Online Website Rewrites IFRA v. Cropwatch Article, Bias and Ethical Lapse Charged
International Fragrance Association (IFRA) While in Midst of Controversy about Drawing up Natural Aromatics Guidelines for Potential European Union (EU) Adoption into Regulation, Charged With Hiding Agenda by Manipulating Online Article
In "IFRA Promotes Synthetic Ingredients in Fragrance", an article which first appeared on March 2, 2007 in Cosmetics Design-Europe, it was subsequently discovered on March 6, 2007, that a major rewrite had occurred that completely change the wording regarding the naturals vs. synthetics debate they are currently in with Cropwatch, an independent watchdog of the natural aromatics industry. Many of the IFRA "voluntary guidelines" have been adopted into law by the European Union, and the natural aromatics industry is concerned that this latest backpedaling on the conflict is a bad sign of journalistic manipulation to come.
It is believed that a blog that highlighted the original bias against naturals caused IFRA to get the reporter or editor for cosmeticsdesign-europe.com to change the article, creating a credibility and ethics problem for both IFRA and the publication, in the eyes of the naturals industry. The blog article appears at http://anyasgarden.blogspot.com/2007/03/its-synthetics-stupid-to-quote.html
The lead paragraph of the cosmeticsdesign-europe.com article, still available on Google, originally read:
IFRA has suggested that the many benefits of using synthetic ingredients within fragrance production outweighs the use of natural ingredients coinciding with the controversial revision of its code of practice last year.
Here is what the rewrite states:
IFRA has suggested that the many benefits of using synthetic ingredients within fragrance production are equally as important as that of natural ingredients - coinciding with the controversial revision of its code of practice last year.
Here's the original second paragraph, which apparently has not been Googled:
The association has used its annual 2007 winter update to encourage the use of synthetic materials, suggesting that the ingredients are more stable and less susceptible to price fluctuations within the market.
But the changed new version now is very different:
The association has used its annual 2007 winter update to encourage the use of both synthetic and natural materials, suggesting that synthetic ingredients are stable and less susceptible to price fluctuations within the market.
This is the second scandal that IFRA has been associated with in the past month in their offensive against Cropwatch and the natural aromatics industry.
First, IFRA had Cropwatch's landslide win in a poll on Perfumer and Flavorist magazine reopened, then, by the admission of the editor of P&F, the entire issue of the poll convinced P&F take it down two days later. http://www.perfumerflavorist.com/newsletter/5957641.html
Jean Pierre Houri, the current Director General of IFRA, was most recently at the helm of Quest, a synthetic perfume company, owned by Imperial Chemicals. Quest has recently been purchased by Givaudan, and the company is focused on developing synthetic molecules for the fragrance industry. From their website http://tinyurl.com/37jrxw : “Most of the materials are patented specialty chemicals that were first developed at our research centers. Thanks to a continuous effort Givaudan has become a leading company in term of new molecules patents. “
"It is now becoming obvious to the natural aromatics industry, that IFRA wants it stifled, and that the organization no longer represents their interests. Conversely, the natural aromatics industry has enjoyed a 20% annual increase in sales in the past few years, while the synthetics fragrance sales only managed an annual gain of less than 4%.
Source:
Anya McCoy
Artisan Natural Perfumers Guild
http://artisannaturalperfumers.org
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