January 30, 2025

Fragrance and Trade Secrets: the Deep Dive

The Allure of Fragrance
Labels Can Be Confusing
Not Everything is Listed
Little Oversight by FDA for Skin Products
Trade Secrets Can Hide Ingredients

PFAS (Forever Chemicals) in Trade Secrets
The Word Fragrance on a Label is Cause for Concern
Cosmetics Database Making Strides to Protect Us
Sources

Let’s discuss toxic beauty and the problems with fragrance and trade secrets in the cosmetic industry. First and foremost, what is on your skin? Do you know what is in that beautifully fragranced perfume or lotion? What about the vibrant nail polish or the long-lasting makeup that promises to stay flawless for hours? All important questions I had never seemed to ask myself until now.

The Allure of Fragrance

In early adulthood I had never paid attention to the ingredients of the skincare products I was using. The alluring scents that would waft throughout the mall I found so enticing. From stores selling perfumes, lotions, and tropical scented body scrubs, the magnetic pull of the “sample me” section won every time. Minty Chocolate Cotton Candy Body Butter? Absolutely! $5.99 for a whole tub? Sign me up! I would slather lotion all over my body and believe that I smelled divine.

I blindly trusted that the products I was placing on my skin would not cause harm. There were no reasons to doubt a beautifully scented lotion produced by a reputable company. At that time, it had never crossed my mind that a lotion or a cosmetic product could cause reproductive harm or worse.

Labels Can Be Confusing

Let’s start from the beginning. Chemicals make up everything around us. The air we breathe, the water we drink, all chemicals. It’s important to note that not all chemicals are necessarily harmful and not everything marketed as “natural” is necessarily safe. Currently, I am sipping on dihydrogen monoxide as I write this. Even though that sounds like a terrible chemical to drink, it is only water and necessary to live. Thank you, organic chemistry, for being largely unnecessary in my life. I digress.

Everything around us is a composition of chemicals and excessive amounts of even a harmless chemical can be detrimental to our health, even water. However, certain potent and toxic chemicals, sometimes found in skincare products, can be harmful in small amounts. Hence, it is important to recognize and look for these on the labels of our skincare products.

Not Everything is Listed

What if these chemicals we should be avoiding are not listed on the label? How can we avoid toxic beauty? Unfortunately, the disclosure of harmful ingredients in skincare is variable and not always present to the consumer. Understanding that the complete list of ingredients used to make a lotion may not exist on the label, is crucial. It seems unfair that one would need gamma-ray emission spectroscopy to determine the composition of a fragranced lotion. How is this possible that the skincare industry avoids disclosing all ingredients of a product? The answer is that mystery ingredients can exist and be concealed as a company’s trade secret.

Before we discuss trade secrets let’s review the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s role in the oversight of cosmetic production. The beauty and cosmetic industry operate with minimal regulation by the FDA. There are some safeguards that do exist under two federal acts, but it may not be as extensive as one would hope.

Little Oversight by FDA for Skin Products

Firstly, the FDA regulates cosmetic products through the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act. Regardless of whether a company is a small business or large multimillion-dollar enterprise, they must adhere to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act. This act mandates that companies follow clear FDA guidelines when creating, labeling, and packaging cosmetic products. Specifically, requirements exist including clear labels, readable font sizes, product weight, and the place of distribution. It also requires a list of ingredients on the label of the product.

The second act, recently expanded by the FDA in 2022, is the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act. This expansion updated the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. Now, the FDA can better regulate cosmetics by recalling products and overseeing the manufacturing process through recall reports and adverse event monitoring. Companies are expected to follow Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Guidelines, and the FDA can suspend production if a product is suspected of being harmful. However, the FDA states that “companies and individuals who manufacture, or market cosmetics have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their products. Neither the law nor FDA regulations require specific tests to demonstrate the safety of individual products or ingredients.” Product Testing of Cosmetics | FDA (MoCRA 2022). It is crucial for consumers to understand that the cosmetic products they use are not tested by a federal regulatory agency before reaching the market. It is solely up to the manufacturer to ensure the safety of their own cosmetic products.

Trade Secrets Can Hide Ingredients

Let’s discuss toxic beauty and what a trade secret is. According to the FDA, trade secrets pertain to fragrance or flavor formulas, which are considered intricate blends of numerous natural and synthetic chemical ingredients. The term “fragrance” on a product’s label often conceals these trade secrets. A loophole in federal regulations allows for the protection of a company’s trade secret. Trade secret protection exempts companies from disclosing all ingredients in their formulas. The FDA further references that the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, should not be utilized to force a company to disclose their trade secret. It is considered a business’s protected intellectual property and confidential information solely at the company’s discretion to disclose. This leaves the consumer questioning what exactly is in the fragrance?

It turns out that trade secrets can be a blend of any of 4,000 potentially harmful ingredients, including phthalates, parabens, phenols, musk ketones, metals and many more known harmful substances. This is what I consider toxic beauty. According to a recently conducted EWG study, laboratory tests performed on perfumes by Campaign For Safe Cosmetics revealed 38 secret chemicals in popular name branded products. These additional 38 secret chemicals found were not listed on the label, considered trade secrets, and under the label of “fragrance”. Alarmingly these mystery ingredients have been linked to endocrine disruption, bioaccumulation, reproductive abnormalities, and cancer. How can we make educated decisions on what should go onto our skin, if we do not have an accurate label with the complete ingredients listed? I believe that the answer is that we simply cannot.

PFAS (Forever Chemicals) in Trade Secrets

Another component of toxic beauty is PFAS. Cosmetic products can also contain PFAS (Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances), often referred to as “forever chemicals.” PFAS are synthetic compounds renowned for their water-resistant, heat-resistant, and oil-resistant properties. Commonly found in cookware, non-stick pans, and various household items, PFAS are known for their durability due to strong carbon-fluorine bonds. PFAS are prevalent in numerous sources, including drinking water, food, and its packaging. Virtually indestructible, PFAS persist in the environment, contaminating ground water for decades, all while accumulating in the human body.

Furthermore, PFAS can also be disguised in a company’s trade secret. They are used in cosmetics for their durability and water-resistant properties and marketed for their “long lasting” and “waterproof” appeal. PFAS have been found in cosmetic products such as lipsticks, moisturizers, cleansers, mascaras, foundations, nail polishes and more. They are used for their benefits of conditioning and smoothing the skin. Recently, a Notre Dame study in 2021, Fluorinated Compounds in North American Cosmetics, tested 231 cosmetic products sold in the U.S and Canada and discovered that many contained high levels of per- polyfluoroalkyl substances. These are known carcinogens and direct links to liver damage, obesity, and thyroid disease.

The Word Fragrance on a Label is Cause for Concern

Personally, considering all of the information mentioned above, I find the word “fragrance” on a label cause for concern. Since this is a largely unregulated area, consumers must conduct their own research and make informed decisions about using a cosmetic product. It is largely at the company’s discretion to inform the consumer the ingredients that exist under the label “fragrance”. Unless that company discloses what ingredients comprise their particular fragrance, it leaves me to wonder if that product is truly “safe”. Regardless of how pleasant the product smells, exactly what ingredients have been used to create that scent? Should guilt-wracked emotions follow directly after using a scented body wash? Will toxic chemicals then transfer through one’s breast milk? Is toxic beauty worth the risk to look and smell beautiful?

Cosmetics Database Making Strides to Protect Us

Thankfully, groups such as Environmental Working Group (EWG Skin Deep® Cosmetics Database) are making strides to better protect the consumer. EWG have developed extensive lists and safety ratings of cosmetic products. Some U.S. states have also independently improved regulations with California banning PFAS intentionally placed in cosmetic products by 2025.

Overall, this topic has been both eye opening and disturbing as a mother and as a physician. We as doctors, do not cover this topic in medical school and I’ve realized how little attention I had given to the hidden dangers behind fragrance labels. Although I still dye my hair blonde and use fragranced deodorant, I acknowledge that I am far from perfect.

It is also important to note that toxic beauty encompasses many other aspects of the beauty industry, and trade secrets and fragrance is merely one topic highlighted in a vastly expanding problem. Another risks we take is chemically altering our natural hair color or worse, straightening it, and the direct links they both have each to breast cancer (topic for a future post).

I’m striving to become more diligent about reading labels, especially when selecting products for myself or my children. Unfortunately, trade secrets are everywhere—in toilet paper, hair products, baby shampoo, and baby lotion. My hope is that this has inspired someone to learn more about this topic and give second thought to what the word fragrance actually means.

That’s it for now, until next time. Thanks for reading!