Fragrance materials and their environmental impact

Abstract

Abstract A brief discussion on the environmental fate and effects of fragrance materials was recently presented in Cadby et al. 1 . This paper has been prepared as a more detailed discussion of the environmental effects associated with fragrance materials. Cadby et al. 1 presented a detailed discussion of the rigorous science employed to protect the consumer and the environment from adverse effects from these materials. The Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) has established a comprehensive environmental research and testing programme to determine the potential environmental risks posed by fragrance materials to the environment. Sponsored research and testing includes ecotoxicological studies, the biotransformation of fragrance materials in wastewater treatment, and their fate in the terrestrial environment. RIFM has published a conservative screening level risk assessment model following established environmental risk assessment paradigms (i.e. the predicted environmental concentration: predicted no effect concentration quotient; the PEC–PNEC ratio). 2 In an initial screening of all discrete fragrance materials, using only volume of use and available physical‐chemical parameters, 92% of these materials are shown to pose an acceptable environmental risk, i.e. their PEC–PNEC ratio is less than 1. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.