Signal From The Nose

CleanGredients, a long standing sponsor and supporter of green chemistry, announced on July 1 that the EPA's DfE Screen for Fragrances Human Health Criteria is launched. This beneficial program will guide fragrance creators into safe standards. The criteria for Environmental Fate & Toxicity will be included as soon as the final wording is parsed by the fragrance TAC's (technical action committee) participants. [The Green Nose is a TAC member since October 2007] What does this all mean? The adoption of DfE standards will mean that manufacturer's and their suppliers will have access to specific guidelines from the government and sponsoring suppliers in developing new products that reduce their impact on the environment and human sensitization.

I now find myself reflecting on the TAC's commendable efforts to bring the fragrance screen to a purposeful reality.  It poses questions of self assessment and value to the committee purpose such as, "What product experience did you bring?  Was your "voice",  industry perspective, bias, talent or lack of it, an influence?  What now has been gained, how do we move forward and guide others.

When I was at the recent conference on Sustainable Fragrances for Cleaners, I heard many self-conscious remarks from highly regarded scientists as they dealt with their own interests, purpose or "reflexive modernization." I also heard several snarky remarks on the authenticity of modeling chemical fate, even though one presentation on modeling tripled the endpoint validations that currently exist in the industry data.

As a blogger, I am not influenced by editorial practices like a reporter. The meaning of this blog is not only what it says,  but also the way the blogger says it. Therefore, dear Fragrance industry executives, my signal from the noise, is stop justifying past positions and worrying about anti-fragrance messages. Prepare for client formulators who do need to revise most of their product offerings and increase their market share.

Start your work now before someone launches a product called "I Can't Believe This Is a Cleaner Without a Fragrance."