IFRA seems to be loosening up their pro-ban stance at the moment, probably because the perfume industry can’t handle new development during a bad economy, but there’s still bans on the table in the EU and elsewhere.
Here’s the proposed GS-50 (GreenSeal 50) proposed bans for personal care products:
2-butoxyethanol
Alkylphenol ethoxylates
Benzophenones and its derivatives
Butylated hydroxytoluene
2-butoxyethanol
Ethoxylated chemicals
Ethylene diaminetetra-acetic acid or any of its salts
Formaldehyde donors
Halogenated organic solvents
Hazardous air pollutants
Heavy metals including, lead, hexavalent chromium, or selenium both in the elemental form or compounds
Methyldibromo glutaronitrile
Mercury-containing compounds
Mineral oils
Monoethanolamine, Diethanolamine, and Triethanolamine alone or in compounds Nitrilotriacetic acid
Nitro-musks
Optical brighteners
Parabens
Paraffin wax
Petrolatum
Phosphorus-containing chemicals
Phthalates
Polycyclic musks
TRI PBT chemicals
Triclosan
Enough people have complained saying they don’t care what’s in their cologne or perfume as long as it smells good (look at the revolt against new formulations on sites like basenotes and the perfume blogs), so these bodies seem to be backing off a little bit on the actual fragrance category.
However, the appearance on this list this does mean they consider these items at least potentially toxic. We take that seriously, especially when alternatives to some of these exist. For example, why use parabens when there’s much safer preservatives that don’t cost much, if any, more money? It’s not the worth the risk.
We figure, even if it’ll be 2015 by the time some things will be banned outright by EU and IFRA, we might as might well do our best to comply now and try to make safer products in the process. What will be considered harmful enough to ban in 2012, 2015 or 2020 is still dangerous now. It’s important to be ahead of the curve on safety.