The chemicals in perfumery and IFRA
The International Fragrance Association (IFRA) was founded in 1973 to represent the collective interests of the fragrance industry worldwide. Membership is open to all countries and currently comprises the national associations of fragrance manufacturers from Australia, Europe, the Far East and North and South America.
MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET [Adobe PDF]IFRA: See section 16. Application: Aromatherapy, perfumery. RIFM: EINECS: RTECS: Observe municipal, federal and local disposal regulations. 7. Handling & Storage. more hits from: http://www.57aromas.com/media/pdf-sheets/bitter.pdf &nb::
IFRA: See section 16. Application: Aromatherapy, perfumery. RIFM: EINECS: RTECS: Observe municipal, federal and local disposal regulations. 7. Handling & Storage.
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IFRA is an industry body that keeps track of any health problems arising from fragrance use, i.e. allergies, etc.
Its decisions are not law, merely recommendations. Though self-regulation does not mean that the fragrance industry works in a world without law! Legislation on intellectual property, chemicals, occupational health and safety, and cosmetics, among others, is also relevant to the fragrance industry. Therefore, the monitoring of legislative trends worldwide is one of the main missions of IFRA.
When IFRA says some raw material has been found to cause allergies in a small number of people, the company can either remove it or put a small label that says what it does. The accepted practice in the industry is that only new fragrances need to be totally IFRA compliant. The old ones can stay as they are, much in the way that you can still drive your old car on public roads though it has no airbags. Only with the slight difference that your old car one day will stop by itself and solve the problem, while the old ( and potentially harmful !) perfumes are still in production and well received by the public.
The main concern here comes from the fact that there is a tendency for the big perfume houses to modify their old state of art classic formulas.
According to Luca Turin:
Three raw materials in particular are going to be removed altogether: coumarin, oak moss and birch tar. That alone means the end of Mitsouko and Shalimar, which will henceforth smell of Eau du Soir and Vanilla Fields respectively.
And the fair questions come: Are these raw materials potentially so harmful?
Cant we be satisfied with a little label on the bottle instead of destroying the old classics?
Lets hope the problem will be solved in a much graceful manner leaving both pefumistas and environmental defenders happy.
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The Chemicals in Perfumery and Ifra Regulations