Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

Hello Everyone: For those of you who know me and know how long and how hard I have fought against the creeping over-regulation of natural aromatics, please be aware that here is a new threat: a thesis from a student who seems to be on track with the bad science and agenda of RIFM. I hope you can perhaps give back to the natural aromatics community by paying attention to our fight against the US Food and Drug Administrations Global Harmonization Act of 2009, which is the way the EU anti-naturals, anti-small business agenda makers are getting their foot in the door of our government. It will mean the end of our businesses, and perhaps even the end of our access to natural oils for home use. I've already posted this on the Natural Perfumers Guild blog and my blog, and I urge you to do the same if you have a blog, and also send it to relevant aromatherapy or perfumery groups you may be on. Anya Here is Tony's open letter - please spread it across the internet and if you can, work i

STOP THE FDA GLOBALIZATION ACT OF 2008 CROPWATCH AT THE CROSSROADS - looking for your feedback note: if you wish to contact Tony about the questions below, you can write him at info@cropwatch.org After 4 or 5 years of continuous activity, Cropwatch has some choices to make. Do we go on the way that we have been, snapping at the ankles of those who run & regulate the aroma industry so badly, or should we 'old dogs' learn some new tricks? Cropwatch s upporters, and organisations sympathetic to our aims, regularly offer us donations and advise us of potential sources of grants, to which we have always said 'no thanks, we're non-financed'. Our current thinking is that this might be a mistake, since we are limiting our potential effectiveness. . We are certainly not asking everyone for money, but we are asking you to help us with some feedback on how a financial input could potentially help the aroma world to become a better & fairer place, so please mail

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

More Debunking of Bad Science from Tony Burfield of Cropwatch I've known Natural Perfumers Guild member Tony Burfield of Cropwatch for about ten years now. We "met" in online forums on aromatherapy, where we, and many others were real "safety nuts." All this precedes the recent upsurge in interest in niche perfumers creating fragrances in their (often unregulated) studios. At the time we were alarmed at the new folks flooding into the aromatherapy world, enticed with, and in love with, natural aromatics. Often they had no idea of maximum allowable usage rates and surrounding safety issues. Natural aromatics do have some risk factors, depending upon the chemical composition of the aromatic and the rate at which it is used in a blend. Some are fairly innocuous. Others can permanantly scar you with Berloque dermatitis markings, which look like dark, blotchy birthmarks. Others may cause blistering rashes, itching and lifelong sensitization. A few cause allergenic re

Illustration for the article chosen for no reason other than its beauty - a bunch of blue lotus flowers. Bravo to Tony Burfield for waging a tough negotiation and getting two great copyrighted articles in this month's Cropwatch newsletter.  Downlload the .pdfs, such as the one that is a very funny speech by Kim Kleimann, President of Berje Inc. titled "What you'll never hear from your boss." Mr. Kleimann pulls no punches, but there are lots of punchlines - in the form of very comical takes on the state of the raw materials industry. No one is sacrosanct - REACH, buyers, Scandanavian dermatologists (what a back story that is to the current state of regulation!), IFRA, sellers, anybody. I like Mr. Kleimann - he's a real straight shooter. The WFFC that this speech was presented at is the Women in Fragrance and Flavor Commerce group in New Jersey. Robert Tisserand , noted aromatherapist and I'm proud to say a member of the Natural Perfumers Guild , gave a br

The Natural Perfumers Guild has partnered with Cropwatch in the past, most notably in early 2007, when the Guild joined them in challenging the adoption of IFRA's (International Fragrance Association) 40th Amendment without public review or input. We further support Cropwatch in their ongoing efforts to bring an outside evaluation as to the practices related to the legislative control of natural aromatics as they are used in the body care, aromatherapy and perfumery industries. The information presented below is further documentation of Cropwatch's ongoing efforts: CROPWATCH STATEMENT ON TEA TREE OIL Jan 2008. Pre-amble. The SCCP has the subject of tea tree oil (TTO) on its agenda for its Brussels meeting of 22.01.08. You will remember that allegations about the instability & skin safety of tea tree oil, as well as complaints about gaps in the toxicity data, were previously made in the flawed SCCP Opinion SCCP/0843/04, to which the Australian Te

STOP THE FDA GLOBALIZATION ACT OF 2008 If it weren't for our sense of smell, would would not be able to discern the food we put in our mouths. Our sense of smell makes it possible for us to taste our food. Our tastebuds help us sense salty, sour, sweet, bitter and umami. When purchasing tomatoes or melons at the store, we use our nose to detect which ones are the ripest with the probable best taste. No scent? No taste. When agribusiness giants gobble up family farms, or development paves over yet another field of beans with concrete, we, the people, become more separated from the crops that smell and taste good. Every small scale farm that goes under puts another nail in the coffin of free enterprise providing fresh, tasty, nutritious food on our table or fragrant, beautiful ingredients for our natural perfumes. Taking your children out to a local farm to pick a pumpkin becomes more of an impossibility when urban sprawl means a 40-mile drive each way. I call it the Cheez-Wiz factor

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!

STOP THE FDA GLOBALIZATION ACT OF 2008 1st March 2007 Dear Sirs, Please find attached the petition posted up at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ifra40/ http://www.cropwatch.org/40thpetition.htm . You will note that there are approx. 740 signatories to date, including perfumers, natural perfumers, MD's of aroma ingredient companies, aroma technicians, academicians, soap makers, staff from cosmetic & natural products companies as well as natural products commodity end-users from countries as diverse as Russia, Iceland & USA. There are a number of anonymous signatories, and to avoid any unfair accusations of ballot-rigging or signature duplication, we are quite willing to submit the owner's version of this petition (which reveals fuller identity details), to an independent 3rd party (who will need to agree to absolute confidentiality), if the need should arise. I think you if you read the comments section of the petition - scroll through http://www.ipetitions.com/petit