Cropwatch Newsletter - call to arms, call for volunteers and STOP THE FDA GLOBALIZATION ACT OF 2008

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 great researcher and can track down the information despite not having these issues in your area of expertise.

His latest message:

Dear All,

As we approach critical mass, we have some choices to make.

Perfumery used to be about history, art & culture. Now it seems to be mainly about the (often nonsensical) regulation of ingredients driven by a form of imposed & unchallengeable legislatory 'Toxicological Imperialism'.

This itself is held in place by fear-culture amongst perfume buyers, who are terrified of media exposure/litigation over supposedly harmful fragrance ingredients. Interest in herbal medicine used to include your right to self-dosing, using traditional active plant extracts. A program of their removal from shop-shelves is the result of back-door lobbying, via pharmaceutical concerns.

Our age-old usage of aromatic plants & essential oils for their useful properties - as biocides, antiseptics etc. etc., is similarly curtailed by this flawed system of Hyperbureaucratic Technocracy within Europe, which is being carbon-copied by authorities in Canada, the US and other countries.

How much longer do we have to put up with this sorry state of affairs where natural ingredient use is often so affected by negligible &* *unquantified risk, before everyone sees that in reality this is an "Emperors New Clothes" situation? The revolution for common sense in aromatic regulation starts here. We are getting ever bigger! Join us!

Please read Cropwatch's August 2007 Newsletter.
http://www.cropwatch.org
contact Tony at:
info@cropwatch.or

P.S. Volunteers are needed to help examine the following areas...

1. Furanocoumarins. Academics & industrialists are helping us construct a massive data-base, which we will make publicly available, so we can all see the issues for ourselves. But we need more help.

2. Methyl eugenol carcinogenicity - challenges to the present accepted & outdated view.

3. Dimethyl & diethyl phthalates - ignored data & any associated industry conspiracy issues (thanks to the Perfume Foundation for this lead).

4. Sensitisers - ignored contrary evidence to the '26 Sensitisers' issue & new policy initiatives.

5. Issues of transparency & secrecy, freedom of information & the withholding of safety data from the public domain within professional trade & research organisations. This area includes how regulatory bodies have processed scientific evidence, & examining records of how scientific decisions were made.

We have limited evidence from a number of academics that an 'expert' EU advisory committee has not properly dealt with (or perhaps have not properly understood) submitted evidence in particular cases; these need public exposure, & we need to establish a more robust code of practice.

Thank you,
Tony