Abercrombie & Fitch Under Fire For Spraying Cologne Containing 'Secret Chemicals' in Stores
An Abercrombie & Fitch store. Photo: Getty Images
Teens Turning Green, a student-led group that advocates for the elimination of toxic chemicals in the environment, will speak out against the brand's practice of automatically spraying the store's signature Fierce fragrance from track lights, complaining that the blend saturates the air and poses a threat to public and environmental safety.
"We as teens feel it is unacceptable that Abercrombie and Fitch customers are unknowingly being exposed to harmful chemicals by simply walking into the stores," says Jessica Assaf, co-organizer and president of the Turning Green Chapter at New York University. "We have decided to stand up for our health, and demand a change."
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has also joined the fray, contending that the Fierce scent contains 11 "secret chemicals" that aren't disclosed on the label, eight ingredients that are known to set off allergic reactions like headaches, wheezing, asthma and contact dermatitis -- as well as alarming levels of a chemical that may disrupt hormones essential to male reproductive health.
A&F's Fierce Cologne. Photo: Amazon.com
The protest has brought together a diverse assortment of groups, including MomsRising, American Fertility Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility, AllergyKids and the State Nurses Associations of Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York, who all collectively penned a letter with Teens Turning Green to A&F CEO Mike Jeffries about their concerns surrounding the spraying practice. Jeffries has not responded the letter, but the brand did address concerns on its public Facebook page.
"A&F has significantly reduced the frequency of hand spritizing that associates do in the stores. Instead, we use scenting machines which provide a more uniform distribution of fragrance," states the brand. "The machines emit a water-based, safe fragrance that complies with local, state and federal laws. The formulation contains no harmful volatile organic compounds or any chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or any other reproductive harm."
Reactions to fragrance are not uncommon, with thirty percent of the general population affected by breathing difficulties, headaches and other symptoms of sickness, says Dr. Anne Steinemann, professor of civil and environmental engineering and public affairs at University of Washington.
And according to A&F's statement, the practice of grouping all individual fragrance components under the one approved name of "Fragrance (Parfum)," is an industry standard, and not done for purposes of concealing anything from the public. "This practice is used by virtually all companies in our industry. With respect to the US and Canadian markets, A&F actually exceeds local requirements by including more allergens than is required, thus providing pre-sensitized individuals valuable information to assist them in product selection," continued A&F in the statement.
The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 is currently under debate in Congress, where democratic representative Jan Schakowsky from Illinois introduced it to the U.S. House of Representatives on July 20th. If passed, the act would require companies list all the chemicals in fragrance, no longer use chemicals with the highest toxicity levels, and test all cosmetic ingredients for safety.
And if you're impressed that teens have spearheaded the protest, wait until you read what Ava Anderson launched after sharing the same concern over toxic chemicals in beauty products.
And click here to learn how to make your beauty bag more eco-friendly.
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StudBoy, 10-28-2010, 2:45PM
That seems perfectly logical. I mean, after all....
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