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Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
An employee holds a Guerlain's perfume bottle at the KaDeWe department store in Berlin in this April 15, 2008 file photo.
PARIS - Luxury perfume brands fear the European Union is about to introduce measures that could cripple the $25 billion global industry in the name of protecting consumers against allergies.
New laws could severely curb or ban natural ingredients used in vintage best-sellers and put some perfume makers out of business.
But Brussels' proposed legislation - a draft will be unveiled early next year - is also causing a stir for another reason. It sheds light on the best-kept secret in the trade: many big brands have been tweaking their formulas for years.
"It is a taboo in the industry. People are scared to say anything about it," says Fflur Roberts, head of luxury goods at market research company Euromonitor.
Until now, changes to perfume formulas have come as a result of increasingly severe restrictions imposed by the industry's self-regulatory body, the International Fragrance Association (IFRA), though ingredient shortages or cost-cutting have also played a part.
A new Europe-wide law would force even more severe tweaks.
The brands most affected will be those which have been in the perfume industry for more than half a century, such as Dior, Chanel and Guerlain. All those fragrances use many natural ingredients and were created before scientists started looking into perfumes' potential health hazards. Chanel's No.5, one of the world's best-selling perfumes and named after its creator's fifth trial, was created in 1921.
Chanel declined to comment to Reuters on whether it has ever changed the formula of its world-famous perfume, as did Guerlain, Dior and luxury brand Hermes, which all make high-end perfumes using natural ingredients.
Most luxury perfume names do not want to disclose the fact that they have had to make tweaks to their scents for fear they could lose customers or damage their carefully nurtured luxury brand.
If new, even stricter rules are adopted, hundreds of perfumes would have to be reformulated with synthetic allergen-free contents. That, many in the industry fear, could threaten their business.
"If this law goes ahead I am finished, as my perfumes are all filled with these ingredients," said Frederic Malle, who owns high-end perfume company Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle. The impact on luxury perfume brands as a whole would, he said, be "like an atomic explosion and we would not have the means to rebuild ourselves."
Most fine perfumes are composed of a mix of natural ingredients and synthetic molecules. Perfumes are made up of a concentrate that is diluted with alcohol, usually from beetroots.
Paulo Whitaker / Reuters
An employee creates a fragrance in a laboratory in Granja Viana, 25 miles south of Sao Paulo in this August 2, 2012 file photo.
Since its creation in 1973, the IFRA, which is financed by scent makers such as Givaudan, New York-listed International Flavors & Fragrances, and Germany's Symrise, has restricted natural ingredients for a range of health reasons, from worries about allergic reactions to cancer concerns.
Many traditional essences that perfume creators consider core to their craft have been blacklisted in recent decades. Birch tar oil was removed from Guerlain's Shalimar several decades ago because it was thought to be a cancer risk. Clove oil and rose oil, which contain a component called eugenol, and lavender, which contains linalool, may only be used in limited quantities in case of allergies.
An estimated 5 million to 15 million people, or 1 to 3 percent of the EU population, who are allergic or potentially allergic to natural ingredients contained in fine perfumes, according to a report published in July by the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS), an advisory body for the European Commission.
Europe is not the only region to look more closely at the impact of fragrance. Earlier this year Republican lawmaker Michele Peckham from New Hampshire proposed a bill in the state House to ban state employees who have contact with members of the public from wearing strong fragrances.
The bill did not pass, but other lawmakers are considering reintroducing similar legislation. Meanwhile the city of Portland in Oregon has asked public workers and citizens visiting and using public spaces to limit their use of scented products.
Some hospitals in the U.S. have also introduced bans on using perfumes.
The SCCS, whose recommendations Reuters was first to report in October, recommended that 12 substances used in hundreds of perfumes on the market today be limited to 0.01 percent of the finished product, a level perfume makers say is unworkable. The SCCS has proposed a total ban on tree moss and oakmoss, which scientists say are strong allergens.
If the recommendations are enforced by the European Commission, IFRA estimates some 9,000 perfume formulas would have to be changed.
Patrick Saint-Yves, president of the French Society of Perfume Creators (SFP), is furious about the recommendation.
"I simply find that there is a huge contradiction," Saint-Yves says. "We encourage the use of many essential oils such as lavender in aromatherapy for massages, but we want to ban it in perfumes. Shops continue to sell alcohol and cigarettes which do much more harm."
Part of the problem is the secrecy surrounding perfumes. Most perfume brands are reluctant to label their products. Unlike artists and writers, perfume creators have no intellectual property rights to the fragrances they compose for big brands, and so perfume brands fight hard to keep their formulas hidden.
LVMH, which owns Dior and Guerlain, and Chanel are lobbying Brussels to protect their perfumes, many of which were created decades ago.
"It is essential to preserve Europe's olfactory cultural heritage," LVMH told Reuters in an emailed statement.
Givaudan and L'Oreal declined to comment for this Reuters report.
Ignoring the recommendations altogether would be difficult. The European Consumer Group (BEUC) has welcomed the SCCS's report as a "thorough and evidence-based study" that is a starting point for the decisions ahead.
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Leave a Comment:
No scents makes sense.
we need that in the US and then move on to Flowers like lilacs .......{patchouli is the worst}
zena1, are you suggesting that flowers be made illegal? If so, I'll just voice an honest opinion here: understand that I ~have~ allergies and that I ~am~ sensitive to fragrances (some natural, some man-made,) but... you're nuts!
actually, if you work in food or in the medical profession, it is already illegal (or a violation of health code, more accurately) to wear ANY fragrance in most of the US. as a chef and dietitian in retirement homes, it always surprised me how often i had to send someone home to bathe and change into clean clothes, after they doused themselves with some rank smelling cologne or perfume. and patchouli smells like mold and mildew- i'd rather they came in reeking of pot than that nasty crap.
Restaurants in Palm Springs have big signs outside saying "No Giorgio". It has caused some people to have instant migraines.
Perfumes have eliminated or nearly eliminated the natural pheromones that women use to attract the opposite sex. Another reason to ban perfumes altogether. I vote yes.
Interesting. The worst thing is Aussie hair spray. That stuff just stinks so bad it makes me wretch.
@ I honestly
more of a wish list, but at the same time the people that put in plants with a high allergy affect seem to have no empathy for others ....if you live in a tight community you need to consider the affect you have on your neighbors.
It's not just about "allergies". Some people call everything intolerable by others, an allergy.
I have asthma. It's not an allergy as many people seem to think. it's much worse. Asthma can be life threatening in just a matter of minutes.
Perfumes are triggers to my asthma, but people think If I complain, it's just that I don't like them. Not EVERYTHING is a trigger. But some things are more than others.
Try being asthmatic in a room full of women wearing different fragrances.
Another thing is all the perfumed air freshners, soaps, detergents, cleaners etc. And candles. I could go on.
Why do they have to keep changing and adding more and more garbage and stinks to our products? Floor cleaners that smell like bug spray. Laundry soaps that cause skin irritations because of perfumes. Get a load of the "new" odor-fighting garbage bags! Our office staff have begun to use them. OMG! Nothing like stifling the air with that stench!
Time to start lifting our voice over stuff like this! After all, it's OUR air too!
OK, settle it like this: let them trademark or otherwise protect their fragrances, in exchange for which, they will list all ingredients on the label. Then pass a law restricting the intensity of fragrances to protect the innocent. Base it on arms length.
@ S.williams
nice but that will only work if no own moves....walk behind some one in a hall way and your blasted by there stink
With names mentioned like Dior and Chanel these are basically brands that only the rich can afford, so I am jumping on the bandwagon and saying if it punishes the rich in any way- do it. Those rich bastards do not deserve to have a fragrance I can't afford anyway. Level the playing field and make everyone wear Avon. Fair is fair. (Even if Avon smells worse than anything else you can buy, everyone will be equally miserable.)
I have allergies but my favorite perfume is Chanel No 5.Less is more when wearing fragrances.I'm sick of this namby pamby attitude where we have to bend over backwards so as not to offend people's senses,hurt their feelings and God forbid your neighbors don't like the color of you home. Tiny-2847455,I'm not rich and the smallest product of either one of these will last longer than the drugstore brands.
You want people to make a federal law against natural fragrances because of your allergies...
But you don't want anyone to make a law against you buying an AK47 and a 30-round magazine.
Right.
That makes sense. (No pun intended.)
*****
I'm in a choir. We do not wear strong fragrances when we are together because we are standing/sitting so close and cannot move away during practice or performance. Fair enough. I do this by choice.
I'm certainly willing to respect colleagues and companions in close quarters. But all the time? Bloody heck no!
I love fragrances. I like essential oils. Is someone now going to make a law banning the use in public or in my home of anything with a potential for allergens? Let's hope not.
And as for the Europeans... sometimes they just leap right off the left edge of the continent. Vive la Parfumiers Francais! [Or some Franglais phrase like that.]
All people should not be forced to live the same restricted lives of the hyper-sensitive in order to accommodate the less fortunate. The majority should not have to suffer because of the few; let the few wear masks or gas masks. Anything else is taking the rights of the allergically challenged to extremes.
And I want to be able to send my kid to school with a PBJ sandwich, too.
Honestly.
Sigh...
@ElegiaLeung
Oddly I think those that fight for the "right" to own a killing machine are the same ones fighting for the "right" to impose their stench on someone else. These are the same mentalities that are upset they lost their "right" to smoke in a restaurant.
It is a selfish and uncaring right, which you acknowledge when you chose who you are going to offend.
Tiny: You've got to be kidding right? At least I hope you are. No one could be that jealous of someone else, "They can't have it if I can't afford it."
It's called "freedom" folks. Your sensitivity does not mean that someone else should lose their freedom. That's not the way that adults think; if you are a child, lashing out at the world, unable to compromise, then yes. Because YOU are allergic, then NO-ONE CAN HAVE A FRAGRANCE. That is the epitomy of selfishness. Gun ownership is the same way. Because you don't like guns, then everyone else must be defenseless! You are then, in reality, arguing for murder, and you wish to see more innocents die. As we all know, gun laws don't stop criminals, and neither do murder laws. Only the innocent follow the law.
You censorious children want to strip the ability of others to express themselves, to defend themselves, and to do things that you don't like -- not because it is wrong -- but because your preferences (and a narrow set of prejudices THOSE are) are the only thing that matters.
That's the difference, in stark colors. I champion freedom; you champion a non-existent right not to be offended. The sad thing is that the list of things that offend these Stalins in miniature is that the list never ends. Guns, fragrance, soda, fast food, smoking, fast cars, certain books, certain beliefs...
Tiny -- your ignorance is showing. Dior and Chanel can only be afforded by the rich? Do you have $50 on you? You can get Dior fragrances for $50 or less, depending on where you shop. I have done it and so can you. Tiny -- your childishness is showing. Punishing the rich will not improve your life one iota. In fact, it just might make your life worse, by drying up jobs (because those evvvvil rich people invest and run businesses and such).
Freedom? Can you smoke at work? On the Bus? In the Elevator?
Same thing.
Clever title.
Wait until China gets into perfume. It'll contain lead.
I hope they go after those pine scented deodorant pads cabbies hang in their cars. Oh yah....they could do some work on that pinesol cleaner too.
And when scent has been regulated out of existence, the ever-hungry and suddenly bored regulators will find something else to regulate -- maybe something that you care about. Try being a little bit tolerant of other people's freedoms, eh?
It's ironic, considering that often it's the synthetic scents or chemically extracted scents that cause more allergy problems than natural scents. I have a strong allergic reaction to rose scented products, but not to roses themselves. It could be that the rose oil used in scented products is synthetic, or it could be that it is chemically extracted rather than distilled (which was the method used for centuries).
JayEll: Along my thoughts as well. IF they move to entirely 'chemical-ise' the industry more so than now, then in ten years they will be doing studies to identify WHICH chemicals are causing the reactions/deaths that could come from them.
As far as your flowers being fine, we have the same 'alergic' reaction it sounds like. While I was in Egypt, I obtained some perfume for my mum at a fragrance house in Cairo. NONE of their perfumes contained chemicals - just the distilled flowers' scents, and none of the many different rose flavoured perfumes caused a bad reaction when I smelled them. So I think you may be onto something as to the 'method' of creating perfume.
You can't blow your smoke in my face and soon you won't be able to waft your perfume stink in my face. I'm looking forward to that day. I've had many an airline fight and good restaurant meal made miserable by someone marinading in perfume.
It isn't the perfume itself usually, IT IS THE AMOUNT PUT ON A PERSON! Some people wear so much that in a light breeze, you can smell them coming 50 feet away. Now that is using way too much!
Women are ignorant when it comes to scents, you might say they lack "common scents"! LOL!
hooky: men are just as guilty. Thanks to AXE and Jersey shore, many men today smell like they shot up the perfume dept. at Sears.
I'm always surprised at how uneducated so many people are about olfactory fatigue. People put on so much fragrance because they think if they can't smell it, no one else can. But they can't smell it because of the constant exposure. The nose just says "enough already" and shuts off the messages to the brain for that particular scent. But it's still there for everyone else to choke on.
F. Schrodinger said
And the sad part is they think they smell GOOD and everyone else will love it!
F Schrodinger,If people wear an outfit in a color that you don't like,does that make your dining experience miserable? I think maybe you should stay in and order take out.People in this world should not have to meet everybody's whim.
Cleaning lady, you are comparing apples to oranges. Is that all you could come up with just so you could post?
Stinky people aren't just a WHIM of those who complain. And it has nothing to do with what someone wears. They STINK. And they contaminate EVERYBODY'S air. It's no better than getting behind a car that doesn't have a proper exhaust system. It ruins the air for everybody, except the person that doesn't want to invest in a new pipe.
You certainly defended the stenches. Are you one of those that bathes in the liquid nostril poisons?
O
M
G
!
Perhaps the maitre d' should turn away people who reek; that would be perfectly acceptable in tight quarters. But laws? Really?!
People, get a grip. Sometimes, life just isn't perfect, you know? And if there were laws against everything you didn't like, life wouldn't be any MORE perfect. You'd just have to find new things that bothered you.
Get over yourselves. Or move to the South Pole. Or the middle of a warmer desert. We have to live with one another. If you get this activated about some silly person wearing too much scent, how are we ever gonna have peace on this planet?
Perspective.
Try to get a little.
Geez.
OMG!
The people who should "get a grip" and "get over themselves", are the people, like you, ElegiaLeung, who think everyone should just conform to your definition of how it should be! Even if it WAS a law, my guess is you'd be the first one to ignore it!
Just because YOU don't have something, doesn't mean it's just someone complaining or whining...and just because someone complains doesn't mean they just don't LIKE something. There ARE real and VALID complaints.
It's people like YOU who need to take the well being of other people more seriously, and stop being so self-centered. It's not all about you and you "ain't all that"!
Your need to bathe in smells to keep your body odor down...which by the way, makes your B.O. WAY worse, is a sign of a more serious medical condition, and your perfume isn't helping. It's making it worse! (kinda like covering the feces smell in your bathroom, with a flower scented spray! lol)
So before acting like a "know-it-all", why don't you try LEARNING about the subject you think you know all about? Perfumes are obnoxious, poisonous chemical fumes which disrupt and contaminate the air even in a normal lung. You wouldn't even BEGIN to understand what it does to the lungs of an asthmatic, but maybe you should try.
Let me again reiterate and give links about the severity of ASTHMA:
Learning More About Asthma
Asthma is a chronic, or life long, disease that can be serious—even life threatening. There is no cure for asthma. The good news is that it can be managed so you can live a normal, healthy life. The more you can learn about asthma, the better you and your loved ones can manage living with this disease, making the most of every day, and maintaining the quality of life that is important to you.
What is Asthma?
When you breathe, air passes through your nose and down your throat into your lungs. Inside your lungs are branching tubes called airways. With asthma, the airways are often swollen and red (or inflamed). This makes them extra sensitive to things that you are exposed to in the environment every day or asthma “triggers”. A trigger could be a cold, the weather, or things in the environment, such as dust, chemicals, smoke and pet dander.
When someone with asthma breathes in a trigger, the insides of the airways make extra mucus and swell even more. This narrows the space for the air to move in and out of the lungs. The muscles that wrap around your airways can also tighten, making breathing even harder. When that happens, it’s called an asthma flare-up, asthma episode or asthma “attack”.
Your asthma may be triggered or made worse by one or more nonallergic asthma triggers, including substances (irritants) in the air, such as tobacco smoke, wood smoke, room deodorizers, pine odors, fresh paint, household cleaning products, cooking odors, perfumes, and outdoor air pollution. ).
http://www.lung.org/associations/states/colorado/asthma/Asthma.html
http://www.advair.com/asthma/about-asthma/what-is-asthma/asthma-symptoms.html
http://www.webmd.com/asthma/guide/asthma-overview-facts
These are just a few links that will provide information about asthma. If you TRULY care about others, read and learn. This isn't a joke to those of us who have asthma. Keep your smelly perfumes at home! Many job sites are even limiting or preventing the use of perfumes and other deodorants at the workplace. Don't you ever ask yourself WHY? You should! As you said....Try to get a little perspective! Geez!
I am not as you appear to think me, Conway. I do not bathe myself in scents in order to keep my body odor disguised. Nor am I unsympathetic to those with allergies. I have a few myself. Maybe the difference is that I don't expect the whole world to accommodate me because I have this frailty. It's mine to deal with -- within reasonable limits.
I'm arguing against laws, not thoughtfulness.
Laws can be very restricting. If we make it so that the world is "safe" for everyone all the time, we'd best stay home and live in air-filtered, air-conditioned, barricaded pods with virtual hookups to the rest of the world. Going out is too scary. We could get shot or bumped into or catch something or have an asthma attack. This is not to belittle the terror of being unable to breathe, but rather to point out that we all have to share our environment.
Perhaps we should simply make people aware of acceptable social behavior, rather than legislate against a lack of consideration. Our society has become a me-me-me society with very little concern for others. ("Let the sick man who didn't buy insurance die!" or "The only safe way to protect our schools is to arm teachers." or "Who cares if the missiles are falling on the Syrians? Aren't they all towelheads anyway?" and so on.)
Cooperation, consideration, compromise, communication and community are much better methods for sharing the planet with the other seven billion people, not only those at the next table in the restaurant, but the ones in countries we may never see, too.
I'm sorry that my original response excited you so much. I think I was unclear, but I do cringe when I hear people say, "Let's make a law against [whatever thing we are upset about this week]."
May your demons be at peace over the holidays and may you breathe freely.
Instead of doing this, they need to teach people HOW to wear the stuff! I swear to God more so women then men, but there have been some stank ass men around here, I am sorry if I can smell your perfume or cologne BEFORE and AFTER you pass me, then you need to take a bath with soap and water and learn that 1 or 2 sprays does the job just right.
I hope they pass those laws in the US! It's dreadful to have a sore throat, clogged nose, eyes so watery that it looks like I'm crying, and itchy skin just because some other person slathered on the scent! Work, airlines, taxis, elevators, restaurants, etc. are all full of people who don't get it that perfume is meant to be a subtle scent that entices someone to come closer, not a wall of smell that drives others away. Perfumes were originally created to cover the stench of a non-bathing society. One would think that with today's plumbing advances that there would be no need for all this perfume and cologne. Ban the stuff!
Alice Keppel,There are many allergy products on the market for that problem. I'm allergic to most trees when they are blooming and also cats but I don't expect either one to be outlawed just for silly old me.
I love perfume. I wear it every day. I wear enough so that I can smell it and enjoy it. My husband can also smell it and enjoy it. Nobody is bothered by it, and I sit by people at work who have asthma and allergies. I have almost 20 bottles of different perfumes so that I can change it up regularly and not become desensitized to a particular smell. That's when people start using too much. But, really, most perfume wearers do not overuse it.
You think that I shouldn't have the right to wear perfume? Who are YOU? Are you for real?
araney
When someone is around me that has perfume on I don't say anything. I don't tell them that what they are wearing has given me a headache. I have learned to be quiet, in fact I do the same when someone is rude enough to smoke or fart.
The difference is when the smoker or the farter quits or leaves I am back to normal. When the perfume wearer leaves I have had headaches last for up to 2 hours.
My ex-wife was so allergic to the stench that she would get a major migraine and the rest of her day was ruined.
When I was a little boy we would visit my mother's friend Iva. She wore perfume and it gave me a headache. My parents taught me to be polite and courteous so I just suffered and didn't say anything so maybe that is why I am like that.
Do you realize many people are caused immense pain when you wear perfume? Do you realize many of them are children? Do you care that you hurt people? Do you care if you hurt children?
Araney: Most people enjoy a nice smelling perfume. That's why it's a multi billion dollar business. The people like some who are posting here are few and most of them have only encountered the "rank" cheap perfumes to be turned off by them. Many people who work in the large buildings I'm in will compliment the ladies and say, "I really like that scent, I want to buy some for my girlfriend."
Jeanette
As the article points out it is ALLERGENS that are found in expensive perfumes that cause people the so called "turn off".
It isn't a turn off it is a HEADACHE that can last for hours. It happens to a significant portion of the population.
There are also a significant number of people, such as my ex-wife, that it is a trigger to a massive MIGRAINE that ruins the rest of their day.
I remember one party when I went to look for her and found her in the bathroom curled up by the toilet because someone came thinking they were a breath of God's air. Even though they were someone that would only wear the best, to my wife it was torture.
JOregon "Do you care that you hurt people? Do you care if you hurt children?"
Nice leap of logic there. Yes, I want to wear perfume that only I can smell, so that means I want to hurt children and don't care. Right. That's a completely idiotic and childish statement.
The people I work with are ones I have worked with for years. They would tell me if a smell bothered them. Some are very sensitive to smells (and DO speak up when an odor bothers them) and some just don't like products with smells. Let me repeat that none of them have ever had any problem with the amount of perfume I wear.
Araney
You may not think anyone but you can smell it, but we do.
You if wish to wear it at home, I'm all for it. No problem, please just bathe before you go out.
Different people have different sensitivities whether that is smelling, hearing, tasting, etc. I've whispered something so quietly the person I was talking to couldn't hear it, and someone in the next room did.
My mother could smell an odor that no one else could pick up.
If the fumes are something someone is allergic to it isn't the scent that hurts, it is the chemicals that make up the scent. To a sensitive person that is like yelling in a library.
So yes, if a child that is sensitive (allergic) to something in what you are wearing, they will be hit with pain.
It depends on the individual and it depends on what you are wearing. Just because the people you work with don't notice that doesn't mean someone in the elevator hasn't just had their day ruined.
You really don't understand the problem.
Honestly there are few scents that bother me. The ones that do hit hard. My ex was a different story she was very sensitive to many odors and it ruined more than one night out.
I also once worked with a woman that could have her day ruined just by the deodorant or even the laundry soap someone used.
It is a very real problem that hurts many people. I don't think you are a bad person, I just don't think you understand how big a problem this is.
well, that's kind of annoying. I wrote up a long response and it just disappeared.
The fact is that I do understand the problem. I have migraines that are triggered by strobe lights and (weirdly) busy visual patterns such as small stripes on clothing. I understand what migraines are like and how nearly impossible it is to prevent a trigger. That's life.
I also have allergies where I get hives and swelling that are so bad I have had to carry an anaphylactic kit. I can't walk for a week from the swelling. That's life.
The fact is, when you have debilitating or life threatening migraine triggers and/or allergies, for your own safety and peace of mind, you cannot expect others to accommodate you. Some will, some won't, and you're just borrowing trouble if you expect others to do it for you. I've adapted to my problems and can frequently prevent them. Sometimes I can't.
It would be ludicrous for me to expect that someone else should not be allowed to wear busy patterned clothing because I may end up with a migraine.
The sun flashing between the trees while I drive can sometimes trigger a migraine. Should that be banned?
People's experiences and difficulties are so varied that it is impossible to accommodate everyone. One must take care of oneself.
THAT is life.
In this case you can.
They can make scents without the allergens, they just don't want to. They are fighting making a safer, more people friendly perfume industry.
We have done those types of changes in many things. I remember when going to a restaurant meant sharing with smokers - those days are gone.
I remember when people smoked at their desks while they worked - those days are gone.
Change can be made. When they are made it makes for a better society.
I agree you can't expect individuals to change their behavior, there are too many selfish and inconsiderate people in society.
This news article wasn't about making individuals change it, was about making the industry change so unnecessary allergens are not added to perfumes.
The sun popping through the trees is unavoidable.
Having allergens in perfume IS avoidable, and very doable.
No. The answer to your sensitivity is NOT to take away the freedom to wear fragrances from everyone. That is senseless.
It's about time someone took this issue seriously! I have a number of allergic friends & relatives, and it is terrible how one stunk-up person can ruin a night out for them by wearing perfume! Ban the stuff totally, please, now!
That was a stinky comment!
How about you just stay home? People like you are even more annoying than those drenched in scent. Where does it stop? What is the threshold for banning something? What percentage of the population having an issue should be the trigger? Should we ban nuts? Nuts actually kill people every day. Hell, light kills people to, should we snuff out the sun?
I would rather smell perfume than our town "cat lady" at the local store. A person can smell her a few isles away. The fragrance she wears is made by Cats Ass, number one and number two.
the mentality today is if it effects a few then we need to ban it. so if people are so allergic why don't the few wear gas mask instead of making a rule that effects so many that don't have a problem with allergies? when did the idea that the majority rules go out the window? so because a few have allergies lets disrupt or close bussiness' to make it better for a few
At first with me not being allergic to smells I thought this was a frivolous concern. Now in reading some comments I understand the discomfort that perfumes can cause. The problem is that for hundreds of years people who have liked to use perfumes have been free to do so. Having that "right" taken away is going to disturb and irritate a large group of perfume users. Good luck to both sides. Now I do not feel bad about my not using deodorant after my DAILY shower.
I totally agree with Mike399184, sorry to hear some have allergies to perfume, but its definteley how much one uses. The right use of perfume, is to dab a bit on end of finger, and then tap your neck or other parts of the body. I am amazed some havent said there allergic to soap, or other products while bathing. They also contain some of the ingredients in perfume.
A dab is all it takes for those of us with allergies to have problems. Unfortunately, I was one that had allergies/eczema to about everything growing up. To include soap and bath scents. My mother loved the use of Vel soap in our house because it didn't leave a tub ring. I couldn't use it because I would have itching and a rash... It was horrible.
I am allergic to a lot of perfume, espically the heaver ones, but anything made out of cluster flowers. I loose my voice and get a headace that won't stop. Have had to get out of a lot of lines at stores, because of someone with the perfumes on. When working at the hospital there was one nurse when saw her come on to the floor I put on a mask. One day she asked me why I had a mask on. I said hate to say this but your perfune makes me sick. She worked in the recovery room and that is bad on patients coming out of an anesthic. Afer I had surgery, I will say she was nice enough to stay across the room from me.People working in hospitals should not wear perfume. Soap and water is enough not to stink.The heavy perfume can cause a lot of problems for others.Wonder why they took evening in paris off the market, it was light. My Mother told us girls if we want to wear perfume to just put a little on the hem of our slip. Really wish people would do this, and stop bathing in it.
Maybe, haven't said anything about soap, because this one is on perfume. But soap can cause problem, That is why we use Ivory in my house.
With all of the allergy products on the market by prescription and over the counter nobody has to suffer.I am allergic to others wanting the world to cater to them.It's an all about me world.I have allergies and asthma.I carry my inhaler with me and if I have a customer with a cat I use allergy medicine.I bet most of you with allergies are still using Windex and aerosol bathtub cleaners.
Allergies to oders is a completely different thing.
I have tree pollen allergies and I can get relief when I need it.
Odors are sudden and can take you down with a massive headache that lasts for a long time.
For many it is a Migraine trigger.
There is no prescription or over the counter protection.
Totally different thing.
Instead of comparing it to pollen it is best compared to Peanut allergies or Bee Sting allergies. Surprise you got it!
@JOregon. The perfume companies are not fighting making a safer product. The safety of the ingredients is measured in terms of "potential risk" -- not measured effect. The models that the IFRA uses PREDICT allergic reactions in a sample audience (please go check out their own web site). And peanut allergies have not resulted in the ban of peanuts; yet the IFRA is seeking to ban peanuts. Your comparison falls apart and ignores another aspect of this as well -- cost. Compliance will drive up the price of what products do remain, and it will put more people out of work (the smaller companies). Why haven't you banned peanuts and strobe lights yet?
Real Simple use the same laws that we use for second hand smoke.
The perfume companies have been changing their formula for years. They can make them so that they will not injure others.
You miss the reason for the comparison.
With pollen allergies the one who suffers has many options to protect themselves.
Bee stings and Peanuts ambush the victim and there is nothing that can be taken before a bee stings or eating an unknown peanut.
Perfume is the same. You're sitting there minding your own business getting ready to have dinner and some skunk sits in the booth next to you and the rest of your evening is ruined.
Mar, we are allergic to soaps, etc. but I can choose to purchase the perfume free kind of soaps. No one slathers on soap and walks out in public the way that they do with perfumes and colognes. What I have no defense against is the sudden onslaught of smell and irritation that someone else inflicts upon me with their desire to smell like Justin Beiber's girlfriend, or Chanel No. 5, etc. Another issue are the candle stores and perfume sections of stores. I can't set foot in a Hallmark store or I would be sick for days!
Alice Keppel,You need to see an allergist because your sensitivities are out of control.Why suffer when you can be allergy free and once again patronize the Hallmark stores.
"LVMH, which owns Dior and Guerlain, and Chanel are lobbying Brussels to protect their perfumes, many of which were created decades ago." Yes, many that were created DECADES ago, we are finding NOW that the ingredients can be harmful to those that have allergies. I for one love Burberry, but due to the cedar in it cannot wear it. Didn't know until I looked it up on line that the perfume has cedar in it. I have heard of people going to allergist to get desensitized from perfumes because they are allergic to some scents that others around them are wearing. Bottom line...measures must be taken to protect all.
I think the reason it takes so long is because many that are allergic don't make a huge stink about it. They bother me a bit and make me sneeze, but normally it doesn't happen that often and I don't throw a fit about it or anything. That is just to be expected if you have allergies. You'll sneeze from time to time. I would imagine it bothers some worse but most people are probably bothered like I am. Only made uncomfortable, not dangerous. (Knock on wood. I realize now that I wrote this I'll die today when my throat closes after smelling someone's perfume lol)
So sorry for you allergic people, but it's a bunch of bs to ban something the majority uses because of someones allergies. Should we ban seafood, peanuts, wool, grass, trees, dogs, cats, chocolate, soap, paint, pool chlorine, disinfectants,...............................................on and on and on. So sick of everyone screaming about their rights, just suck it up people and grow up.
When they are forced upon others - Yes they should be banned.
The problem with perfume is it isn't a choice for the sufferer. You use I feel pain. All for your own vain issues.
If you are allergic to certain foods, don't eat them. I can't stop smelling you.
There are things you can take for pollen allergies.
JOregon: Hypersensitive allergic people shouldn't be forced upon others. Classic Perfume was here long before they were.
Actually Allergy sufferers have been here for centuries.
I guess you might say I was such a person when I was a child in the 50's on up I occasionally ended up with a massive headache because of someone's perfume.
What is a 5 year old supposed to do?
Inconsiderate people that don't care about the health and well being of others HAVE been here since to beginning of time. I remember the uproar when smoking was banned in restaurants because it would hurt business.
Like the cigarette industry Madison Avenue has people conned to buy buy buy.
Wow, are they going to ban people who have stinky pits and don't wash their privates regularly? THAT is much worse. And WTH New Hampshire, how do you introduce a bill that bans "strong" odors?? Isn't "Strong" in the nose of the beholder? WOn't stop anyone from just going out and rubbing these natural oils on themselves anyway. What a sad state of affairs here...
Kathy,
Don't get so close to their privates and their pits and it won't bother you!
Ha Ha Kathy, It is easier for the politicians to argue about this than say worry about the FISCAL CLIFF!
Hooker39- when someone is oozing BO, you don't need to get very close to smell it. Ever leave your house?
Poor hygiene/body odor is definitely unpleasant and can ruin a ride on public transportation or a restaurant meal or a shopping trip. But that is rare in the U.S. compared to artificial fragrances. And the difference is, once you get away from the B.O. offender you can breathe again and be done with it -- but if you are forced to be near someone whose fragrance you are allergic to, not only does it ruin your ride/meal/trip, it leaves you with a swelling or scratchy throat and a splitting headache for a couple of hours or so! Big difference.
Julie, I live in the DC area, which has a very heavy foreign population- which some come from countries that do not espouse regular bathing, and many eat foods that then leech out of their pores, like curry. It is much more prevalent than over perfumed people. I am left sick to my stomach and with a headache for the rest of the day. WHAT ABOUT MY RIGHTS? Can we ban/punish people who smell of BO instead of Chanel and there is a negative physical response to another person?? Why not?
I also have diabetes and am made physically ill when I eat out and later find out that sugar has been infused in foods like chicken and salad dressing as a flavor enhancer. Do I ask to have sugar removed from the ecosystem. No, I do not. I adapt, and I change my behavior. Not everyone has diabetes, and my fellow citizens have the right to eat what they would like.
I don't think anyone is going to ban anything. It would be nice if people knew that they smelled to high hell like perfume, though.
Geez Kathy, sounds like you are a perfume slathering nightmare to be around. I'm glad I don't know you.
Really Alice, you got all that out of my one post. You are one talented chick.
Let's ban latex. And people who have recently eaten or handled peanut butter must shower afterward. And then there are the smokers who smoke outside and then reek....I don't want you in the cubicle next to me. Or, and the color red offends me, it makes me nauseaus, so let's not have that either.
And Kathy, you are correct, people who don't wash and don't use deodorant smell much worse. I'm frankly sick of all the allegic people - let's all just dress the same, smell the same, eat the same so we don't offend anyone. I'm going to slather myself with Chanel now and walk into the mall. Sue me. If you are allergic, don't stand next to me.
I'll vote for a ban on latex... NO CONDOMS... kidding. No one is going to ban anything here. To say you're sick of the allergic people, as one of those allergic people, I hope for you to have some allergy induced asthma at some point to learn how dangerous it is. You need to be considerate instead of a gigantic b----.
my kid has allergies. I can relate. But I don't go shoving her medical issues down other people's throats. BTW, she's allergic to cockroaches. I demand the country eradicate them immediately. My daughter has rights.
I second the ban on cockroaches. Disgusting creatures.
Clever headline, lousy content, who reeally cares?
It's all those cheap, synthetic "perfumes" that give me a headache and make me nauseous. I'm starting to get a bit annoyed with always having to cater to a minority just because they can scream louder than I.
Perfume is a personal choice by the wearer and perfume should only be detected by the person wearing the scent and someone who would be very close to that person--not the rest of the room or world. Unfortunate that many women (and men) dose themselves with the stuff and announce their presence even before they arrive and hours later you can still smell them even after they are long gone. Rude to say the least. Leave the perfume manufacturers alone-let them list the ingredients used and let the buyer make the choice. And apply it correctly.
What they need to ban are the scented fabric softeners and sprays that are much more dangerous and in drying the vents propel these chemicals sometimes throughout out an entire neighborhood not only effecting air quality, but effecting those with allergies on their own property inside their own houses. That needs to be stopped and the fact that those fabric sprays and dryer softeners give off even more chemicals when they are heated, even with body warmth--those effect innocent people and children who do not have a choice and are forced to inhale it.
If you drive a car, or use any gasoline powered equipment, then you are just as guilty as those you rail against?
Thoughts:
Perfumes were used to cover the stench when people rarely took baths.
Today we can bath every day.
Many of us get massive headaches from perfumes. Perfumes are now the stench.
It is surprisingly difficult sometimes to find an unscented deodorant.
Many elderly people no longer can smell as well as they used to, that is one reason so many older ladies wear so much. If you are sensitive even the smallest amount can be a problem
Someone wearing perfume can ruin another persons day for a long time.
I don't like cigarette smoke but it passes, the wrong perfume and I have a headache for hours.
F those perfumes and fragrances. Unfortunately, some people (like one my relative) are literally addicted to them. It's a bane.
Give beaurocrats power over vast masses of people and stupid regulations will come out. All you have to do is to look at some of the labels on our food products. No cholesterol written on products that common sense will tell you there can not possibly be any. So many labels are ridiculous-a monument to stupidity.
In case of perfumes, the rules will increase prices because a lot of work will be needed to make the change.One of the most difficult things in perfume production is the scent stability ( I happened to know this years ago). To retain fragrance for a long time is a real trick and that is the reason why Channel 5 is so costly or other fine perfumes. If the beaurocrats win, the quality will be prohibitive in cost and/or will decline .
While I agree that some people wear way to much perfume, does anyone not see what is going on???
Our rights continue to be eroded & soon the entire world will be one big police state!
No smoking, no trans fats, no large sodas, no this...no that...NO TWINKIES!!!!
Yes, people with allergies should be able to "breathe clean air", and if anyone can find some in this world, let me know!
But why should I have to "change" because you "might" be allergic to my perfume?
Car/truck/bus/train/plane fumes don't bother you? "Stuff" in our food & water doesn't make you sick? Our cell phones giving you cancer? The money you touch is clean & germ free?
People if this is all we have to worry about, then life is good!!
Your perfume can give me a headache for hours....and it doesn't take much.
Plenty of clean air out there, but even if there isn't any where you are at why trash it up even more? I spotted a candy wrapper in the street so I dumped my garbage in the street? What kind of mentality is that?
i was at a hospital and noticed signs stating no smoking on hospital property then i noticed the exhaust from all the cars and wondered how will they stop people from inhaling the fumes? so what is it the squeaky wheel gets the grease or are we just over doing political correctness
I use cologne without over doing it. I have also tried some and had an allergic reaction. I just avoid wearing those. I don't bathe in the stuff like some people. I do like to smell a good perfume but there are many people who over do it. Don't ban perfume that have delighted many over the years.
joregon: Avoid headaches by turning on your hepa filter and staying indoors if the mass populace bothers you that much. There was a lady who worked in another building who my friends told me about who always ate alone and never had any friends because all she did was complain about everything. Everything! No one wanted to be around she was such a downer. Even when I smell something cheap that gives me a headache, no big deal. I have aspirin.
I'm quite fine with the bulk of humanity. Doesn't bother me when someone farts or even has body odors. When tree pollen is a problem I might take a Alavert.
That is the thing. Would you serve something with peanuts in it to a bunch of people without telling them?
I live my life quite comfortably in this world until someone, such as yourself, is so arrogant as to think I need to smell their stench.
Wear your perfume in your own house, when you go out in public Bathe First!
It sounds like this is more of an issue of ingredient disclosure vs intellectual property rights. But wait, how do Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dr. Pepper, and other brands maintain top-secret recipes? Why don't they just identify the allergens and put a label on the bottle that says "contains lavender oil" or "may cause allergies in others, use sparingly"?
what good does knowing the ingredients do for the others? why not have signs around our necks with all our info on it. as bill engvale says heres your sign. that was not a insult while i was typing it just came to mind and made me laugh thinking of all the different signs we would see
There's a special extract from pig glands which is said to drive men wild. I think it's the sex pheromone or something, but I was trying to explain it to a friend of mine, and she asked me, "How do you keep the pork chops from going flying when you're dancing around at the clubs?" So I told her to use bungees to strap them to her armpits.
Honestly though, I think perfume is gross, but I also hate the smell of car exhaust, vinyl off-gassing, beer breath, an unwashed butt, cigarette smoke, mothballs, farts, ointment (ugh!), and fields with fresh chicken, pig, or cow manure spread over them. The above is what I endure in one visit to my elderly relatives in the country.
Hey man if the EU wants to stink...like the Middle Ages....it's there right...
conspiracy theory for today. isn't it a mid east relegion thing about wearing unatural scents? the musslims are trying to inact their beliefs by starting a ban on scents which makes no sense. lol
Funny hat I had an employee who was allergic to fragrances. He has a real problem with a woman in an adjoining offive who wore an AMERICAN MADE "rose" fragrance. All or most American made fragrances are synthetic due to our constant rush to produce them for such "stars" as Brittany Spears. I, with the encouragement of the woman's supervisor, took her to The Perfume House in Portland, Or, which only sells natural, mostly European, perfumes. We had a lovely time getting information on perfumes and how to wear them and trying many different ones. She found a lovely rose fragrance, which was paid for by her supervisor.
She wore the perfume the next day, correctly, and my employee had no problems with it at all, just as he had none from the various fragrances I wear that I purchase there. I have never had anyone complain about my fragrances so I am appalled that they want to start banning the naturals and using only the American-style synthetics. Seems to me to be going exactly backwards.