By Ryan J. Phelan
Record-Journal staff

WALLINGFORD — You’ve probably seen the commercials.
An attractive young man douses his body with Axe body spray and, invariably, a bevy of women will suddenly trip over themselves attempting to clutch him. The marketing is as humorous as it is effective, but is the “Axe Effect” becoming a problem for today’s youth?
In the Wallingford school system, use of cologne and perfume is prevalent, students say, and the most popular fragrances are affordable body sprays such as Tag and Axe, which sell for $5 to $6 for a 4-ounce can. Yet, according to some of those students, these body sprays can become offensive, especially if used as liberally as the commercials encourage.
“Some people drown themselves in it,” said Jeff Rizzo, a junior at Lyman Hall High School. “They’ll sit for three or four seconds just spraying themselves.”
In Minneapolis, the overuse of products like Axe and Tag in school hallways has gotten to the point that the school district has seen a need for a policy addressing the scents.
Minnesota State Rep. Karen Clark, a Democrat, has proposed a bill calling for an awareness campaign. If it is passed, letters would be sent to parents, signs put up in schools, online pages created, and fact sheets posted about health hazards posed by aerosol sprays.
The primary concern is that the strong scent would trigger headaches and, for asthmatics, heighten the risk of a respiratory attack.
“It definitely is one of the common triggers,” said Nancy Merkouriou, manager for medical care at MidState Medical Center in Meriden. “It’s one of mine as well. I had an attack because of a person who wore perfume at my work. I inhaled and it caused an asthma attack immediately, and my lungs didn’t have time to recover. Any asthma attack can be life threatening.”
Unilever, which produces Axe, did not return a phone call.
In Wallingford, however, the problem is not as noticeable, according to principals at local high schools and middle schools, and they feel that a law is not necessary.
“I’ve heard of it but not seen it, but does that mean they’re not doing it on their own?” said Enrico Buccilli, principal of Dag Hammarskjold Middle School. “My only exposure to it is on the Internet. As a principal, you always want to be on the lookout for it, but I haven’t seen any evidence to keep my antennae up on it.”
“I really think that we should deal with kids on a case-by-case basis,” said Lyman Hall Principal David Bryant. “I don’t see the need for a school wide policy to be put in place.”
Still, there is evidence from the students that the spray is being used, at times in excess. Lyman Hall student Chloe Malvezzi related an incident in which an entire bottle of Tag was used in a hallway between classes, and Sheehan students who declined to be named said the sprays were being used to mask odors after gym class.
“I don’t like the smell,” said Nick Hall, a Lyman Hall student. “Not a lot of people like it. Sometimes people might use it to cover other bad smells. I could understand a fragrance ban.”
“You don’t need to spray it every 20 minutes,” Rizzo added.