Try to imagine life without the sense of smell | Letters
I was excited to read Emine Saner’s article about Tasha Marks and her work in creating scents that tell stories, highlighting the deep connection between scents, memories and emotions (‘There’s otter poo, dragon poo …’ The woman who can make you smell everything, from hell to your grandparents, September 4). I lost my sense of smell in 2005 after a head injury. Before my accident, I took my sense of smell for granted and had little understanding of its contribution to my quality of life.
I felt there was a lack of support and recognition from some medical professionals and the public, so I joined forces with Prof. Carl Philpott to Fifth sensea charity for people with smell and taste disorders.
Research shows that as many as 5% of the British population could be affected by anosmiathe inability to detect odors, there is still a pressing need to raise awareness of the impact a lost or impaired sense of smell has on our health, well-being and safety.
Our sense of smell plays a major role in pleasurable life experiences. Imagine standing on a beach and not being able to smell the ocean, or walking through a garden and not being able to smell the flowers and grass. That important sentimental pathway is missing. Also imagine not being able to smell your children, your partner, or your favorite food. These experiences create a disconnection from the world, increasing feelings of isolation and potentially leading to depression and anxiety.
Odor disturbance can also pose a safety risk because people can no longer detect gas, smoke, spoiled food and drink, and other potentially dangerous odors.
I hope that policy makers and the NHS will better understand the significance of smell and taste disorders and that more research will be done to benefit those affected.
Duncan Book
General Manager and Founder, Fifth sense
A few years ago, while working in the gas industry, support staff for scientists were volunteered to assist with the ongoing research and maintenance of adding a scent to natural gas. Once in the zinc-lined chamber, scent was pumped through and our role was to smell and record the strength on a chart as other scents were added. These ranged from boiling coal to the particularly foul artificial lavender of the recently popular room air fresheners. To this day, I pride myself on early detection of gas leaks.
Susan Baillie
Weymouth, Dorset