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.

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.

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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We all like to jump on perfume houses that reformulate our favorite perfumes into banality, but all too frequently they are simply complying with new regulations. Ready for more bad news? IFRA (the International Fragrance Association) has now proposed restrictions on the use of citrus oils in cosmetics and perfumes. You can read a summary of the original proposal at Furanocoumarins in cosmetics – worrying developments at the Aromaconnection blog, and a more detailed response from Cropwatch (an “independent watchdog for endangered and vulnerable natural aromatic products”) can be found at IFRA moves towards forcing perfumers to abandon citrus oils at Anya's Garden.

Please feel free to comment, but I haven't done more than skim the articles linked to above and I haven't the patience to do more than that…

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