Brandon School Division sniffs scent ban for teens

Brandon School Division is looking at banning all scents in schools after complaints some teenage boys were wearing too much cologne.

School division chair Mark Sefton said students, parents and teachers complained about the smell. He said people complained it was causing breathing problems or in some cases, headaches.

"We understand that there's always going to be some background scent, but when it gets to the point where the scent that I am wearing is affecting you, a metre or two metres away, then that's a little bit too much," said Sefton.

Sefton specifically mentioned Axe body spray, saying young men were dousing themselves with the cologne.

"The commercials out there say that, 'If a little is good, more must be better,’'' he said. "Therefore, 14-year-old boys believe that if they use two thirds of a can, then naked women are going to jump out of their lockers."

Sefton joked the division already has a policy against that kind of behaviour.  He said if the vote passes, a scent ban could take effect in January.

Other schools in Canada have already introduced scent bans after Axe body spray was being used excessively by students.