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The more stories like this in the mainstream press, the more opportunities
for natural perfumers to promote their
healthier alternative products:
36 perfumes carry ‘scent of death,’ says Greenpeace
By Ronnie Calumpita,
Reporter
The next time your boyfriend or girlfriend gives you perfume as a Valentine
gift, think twicehe or
she might be giving you a scent of “death.”
The environmental group Greenpeace said Monday that at least
36 well-known
perfume brands contain chemicals that are hazardous to health and the
environment.
At a press
briefing at the Chicken Bacolod Restaurant in Quezon City,
Francis de la Cruz, Greenpeace Southeast Asia toxics campaigner,
said that
phthalate esters and synthetic muskstwo toxic man-made chemicalsare
contained in several perfumes.
“These
chemicals are known to be persistent and they intensify once they
enter the body by inhaling or through the skin,”
he said.
“It’s not acute poisoning but it’s chronic, it stays in our system and
accumulates in
the fatty tissues of living organisms,” he added.
De la Cruz said phthalate has been found to have bad effects
on the DNA,
male sperm and restricts lung function in men. Synthetic musks can attack
living tissues, he said.
The
perfumes containing these toxic agents, he said, are CK One, Eternity
for Men and Eternity for Women of Calvin Klein,
Boss in Motion of Hugo
Boss; Envy Me of Gucci, Blue Polo of Ralph Lauren, True Star of Tommy
Hilfiger, She of Armani,
Chance and No. 5 of Chanel, Floral Dream of
Adidas, Cinema of Yves Saint Laurent and Sunset of Naomi Campbell.
Greenpeace
randomly selected 36 brands of perfume for a quantitative
analysis for phthalates and synthetic musks at the Netherlands
laboratory,
TNO Environment and Geosciences, which conducted the study from 2003 to 2004.
De la Cruz said Greenpeace
has started meeting the manufacturers of these
perfumes to discuss how these hazardous chemicals can be phased out of
their products.
“Other ingredients that are not harmful can serve as substitutes,” he said.
Greenpeace
will coordinate with the Bureau of Food and Drugs to regulate
the entry of the “toxic” perfumes.
“The
bureau should make the adjustments on perfumes with hazardous
chemicals once the regulation is passed in Europe,”
de la Cruz said.
[]
Note: the complete list includes:
Floral Dream by Adidas, In Leather by Aigner, Aqua
Naturale, Emporio Armani
by Armani, White Musk, Eau de Parfum by The Body Shop and High Speed by
Bogner, BLV Notte
by Bulgari, CK One for Men, Eternity for Men and Eternity
for Women by Calvin Klein, Le Baiser Du Dragon by Cartier, Chance
No. 5 by
Chanel, Poison and Pure Poison by Christian Dior, Him by FCUK, Fiorucci
Loves You, Envy Me by Gucci, Boss
by Hugo Boss, My Manifesto by Isabella
Rosellini, Classique and Le Male by Jean Paul Gaultier, Nightlife by Joop!,
Iris
Blue by Melvita, Waterlove by Mexx, Sunset by Naomi Campbell, XS Pour
Homme by Paco Rabanne, and Jamaica Man and Jamaica
Woman by Puma.
(List published on page A4 of the Feb. 28, 2005 issue of the Philippine
Daily Inquirer)
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