IFRA defends QRA
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
Despite advocacy group Cropwatch's call to boycott the International Fragrance Association's 40th amendment to its Code of Practice, which implements a quantitative - versus qualitative - risk assessment method for gauging fragrance allergenicity, the initiative is moving ahead as planned, IFRA members said Feb. 28 during CTFA's annual meeting in Boca Raton, Fla. "Cropwatch was saying basically that the QRA system was too complicated for smaller companies - too expensive and cumbersome," IFRA Director General Jean-Pierre Houri noted. "But we cannot put our head in the sand and refuse what is considered to be by the best scientific minds as a major step forward in the field of dermal sensitization." IFRA maintains that the new system allows perfumers more flexibility in designing fragrances and that it allows the association to "lead, rather than follow," according to Anne Marie Api, Ph.D, VP of Human Health Sciences for RIFM. "We [will] be frontrunners. We [will] be leading and showing that we're taking responsibility for the fragrance allergy issue." Cropwatch announced its boycott in January (1"The Rose Sheet" Jan. 29, 2007, p. 3)...