Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

I was noodling around the Internet this morning and found this: "Until recently, the EU banned the sale of ugly carrots with knobby protrusions, cucumbers that were grossly curved, and equally unaesthetic specimens of 24 other fruits and vegetables. "It makes no sense to throw perfectly good products away, just because they are the 'wrong' shape," said the EU's commissioner for agriculture." I've often related to disbelieving friends and colleagues that the EU is so out of hand with their Draconian, bad-science, big brother is watching you (and forcing you out of business) mentality that they regulated the curve in bananas. Too much curve, can't be sold in the EU. My particular peeve with them is the bad science and horrid fees they impose on perfumers both artisanal and corporate alike. They've been partly to blame for the reformulation of many perfume classics, deeming oakmoss and orange oil alike too dangerous for us poor silly une

I blogged a few days ago about the decline of the rose-de-mai farmland in Grasse and a French Perfumer, Isabelle Gelle commented on the Natural Perfumery group listing the reasons she perceived to be at fault, and offering her prediction as to the future of rose (and other natural aromatics) production. Reprinted here with permission: To me, there are 2 main guilty ones: 1) the consumers who will not pay for pure rose products because as mentioned in the article 'rose is not rose' any longer - I actually browsed the latest website of Scents of Time in which I saw that the great idea of reproducing various Scents of Time has been once again transformed into another 'chemical' venture, using the now widely spread HEADSPACE technique (which is still leading to reproducing scents in a laboratory). 2) the European Union who by trying to place every citizen in a sterilised bubble and create a Federal Europe is slowly killing national identities and regional specialties.

Below is a letter I just received from Tony Burfield of Cropwatch. Feel free to redistribute it. Dear All, Citrus Oils: the Situation Cropwatch is directly opposing IFRA's Risk Assessment on furanocoumarins, and its proposals to severely restrict citrus oil usage in cosmetics products. Unfortunately, because of the lack of transparency exercised by RIFM, IFRA and the EU Commission over this matter. it means that unless you, dear reader, belong to a professional association, probably won't get to see IFRA's information letter IL799 on the topic, or the Risk Assessment that the EU Commission was given in late 2007 by IFRA. IFRA have apparently suggested a cosy future chat with the EU Commissioners, some unnamed industry moguls and fragrance consumers (presumably IFRA or RIFM members) to 'explain matters' - presumably code for agreeing their highly restrictive citrus oil proposals (see below) with the EU regulator. Nobody with an independent or contrary opinion is to

STOP THE FDA GLOBALIZATION ACT OF 2008 The latest Cropwatch newsletter isn't on their site yet. You can view it on the Natural Perfumers Guild site by clicking on the link. It's long, 50+pages, packed with information. Before you read the latest message from Cropwatch below, I cannot stress enough the importance of what Tony Burfield and his Cropwatch organization are doing FOR US ALL - those of us who love natural aromatics, natural and botanical perfumery, and want to retain our rights. If you enjoy aromatherapy, naturally scented toiletries, natural body care and natural perfumes, you'll want to pay attention to this issue very closely as your access to natural aromatics is in danger. This message went out to the 1200+ members of the Yahoo group I host, and it's relevant here: Let's put the power and beauty of our numbers to work. Please volunteer to help him if you have any expertise in the areas he's asking for assistance with, or perhaps you're just a

STOP THE FDA GLOBALIZATION ACT OF 2008 For those of you who have been following this blog since January, when we first reported on Tony Burfield's watchdog organization Cropwatch challenging the IFRA 40th Amendment, and the European Union regulation of natural aromatics, I am happy to report there is progress. On July 3rd, Tony, along with representatives of the Perfume Foundation, sat down with the representatives of the EU Cosmetics Commission in the first-ever of its type of confab. We take this as a sign of a crack in the ongoing bulldozing effect of IFRA-fueled nonsensical and nonscientific regulation of natural aromatics in natural perfumery. You can read or download a PDF of Tony's report on the meeting here: Cropwatch sits down with the European Union (EU) Cosmetics Commission. Back to lounging on the beach for me - yeah!