Friday, March 02, 2007

It's the synthetics, stupid. (to quote an American political slogan"

Tony Burfield's recent work challenging IFRA and the EU has forced
them to show their hand, and here is the plain, awful truth, which Tony said all along was their agenda:

They're insisting that synths are good, and naturals are bad and expensive. Baloney (well, ok, some naturals are expensive, let the market find it's own level.)

Funny they cite Calone: it was the first perfume ingredient that ever caused a respiratory reaction from me. For my entire life, despite dousing myself in perfumes that yes, contained some synths, when Calone was introduced, it, and the other harsh synths that followed, caused both me and a lot of the general public to rebel against heavy, harsh perfumes. I had no idea what, at that time, had changed perfume, I just knew everyone was complaining.

Before that, I remember people would complain someone was wearing "too much" perfume, but after the age of harsh synths came in, governments and workplaces started banning perfumes. It's not the naturals, it's the harsh synths, and yet IFRA is promoting them. Too much oakmoss, used by an imprudent perfumer, can cause a rash and sensitization: too much calone and other synths can cause severe respiratory distress, watering eyes, etc.

Additionally, many synths are just plain flat and boring, linear and stiff. Naturals evolve and waft gently, and bring a sense of the real world, not chemistry lab sterile hallways, to the wearer.

This HAS to be a wake up call for all of us.
I spoke with someone in the Cosmetics industry yesterday who recently attended a workshop on California's Prop 65 that limits perfume ingredients. The packed room of 150 industry insiders had NO idea that IFRA/EU and Global Harmonization are coming our way. They are scared silly and just starting to muster responses to it all. I'll be networking more and more over the next few months to build a coalition to address a fair and sensible way to counteract this bureaucracy that aims to put naturals out of the market.

Warning labels should suffice - in a properly-regulated, non-Big-Brother word they would, as they currently do here in the states. Think you may be allergic to perfume? Don't use it. Don't let bullies take your favorite perfumes away from you, or cripple the future of creative artists who wish to blend the beautiful naturals.

Ban the stuff that makes eyes water in elevators, or severely limit their percentages in perfume. It's all such Machevellian nonsense to go after naturals.

Just when naturals are gaining in popularity,
the very growers and distillers, suppliers and manufacturers of these materials can be shut down or have their business severely curtailed. Very sobering, scary stuff.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for the good work, i enjoy reading it you are greate keep up the good work.

