Posted by Robin
on
14 July 2009
Of the 50 products randomly tested from around the world as part of the IFRA Compliance Program’s third cycle (May 2008 to April 2009) one finished product has been identified as containing a recently banned fragrance material. [...]
“This is the first time we have identified a banned fragrance material in the three years of running the Compliance Program,” explained Jean-Pierre Houri, IFRA Director General. “Since the material has only recently been banned it is possible that the finished product is part of batch that is simply running its course through the retail pipeline...”
— From Fragrance industry spots non-compliant product at IFRA. Most unfortunately, they don't name the product or we could all run out and buy a bottle.
Posted by Robin
on
4 April 2009
Perfumery, a hundred-year-old art, has taken a long time dying, but on January 1, 2010 it will be officially dead. On that date, amendment 43 by IFRA, the international fragrance association, will take effect, and all perfumes on the market, old, young, fine fragrance or shampoo, must follow its guidelines or be in breach of the law in the EU. Among the many disasters that will befall fine fragrance, let me pick an emblematic one: oakmoss. This material is essential to perfumery and especially to the chypre category, including Mitsouko and hundreds of others. From 2010 it will be replaced by things which do not smell like oakmoss.
— Luca Turin, from Duftnote -- No Benefits at NZZ Folio, found via The Non-Blonde.
Posted by Robin
on
17 December 2008
For a long time, many of us have suspected, rightly or wrongly, that IFRA’s underlying policy agenda is primarily to support synthetic aroma chemicals at the expense of natural aromatic ingredients. This is because synthetics have attractions over natural aromatics for the major aroma industry players...They are invariably cheaper, they can sometimes be produced in-house, & they and their applications may be patentable. Their composition is constant, and unlike natural aromatic ingredients, their price stability & constancy of supply are variables which are not so subject to the vagaries of the world’s ever-changing climate.
[...] In a new departure, IFRA’s Information Letter 815 indicates that opoponax (which they claim botanically derives from ‘Commiphora Erythrea var. glabrascens Engler’ – we have reproduced their incorrect botanical formatting) does not have robust enough data to allow application of Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) methodology, and that there is a need for more ‘up to date’ sensitization data. IFRA claims it cannot support the required studies financially, and without these studies there is a high risk that IFRA will prohibit the material. Similarly for styrax...
— From IFRA Gives Up Supporting More Natural Aromatics: Opoponax & Styrax Next for the Chop at the Aromaconnection blog.
If you need background, you might start at IFRA proposes restrictions on use of citrus oils and IFRA proposes restrictions on use of citrus oils, part two, and work your way backwards through the links. Please feel free to comment, but I can't comment on the science or even the accuracy of the claims.
Posted by Robin
on
29 August 2008
When materials like oakmoss extracts are restricted by the exiting [sic] culture of toxicological imperialism on dubious safety grounds (and this applies also to other vital perfume ingredients such as coumarin and citrus oils - see elsewhere), the ‘art of the possible’ in perfumery’ dies back even further, with a result that fragrance companies, instead of vigorously opposing regulatory change, end-up producing cheap, conformist and essentially poor-quality perfumes with little consumer re-purchase potential, for a increasingly non-discerning market slot.
— From Sale / use of fragrant lichen commodities to become virtually illegal in Europe? at the aromaconnection blog, a must-read (albeit, a depressing read) for perfumistas.
Posted by Robin
on
25 April 2008
Cropwatch and the Natural Perfumers Guild have joined to charge The International Fragrance Association with cultural vandalism, claiming the proposed limits to citrus in perfumes will destroy perfumes.
The Natural Perfumers Guild (NPG) and Cropwatch decry the science and proposals of the International Fragrance Association (IFRA) as slanted and overly-restrictive regarding the amounts of furanocoumarins to be permitted in perfume and fragranced products…
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