious harm, by contact with fragrances. They are often instructed by physicians to avoid such contact.
The practice of applying fragrance to mail exposes all your customers to potential neurotoxicity and respiratory difficulties and puts all your customers in jeopardy, especially sensitive populations.
The fragrance on your mail often rubs off onto other mail delivered as well, making reading any mail arriving with your mail challenging. I encourage you to consider discontinuing this practice in the interests of your customer's health.
Many companies do offer fragrance free bills and catalogs. I would like to request that my bills and catalogs be delivered without fragrances. If you do not offer this service at this time, I highly encourage you to do so as soon as possible. I would also be interested in e-billing or another method where I can review and pay my bill without coming into contact with any fragrances.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter. I look forward to continued patronage.
Sincerely,
XXX
To download this letter for your own use, go to:
http://mcs-america.org/FragrancedMailCatalogBillsLetterforActivists.doc
