California law

[Pastel]

Hello
I would like to understand, how all natural fragrance contain harmful and carcinogenic substances as warned by California law?
We like to buy more expensive natural fragrance because we believe they are healthier.
So, is it safe for pregnant and breastfeeding women, children and newborns?!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

As far as I am aware, the main issue that triggers the California warning is lead. There are minute traces of lead in all plants grown in nature because lead is everywhere in the environment. EOs can be very expensive because the essential oil content of some plants is extremely low which means it takes huge amounts of plant material to obtain small amounts of essential oil. EO safety varies tremendously from species to species and even for different varieties or parts of the same plant. The calculator at EOCalc.com provides usage rates that fall within the latest IFRA guidelines and Aromaweb.com provides basic safety information for many different essential oils. Reputable distributors will provide safe usage information for the products they sell, but you may have to ask for it. The bottom line is that you should research any ingredient you would like to include in a product.

 

[AliOop]

Everything Mobjack Bay said, plus many EOs have traces of other ingredients “known or suspected” to cause cancer. That covers an incredibly huge number of ingredients that are not cancer-causing at normal dosages, but become so at huge dosages.

As they say, the dose is the poison. Even drinking too much water can kill you.

To get a better idea of which EOs are or could be problematic, “Essential Oil Safety” by Tisserand is your best source for scientific info.

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

is it safe for pregnant and breastfeeding women, children and newborns?

There are a number of essential oils that actually contain warnings against use for pregnant women, breastfeeding, children, and newborns. Need to do serious research for each essential oil you decide to use to determine how safe it is for specific populations, and what percentages are safe for general population. I know it’s difficult, but it’s important to learn to separate what we believe from the actual science.

Keep in mind that there was a time when mercury was considered a safe, good medicine. Lewis and Clark carried a mercury laced concoction with them on their journey to the Pacific Northwest.

 

[not_ally]

The California law (I am presuming it is Proposition 65) is tremendously overbroad in its definition of potentially carcinogenic/teratogenic substances. There are close to 1000 substances listed on it, including things like crystalline silica, which is present in things like glass and concrete, resulting in those warnings being present/required in most buildings. As a CA resident, I don't even notice it anymore, which effect (overwarning/inattention to a warning which could actually be useful) is one of the drawbacks to its ubiquity.

That is not to say that there are not dangers connected with the use/overuse of certain EO's, but the mere presence of the warning would not be enough to deter me from using it, I'd just check the IFRA and research it like I do with every other fragrance.

 

[Pastel]

As far as I am aware, the main issue that triggers the California warning is lead. There are minute traces of lead in all plants grown in nature because lead is everywhere in the environment. EOs can be very expensive because the essential oil content of some plants is extremely low which means it takes huge amounts of plant material to obtain small amounts of essential oil. EO safety varies tremendously from species to species and even for different varieties or parts of the same plant. The calculator at EOCalc.com provides usage rates that fall within the latest IFRA guidelines and Aromaweb.com provides basic safety information for many different essential oils. Reputable distributors will provide safe usage information for the products they sell, but you may have to ask for it. The bottom line is that you should research any ingredient you would like to include in a product.

I was looking for natural fragrance oils for cold process soap, knowing that they would not be as strong as synthetic ones, but I also wanted to stay away from essential oils because of some of their effects on pregnant women and children.

---

Everything Mobjack Bay said, plus many EOs have traces of other ingredients “known or suspected” to cause cancer. That covers an incredibly huge number of ingredients that are not cancer-causing at normal dosages, but become so at huge dosages.

As they say, the dose is the poison. Even drinking too much water can kill you.

To get a better idea of which EOs are or could be problematic, “Essential Oil Safety” by Tisserand is your best source for scientific info.

Yes, as I said, I do not want to use essential oils, but natural fragrance ones, and I found this warning on the natural fragrance oils belonging to Bulk Apothecary
I liked their natural fragrance very much, but I was afraid to warn that I might harm anyone because of them

There are a number of essential oils that actually contain warnings against use for pregnant women, breastfeeding, children, and newborns. Need to do serious research for each essential oil you decide to use to determine how safe it is for specific populations, and what percentages are safe for general population. I know it’s difficult, but it’s important to learn to separate what we believe from the actual science.

Keep in mind that there was a time when mercury was considered a safe, good medicine. Lewis and Clark carried a mercury laced concoction with them on their journey to the Pacific Northwest.

I would definitely do that if I wanted to use any essential oil
But I found this warning on natural fragrance oils from Bulk Apothecary
So I asked them and this was their answer

The California law (I am presuming it is Proposition 65) is tremendously overbroad in its definition of potentially carcinogenic/teratogenic substances. There are close to 1000 substances listed on it, including things like crystalline silica, which is present in things like glass and concrete, resulting in those warnings being present/required in most buildings. As a CA resident, I don't even notice it anymore, which effect (overwarning/inattention to a warning which could actually be useful) is one of the drawbacks to its ubiquity.

That is not to say that there are not dangers connected with the use/overuse of certain EO's, but the mere presence of the warning would not be enough to deter me from using it, I'd just check the IFRA and research it like I do with every other fragrance.

So can I really use it and will it really be safe for everyone, especially pregnant and breastfeeding women and children?
Can I tell them "yes" if they ask me it's safe?
That's what I was worried about
Sometimes I think about whether artificial fragrances are equally unsafe
I found wholesale supplies plus that their natural fragrance oils have passed California law, which is reassuring, but they are expensive with shipping costs for me.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Bulk Apothecary has this statement on the pages for their natural fragrance oils: "If pregnant or suffering from illness, consult a doctor before use."

I don't think the distinctions between essential oils, "natural" fragrance oils and "regular" fragrance oils are as crisp as you think. Many fragrance oils, "natural" or not, have essential oils in the blend, or lab synthesized versions of individual components of essential oils. As a soap maker, I follow the safe usage guidelines of reputable suppliers and don't give advice on the safety of particular essential or fragrance oils for particular medical conditions. I also invested in a copy of Tisserand and Young's book Essential Oil Safety to help increase my understanding of safety concerns in essential oil use. When someone brings up a concern about sensitivity, I direct them to my unscented soaps.

 

[Pastel]

Bulk Apothecary has this statement on the pages for their natural fragrance oils: "If pregnant or suffering from illness, consult a doctor before use."

I don't think the distinctions between essential oils, "natural" fragrance oils and "regular" fragrance oils are as crisp as you think. Many fragrance oils, "natural" or not, have essential oils in the blend, or lab synthesized versions of individual components of essential oils. As a soap maker, I follow the safe usage guidelines of reputable suppliers and don't give advice on the safety of particular essential or fragrance oils for particular medical conditions. I also invested in a copy of Tisserand and Young's book Essential Oil Safety to help increase my understanding of safety concerns in essential oil use. When someone brings up a concern about sensitivity, I direct them to my unscented soaps.

Yes, I know that whether natural or synthetic fragrance oils may contain essential oils, but I think they will be diluted so that they will not have the effect of pure concentration.
That's what I think, maybe I'm wrong .

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Yes, I know that whether natural or synthetic fragrance oils may contain essential oils, but I think they will be diluted so that they will not have the effect of pure concentration.
That's what I think, maybe I'm wrong .

From what you've written, I can't tell if you understand the concept of safe usage rates. All fragrances, natural or not, are diluted when we add them to soap. Typically, fragrance oils are added at up to 6% based on total oil/fat weight of a batch and essential oils are used at around 3%, as long as those dilution rates fall within safe usage guidelines. For example, if the supplier states that a fragrance oil can be used at up to 5%, I could add up to 50 grams to a batch of soap made with 1000 g of fats. Some fragrances oils will have safe usage rates >6% , but most soap makers stick with a max of 6% because adding more can lead to issues with incorporation, misbehaving batter, etc. Maximum safe usage rates are provided by reputable suppliers and some also provide fragrance calculators (BrambleBerry, Nurture, Majestic Mountain Sage to name a few) that will calculate safe usage rates in soap (or other products), or for essential oils you can use EOCalc.com which will calculate safe usage rates for individual essential oils or blends based on IFRA guidelines. Not every essential oil is in EOCalc and they also don't include many resins. Further information is available from AromaWeb.com and in Tisserand and Young's book Essential Oil Safety.

Here are a couple of websites that discuss the concept of safe usage rates for fragrances and essential oils in soap :

https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/blog/essential-oil-usage-rates-ifra-guidelineshttps://lovinsoap.com/2021/05/scenting-your-soap-essential-oils-and-fragrance-oils/

 

[Slather Batter]

Hello
I would like to understand, how all natural fragrance contain harmful and carcinogenic substances as warned by California law?
We like to buy more expensive natural fragrance because we believe they are healthier.
So, is it safe for pregnant and breastfeeding women, children and newborns?!

I'm not a lawyer, I am a consumer and small business the same as many others here. I live in California and we have many requirements. I can share that a law went into effect in January of 2022 called SB312, aka CFFIRKA, aka California Fragrance and Flavor Information Right To Know Act. Along with Prop 65 and a grip of other state reporting requirements, simply put, this means there are reporting requirements in using fragrance or flavor (whether natural or not) in products made or SOLD to consumers in California.

HOWEVER, the requirements are specific percentages of specific ingredients for rinse off and leave on products (the last time I looked, there were 4500+ ingredients on their excel spreadsheet). If you make, sell, distribute (etc) your products to consumers in CALIFORNIA, you will need to abide by their consumer safety protocol. For me, this meant I had to get a database created with the specific ingredients that are potentially reportable, have it created to calculate the specific percentages I use and measure the output to see if that particular fragrance or flavor being used falls within the reportable guidelines.

Next, I had to create an account in their reporting portal to only discover that one MUST have barcodes for those products (even though they may not be in stores) because the California reporting portal is set up to accept "barcodes" in addition to company and product information. So off to purchase barcodes. I learned the hard way, I would only ever buy bar codes from GS1 because they are the original source and barcodes are not recycled. That little bill ran me $6,500.00, oh and you get to pay an annual fee to use what you already bought thereafter!

Then I had to contact all my fragrance and flavor suppliers and ask for "EU Allergen" sheets because THAT data is within the reportable categories. Of course they hadn't heard of CFFIRKA and thought I was out of bounds wanting "proprietary information". I had to explain countless times and refer them to the State of California website to understand what I needed and WHY! I'm not looking to formulate fragrance or flavor, I'm looking to remain your customer and comply! I found out very swiftly who would help and who wouldn't. Hence, I have now narrowed down FIERCELY who I will and will not do business with when purchasing fragrance / flavors. I'm happy to report, you will now see more and more fragrance suppliers including EU Allergens as well as IFRA and SDS sheets on their websites (this is partially why!)

Here in the US, we now also have MoCRA (Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act) which is an entire book in itself. Now the answer to your question..........................................is something "safe", I think like everything else it's what theory you subscribe to.

 

[paradisi]

To your original question, I wouldn't recommend any fragranced product for newborns.

As for adult safety, the IFRA and Tisserand info will help you there. Artificial, essential or "natural" will all have compounds found on those lists.

And remember that there's (some) lead in tap water and (some) asbestos in the air and (some) cyanide naturally in apples.

What matters more is the level.

 

[Pastel]

From what you've written, I can't tell if you understand the concept of safe usage rates. All fragrances, natural or not, are diluted when we add them to soap. Typically, fragrance oils are added at up to 6% based on total oil/fat weight of a batch and essential oils are used at around 3%, as long as those dilution rates fall within safe usage guidelines. For example, if the supplier states that a fragrance oil can be used at up to 5%, I could add up to 50 grams to a batch of soap made with 1000 g of fats. Some fragrances oils will have safe usage rates >6% , but most soap makers stick with a max of 6% because adding more can lead to issues with incorporation, misbehaving batter, etc. Maximum safe usage rates are provided by reputable suppliers and some also provide fragrance calculators (BrambleBerry, Nurture, Majestic Mountain Sage to name a few) that will calculate safe usage rates in soap (or other products), or for essential oils you can use EOCalc.com which will calculate safe usage rates for individual essential oils or blends based on IFRA guidelines. Not every essential oil is in EOCalc and they also don't include many resins. Further information is available from AromaWeb.com and in Tisserand and Young's book Essential Oil Safety.

Here are a couple of websites that discuss the concept of safe usage rates for fragrances and essential oils in soap :

https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/blog/essential-oil-usage-rates-ifra-guidelineshttps://lovinsoap.com/2021/05/scenting-your-soap-essential-oils-and-fragrance-oils/

Yes, I know what is the safe rate for using fragrance
I am really grateful for this information and links. I will read them carefully
Thank you

I'm not a lawyer, I am a consumer and small business the same as many others here. I live in California and we have many requirements. I can share that a law went into effect in January of 2022 called SB312, aka CFFIRKA, aka California Fragrance and Flavor Information Right To Know Act. Along with Prop 65 and a grip of other state reporting requirements, simply put, this means there are reporting requirements in using fragrance or flavor (whether natural or not) in products made or SOLD to consumers in California.

HOWEVER, the requirements are specific percentages of specific ingredients for rinse off and leave on products (the last time I looked, there were 4500+ ingredients on their excel spreadsheet). If you make, sell, distribute (etc) your products to consumers in CALIFORNIA, you will need to abide by their consumer safety protocol. For me, this meant I had to get a database created with the specific ingredients that are potentially reportable, have it created to calculate the specific percentages I use and measure the output to see if that particular fragrance or flavor being used falls within the reportable guidelines.

Next, I had to create an account in their reporting portal to only discover that one MUST have barcodes for those products (even though they may not be in stores) because the California reporting portal is set up to accept "barcodes" in addition to company and product information. So off to purchase barcodes. I learned the hard way, I would only ever buy bar codes from GS1 because they are the original source and barcodes are not recycled. That little bill ran me $6,500.00, oh and you get to pay an annual fee to use what you already bought thereafter!

Then I had to contact all my fragrance and flavor suppliers and ask for "EU Allergen" sheets because THAT data is within the reportable categories. Of course they hadn't heard of CFFIRKA and thought I was out of bounds wanting "proprietary information". I had to explain countless times and refer them to the State of California website to understand what I needed and WHY! I'm not looking to formulate fragrance or flavor, I'm looking to remain your customer and comply! I found out very swiftly who would help and who wouldn't. Hence, I have now narrowed down FIERCELY who I will and will not do business with when purchasing fragrance / flavors. I'm happy to report, you will now see more and more fragrance suppliers including EU Allergens as well as IFRA and SDS sheets on their websites (this is partially why!)

Here in the US, we now also have MoCRA (Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act) which is an entire book in itself. Now the answer to your question..........................................is something "safe", I think like everything else it's what theory you subscribe to.

Actually I don't live in California
I was just worried about the warning ..
California seems to have a lot of requirements that I might be overly concerned about
I hope it goes well for you

To your original question, I wouldn't recommend any fragranced product for newborns.

As for adult safety, the IFRA and Tisserand info will help you there. Artificial, essential or "natural" will all have compounds found on those lists.

And remember that there's (some) lead in tap water and (some) asbestos in the air and (some) cyanide naturally in apples.

What matters more is the level.

I agree with you, the important thing is the ratio
I think I was overly concerned

 

[BodyWasher]

Not a lawyer, but if your main concern is health/harm I'd recommend looking up ingredients on ewg

 

[Slather Batter]

Actually I don't live in California
I was just worried about the warning ..
California seems to have a lot of requirements that I might be overly concerned about
I hope it goes well for you

I understand….point in sharing should’ve been made clearer on my part. If you look at the ingredient list of your fragrances and the list from CSCP, it will give you the data of possible safety concerns. The law isn’t solely for California residents. It’s for anyone who makes, sells or distributes to California. i.e a soap maker who has a website and ships to CA. My intention is to share a resource which could help your research for a scientific answer. Good luck

 

[BodyWasher]

I understand….point in sharing should’ve been made clearer on my part. If you look at the ingredient list of your fragrances and the list from CSCP, it will give you the data of possible safety concerns. The law isn’t solely for California residents. It’s for anyone who makes, sells or distributes to California. i.e a soap maker who has a website and ships to CA. My intention is to share a resource which could help your research for a scientific answer. Good luck

It is pretty crazy how certain soaps can just put "fragrance" on the label without any other description and that's allowed. The sketchiest part is synthetic fragrances and ones that are known risks for allergens, cancer, reproductive and developmental toxicity, and so on.

 

[Slather Batter]

It is pretty crazy how certain soaps can just put "fragrance" on the label without any other description and that's allowed. The sketchiest part is synthetic fragrances and ones that are known risks for allergens, cancer, reproductive and developmental toxicity, and so on.

That’s the whole intention. Consumers have to go to the portal, key in the maker, barcode etc and THAT is where you find out if any of the ingredients fall into those categories. Very costly for small business or artisan crafters to comply. It’s created a public portal for “buyer beware.” The worst part is makers and buyers don’t even know it exists! And…if you’re allergic to something really now, without specific allergen testing how are you going to know? It’s all gotten wayyyyy out of hand. “Welcome to California”.

 

[Pastel]

Not a lawyer, but if your main concern is health/harm I'd recommend looking up ingredients on ewg

Yes that's what I'm trying to do now
Thank you

I understand….point in sharing should’ve been made clearer on my part. If you look at the ingredient list of your fragrances and the list from CSCP, it will give you the data of possible safety concerns. The law isn’t solely for California residents. It’s for anyone who makes, sells or distributes to California. i.e a soap maker who has a website and ships to CA. My intention is to share a resource which could help your research for a scientific answer. Good luck

It's true that good companies provide safety information documents
Thank you
And good luck