Barb Wilkie's EHN Website
Last updated 2008

CHICAGO, Feb. 7, 2000/PR Newswire/ Lovers looking for the perfect Valentine's gift should think twice before giving a bottle of toxic chemicals to their sweethearts. Recent analysis of Calvin Klein's "Eternity Eau de Parfum" (Eternity) by an industry laboratory specializing in fragrance chemistry revealed 41 ingredients. These include some known to be toxic to the skin, respiratory tract, nervous, and reproductive systems, and others known to be carcinogens; no toxicity data are available on several ingredients, while data on most are inadequate. Additionally, some ingredients are volatile and a source of indoor air pollution. Since 1995, several consumers have complained to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of neurological and respiratory problems due to Eternity.

The analysis was recently commissioned by the Environmental Health Network (EHN) as many members had complained of asthma, migraine, sensitization, or multiple chemical sensitivity when exposed to Eternity. Based on this analysis, EHN filed a Citizen Petition with the FDA on May 11, 1999, which was subsequently endorsed by the Cancer Prevention Coalition. The petition requests that the FDA take administrative action and declare Eternity "misbranded" or "adulterated" since it does not carry a warning label as required by the terms of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act. Grounds for requesting the warning label include FDA regulation 21CFR Sec. 740/10: "Each ingredient used in a cosmetic product and each finished cosmetic product shall be adequately substantiated for safety prior to marketing. Any such ingredient or product whose safety is not adequately substantiated prior to marketing is misbranded unless it contains the following conspicuous statement on the principal display panel: Warning: the safety of this product has not been determined."

Since May, over 700 consumers with health problems from exposure to various mainstream fragrances have written to the FDA supporting EHN's petition. The FDA responded on November 30 to the effect that they had been unable to reach a decision on the grounds of "other priorities and the limited availability of resources." The petition is thus still open for further public complaints and endorsements. [Note: Informing the public of this petition currently before the FDA has been a grassroots, word-of-mouth effort.]

A wide range of mainstream fragrances and perfumes, predominantly based on synthetic ingredients, are used in numerous cosmetics and toiletries, and also soaps and other household products. Currently, the fragrance industry is virtually unregulated. Its recklessness is abetted and compounded by FDA's complicity. The FDA has refused to require the industry to disclose ingredients due to trade secrecy considerations, and still takes the position that "consumers are not adversely affected --and should not be deprived of the enjoyment" of these products. The Cancer Prevention Coalition and EHN take the unequivocal position that the FDA should implement its own regulations and act belatedly to protect consumer health and safety.

Valentine sweethearts should switch to organically grown (pesticide-free) roses or other flowers as safe alternatives to mainstream perfumes.

Contact: Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Professor of Environmental
Medicine, University of Illinois, School of Public Health, Chicago,
Illinois, Chairman, the Cancer Prevention Coalition, 312-996-2297;
Website: http://www.preventcancer.com

Betty Bridges, RN, Advisory Board member of EHN, and owner/webmistress of Fragranced Products Information Network of Virginia; E-Fax:: (801)340-3578; e-mail fpinva@fpinva.org; Website: http://www.fpinva.org

Barbara Wilkie, board member, Environmental Health Network
P.O. Box 1155, Larkspur, CA 94977; phone: 415.541.5075 -- message system; or e-mail: (Barb's email is no longer valid, please contact EHN); Website: http://www.ehnca.org

When you reformat this for a flyer, please have the FDA information appear on the second side of your sheet . . . and remove this note. Thanks. -- barb

Write to the FDA about your adverse reactions to synthetic scents, or your children's adverse reactions, or the negative impacts on the health of your elderly parents. The FDA will do nothing unless they hear from several hundred thousand individuals.

Use just one method of communication with the FDA. Contact info:

Reference: Docket Number: 99P-1340/CP 1

Email Address -- fdadockets@oc.fda.gov

FAX Number -- 301.827.6870

Letters may be mailed to:

Dockets Management Branch
The Food and Drug Administration
Department of Health and Human Services, Rm. 1-23
12420 Parklawn Dr.
Rockville, MD 20857

Thank you for taking the time and energy to inform the FDA about the negative impacts of synthetic fragrances upon your health, or the health of your loved ones.