The nose. It belongs to Karine Vinchon-Spehner, one of the great French perfume creators, a real…

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http://www.euronews.com/2013/07/26/allergic-reactions-trigger-blow-to-perfume-industry
The nose. It belongs to Karine Vinchon-Spehner, one of the great French perfume creators, a real artist in the fragile world of fragrances. Her working tool smells them all: the scents of harmony, but also the whiff of something wrong.

In Brussels there is something in the air: the European Commission clash with perfume producers in a “battle of scents”. A report from the EU Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) is on the negotiating table. It contains over 300 pages that recommend restricting some natural ingredients that cause allergies, and banning outright three ingredients.

This report gets up Karine’s nose: if it becomes law, perfumers would be forced to reformulate several famous fragrances – like Chanel Number Five, for example.

Karine explained to euronews: “We will lose some subtle tones, we risk that some precious perfume properties will disappear… It’s like forcing a painter to get rid of one of the five primary colours, he wouldn’t be able to paint like before. Or like taking notes away from a musician… It would be a real pity…”

Meanwhile the tiny village of Montségur-sur-Lauzon is at the very heart of French lavender flower production. The summer air smells different. Fragrant. Here, Kriss, a young distillery manager, and a tractor driver nicknamed Mirabelle share the same fears: the thunderstorm forecast for later today, and the storm brewing over the European Commission’s apparent attempt to limit the use of coumarine, an allergenic substance naturally present in lavender flowers…

Kriss told euronews: “This European law on allergenic substances under discussion would be a catastrophe for all professions dealing with natural raw materials. Such a law would limit the use of those substances on a very low level. 90 percent of existing natural raw materials from plants could not be used any longer. The perfumers would have to change all their formulas…it would be like the debate to ban peanuts in Europe all over again. It’s just stupid.”

Not everyone agrees, as we discover in Lyon, where consumer protectors warn ‘ambient perfumes’ are flooding public spaces, shops, even magazines to attract customers, creating big problems.

About two percent of Europeans suffer from allergies. Agnes has to buy her cosmetics at the pharmacy because the ambient perfumes mean limited shopping-time, no make-up, no perfume, no nightclubs. What others perceive as beautiful fragrances everywhere can cause violent reactions with Agnes.

She said: “Quite often the smell of perfume gives me an instant headache. I can get a sudden skin reaction: it starts itching, which is very annoying. There are more and more ambient perfumes used all over the city. I think they can be quite aggressive; they have a very strong and heavy scent. These ambient perfumes should be banned from some locations.”

There are 2,500 lavender producers in France, covering 20,000 hectars. Grasse is considered by many to be the “capital of perfumes”. It is close to the lavender flower growing regions and home to Robertet, a world leader in natural fragrance production and perfume design. Their 22 branches worldwide turnover 400 million euros a year.

Robertet workers were shocked at the SCCS report with its long list of allergenic substances to declare, limit or ban. To adapt, the French perfume industry would need to pay up to 100 million euros, according to one of the directors. The cost to Robertet would be approximately five million euros.

Francis Thibaudeau, Deputy Manager Fragrance Division, Robertet told euronews: “Allergenic substances are part of perfume products. All the major perfumes would disappear if the SCCS proposals are implemented. Entire branches of perfume-making would be doomed. It would be the death of the industry… we could no longer use jasmine, ylang ylang sandalwood, or bergamotte. Those ingredients and essential natural products would no longer be used…”

At Sanary-sur-Mer we met Pascale Couratier. Her beloved eight-year-old nephew, died in his school canteen, suffering from allergies, after eating a tiny piece of sheep’s cheese. Two grams were enough to kill him. Since then, Pascale has joined the French Association for Allergy Prevention. For her, food allergies and perfume allergies are the same battle: for labels and limits:

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