This holiday season, Bath & Body Works is flooding Grand Central Terminal with a strong scent directly into the subway corridors and public walkways.

This is not a mild seasonal smell. It is an extreme-strength fragrance diffusion affecting hundreds of thousands of daily commuters who cannot avoid walking through that corridor. It is making people cough, wheeze, feel lightheaded, or physically ill — and it is happening in one of the most unavoidable transit hubs in the country.

The scale of the harm is even bigger than most people realize. Grand Central sees ~750,000 people DAILY. Over 34.7% of Americans experience health problems from fragranced consumer products, and fragranced products emit over 150 different VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). The World Health Organization warns that repeated exposure to indoor VOCs can worsen lung function, increase airway inflammation, and heighten risk for long-term respiratory disease. Even short exposures can cause immediate symptoms such as coughing, chest tightness, wheezing, dizziness, and nausea. When you scale that to three-quarters of a million people per day, the number of commuters affected is not small — it is massive, and it turns what seems like a “simple holiday scent” into a public-health exposure event. These chemicals are not disclosed, and people are being forced to inhale them in a crowded public space. 

This is just the start. The Bath & Body Works intends to introduce the scent diffusion campaign into other means of public transit, malls, and movie theaters.

This violates the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessibility principles, and is thus AGAINST THE LAW. Scented environments create access barriers for people with asthma, migraines, chemical sensitivities, fragrance allergies, long COVID, and other respiratory disabilities. No public accomodation should be able to create a disability barrier in a public space.

What We’re Asking For

We call on: Bath & Body Works, MTA / Grand Central Terminal Management, Retail Leasing / Vornado

to:

1. Turn off the scent diffusers immediately.
2. Prohibit commercial scent diffusion in public transit.
3. Discontinue this campaign and any intended expansion.

✍️ Sign the Petition to Stop the Scent Diffusion in Grand Central