Last week was 'National Allergy Week'; an initiative to draw attention to the growing problem of allergies.

Allergies may often be associated with food intolerance, but according to a newly published report, 'fragrance' is now considered among the top five allergens in North America and Europe, and is associated with a wide range of skin, eye and repository reactions.

A new study of popular fragrances commissioned by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found that the perfumes they analysed contained an average of 14 chemicals which were not listed on the label, and that among these 'secret ingredients' were petrochemicals, hormone disruptors, compounds known to trigger allergies, and others never tested for their safety.

According to the report, most fragrances - whether in personal care products, expensive perfumes or household products (like laundry detergent and air fresheners) - are concocted from any number of the 3,100 stock chemical ingredients used by the fragrance industry. And which all too often, never appear on any label.

You'd be right in thinking that you're protected from such exposure by Cosmetics Safety Law (which legislates that cosmetic products must be labelled with a list of ingredients). But what you may not realise is that the law has a large loophole, allowing manufacturers of fragrances to keep what they claim to be 'trade secrets'.

Powerful branding and aggressive advertising - targeted not just at women, but increasingly at men and teenagers - is persuading us to buy into the illusion that an exotic fragrance will give us greater sex appeal.

What is 'Not so Sexy' (the name of the report), is that the same fragrance chemicals are being associated, not just with allergies, but also birth defects, low sperm counts, ADHD, thyroid disease and even cancer.

Click here to read the full report (Acrobat .pdf).

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