I've learned about your site through Nancy Hirschfeld,
Informed Choices and her site "Pesticides, Wetlands, and the Game of Golf" in your
Better Homes and Websites.
I'd like to introduce you to the site of the Environmental Health Network
(EHN) of Larkspur, California. EHN advocates on behalf of the chemically
injured.
As long ago as 1986, the National Academy of Sciences recommended before
the 99th Congress that fragrances should be tested for neurotoxicity.
Thirteen long years later and they still are not tested for neurotoxicity,
nor for inhalation. These chemicals get into the blood stream, via
inhalation, through the eyes, or through skin absorption. They cross the
blood-brain barrier. They target organs.
In May 1999, EHN petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to
declare ETERNITY eau de parfum "misbranded." The basis of this petition is
the lack of a warning label on the product informing consumers that all the
materials in the product, and the product, have not been adequately tested
for safety. http://users.lanminds.com/~wilworks/FDApetition/bkgrinfo.htm
The industry is unregulated, and further protected by trade secret laws,
meaning patients and their doctors cannot learn what chemicals are making
them ill. Fragrance products in general are released to market without
adequate testing.
It is past time for the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to follow it's
own mandate and declare fragrances misbranded and designate they carry
warning labels as they continue to be released to market without adequate
testing. The public has a right to know, for how else can they exercise
informed consent?
All of this information -- and a lot more! -- is available on two sites:
The Fragranced Products Information Network http://www.ameliaww.com/fpin/fpin.htm
and
EHN: http://users.lanminds.com/~wilworks/ehnindex.htm
FDA Petition: http://users.lanminds.com/~wilworks/FDApetition/bkgrinfo.htm
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Barbara Wilkie
