Perfume Allergies
Perfume ingredients are not allergenic for the vast majority of the population. Unfortunately, there are a very small number of people who are allergic to perfumes, just as some others are allergic to foods and other every day products. Those few people who are allergic to perfumes have 2 options: (a) use non-perfumed products - simply avoid any product with the word "fragrance" or "parfum" among the ingredients or (b) avoid specific perfume ingredients to which they are known to be allergic.
An improved labeling system for perfume ingredients was implemented across the E.U. in March 2005, allowing consumers to avoid perfume ingredients to which they have been found allergic. Twenty-six substances have been identified and published by E.U. authorities. P&G Beauty & Grooming has been a leader in the regulatory process that led to this development and helped E.U. regulatory authorities to identify the list of ingredients and establish the criteria for their labeling. P&G Beauty & Grooming is not actively re-formulating its products to avoid the 26 ingredients, but instead labeling them when present in the product, enabling consumers who are sensitive to them to choose, while still providing the product to the vast majority of consumers for whom perfume allergies are not a problem.
The Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM)
RIFM is an international organization established by the fragrance industry to evaluate the safety of fragrance ingredients and report its findings to IFRA (International Fragrance Association). Its expert panel includes distinguished dermatologists and this panel proposes research goals and exposure limits for various fragrance ingredients to IFRA. RIFM and IFRA have recently (May 2006) adopted an exposure-based approach for evaluating the skin allergy of fragrance ingredients, called Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA).
To learn more about QRA, click on the following links:
In brief, the key steps of the dermal sensitization QRA process for fragrance ingredients are:
- Determination of benchmarks (No Expected Sensitization Induction Level or NESIL)
- Application of sensitization assessment factors
- Calculation of consumer exposure levels (CEL) through product use.
Using these parameters, an acceptable exposure level can be calculated and compared with the CEL. This ratio must be calculated for each fragrance ingredient identified as a potential skin sensitizer in each product type and be favorable to support the safe use of the fragrance ingredient.
IFRA refers to QRA "as the core strategy for primary prevention of dermal sensitization (allergy) to materials in consumer products in general." P&G scientists were in the forefront of developing this method and our scientists use this same process as a key part of our fragrance safety assessments for skin allergy.
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Resources
Special Issue: Dermal Sensitization Quantitative Risk Assessment for Fragrance Ingredients. Reg Toxicol Pharmacol Vol. 52, Number 1, October 2008, accessible at http://rifm.org/doc/Drml%20Snsitizatn%20QRA%20for%20Frgrnc%20Ingredients_Reg%20Tox%20and%20Pharm.pdf
International Fragrance Association, Quantitative Risk Assessment for Dermal Sensitization, accessible at http://www.ifraorg.org/Home/Science+Regulatory/Risk-Assessment/Quantitative-Risk-Assessment-QRA-/page.aspx/114