Health Risks

Some perfume ingredients can cause health problems. Evidence in peer-reviewed journals shows that some fragrances can cause asthmatic reactions even when the participants could not actually smell the fragrances . Many fragrance ingredients can cause allergic skin reactions. There is scientific evidence that some common ingredients, like certain synthetic musks, can disrupt the balance of hormones in the human body (endocrine disruption), and even cause cancer (especially in the case of the ubiquitous synthetic polycyclic molecules, assigned to the musk odor group). Some research of aromatics have shown that they contain compounds that cause skin irritation, however many of the studies, such as IFRA's research claiming that opoponax is too dangerous to be used in perfumery, are still incomplete and may lead to faulty conclusions. It is also true that sometimes inhalation alone can cause skin irritation Much remains to be learned about the effects of fragrance on human health and the environment.

Most manufacturers who use perfume in their formulations refer to the IFRA Code of Practice when considering type and concentration of perfume in the products. The recommendations in IFRA Code of Practice should be used with caution and evaluated critically. Many of the references are given as "private communication to IFRA" with neither date nor source.

The perfume industry is not regulated for safety by the FDA in the US. Protection of trade secrets prevents the listing of ingredients that might or might not be hazardous in perfumes. Rather perfume ingredients are tested to the extent that they are Generally recognized as safe (GRAS). In Europe, the mandatory listing of any of a number of chemicals thought to be hazardous has just begun, but this in itself can be misleading, since, for instance, linalool, which must be listed as hazardous for causing skin irritation, actually causes skin irritation only when it degrades to peroxides, and the use of antioxidants in perfumes could prevent this. European versions of some old favorite perfumes, like chypres, which require the use of oakmoss extract, are being reformulated because of these new regulations.

In some cases, an excessive use of perfumes may cause allergic reactions of the skin. For instance, acetophenone, ethyl acetate and acetone while present in many perfumes, are also known or potential respiratory allergens. Persons with multiple chemical sensitivity or respiratory diseases such as asthma may be responsive to even low levels of perfumes.

Intolerance to perfumes by inhalation is another debated hazard. Symptoms may vary from feeling ill, over coughing, phlegm, wheeze, chest tightness, headache, exertional dyspnea, acute respiratory illnesses, hay fever, child respiratory trouble, to physician confirmed asthma. Symptoms of hyperreactivity of the respiratory tract and asthma without IgE-mediated allergy or demonstrable bronchial obstruction can be induced by perfume. This was shown by placebo-controlled challenges of nine patients with perfume. The same patients were also subjected to perfume provocation with or without a carbon filter mask to ascertain whether breathing through a filter with active carbon would prevent the symptoms. The patients breathed through the mouth during the provocations, as they used a nasal clamp to prevent any smell of perfume. The patient’s earlier symptoms could be verified by the perfume provocation. Breathing through the carbon filter had no protective effect. The symptoms were not transmitted via the olfactory nerve, since the patients could not smell the perfume, but they may have been induced by a trigeminal reflex via the respiratory tract or by the eyes (Millqvist and Lowhagen 1996). Cases of occupational asthma induced by perfume substances such as isoamyl acetate, limonene, cinnamaldehyde and benzaldehyde tend to give persisting symptoms even though the exposure is below the occupational exposure limits (Jensen and Petersen 1991).