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There is little regulation of the fragrance industry. Due to
trade secret status of fragrance formulas the actual ingredients
in the fragrance portion of the product do not have to be disclosed.
Only the word "fragrance" has to be put on the label.
Products that use fragrance to mask or cover up the odor of
other ingredients and not to impart a scent to the product do
not have to be listed; though most companies do. "Fragrance
free" and "unscented" have no legal definition
and does not necessarily ensure a product does not contain fragrance
chemicals.
http://www.ameliaww.com/fpin/RegFraIn.htm
Cosmetics, which include toiletries and perfumes, do not have
to be safety tested before marketing. If the safety of all the
ingredients and the final product has not been substantiated
the law requires a warning label be put on the product. By the
fragrance industries own admission less than half of the fragrance
materials in use have even had minimal safety testing. Yet products
do not carry the required warning label.
The Environmental Health Network of California filed a petition
to the FDA in May of 1999 requesting the perfume Eternity to
be declared misbranded because it contained materials in which
the safety had not been substantiated. The FDA responded to
the petition in November of 1999 saying a decision had not been
made and supporting comments would still be accepted.
http://users.lanminds.com/~wilworks/FDApetition/bkgrinfo.htm
In February of 2000 the FDA posted to their site the priorities
for 2000 for the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
which includes cosmetics.
Up until now the FDA has not addressed this issue. As far
as I know no actions have actually taken place. But the presence
of this in the FDA's priorities indicates that cosmetics are
not being properly labeled. Over 700 comments have been filed
in support of the petition. They can be accessed from the FDA
web site by doing a search or going through each of the daily
dockets. Some of the actual comments can be accessed from the
FPIN web site and there is a listing of each day comments have
been entered which links to that day at the FDA site.
http://www.ameliaww.com/fpin/comments_to_the_fda.htm
Comments of particular interest are those by Dr. Michael Segal
and Dr. Richard Conrad.
http://www.ameliaww.com/fpin/Let_M_SegalMD.htm
http://users.lanminds.com/~wilworks/FDApetition/lrconrad.htm
By all accounts the fragrance industry is self-regulated. .
The Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) evaluates
and tests the effects of singular raw materials. The data from
the RIFM is then sent to the International Fragrance Association
(IFRA) which makes recommendations of safe use of raw fragrance
materials. The IFRA publishes guidelines for the industry, but
has no enforcement authority. There is no monitoring within
the industry to see that guidelines are followed.
http://www.ifraorg.org/
Next: Safety & Testing
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