Question:
This article just appeared on the BN homepage. It's somewhat laden with jargon and not always easy to follow, but it's interesting, and somewhat sobering. I'd recommend reading it if you're curious about the industry itself (and don't mind reading a bit), and I'd like to hear your thoughts. Some highlights...
It describes how perfumers, once the real movers and shakers, have become corporate drones with the attendant fast deadlines and other hindrances, not to mention having gag orders from the Perfume Bureacracy. Apparently anyone having a strong opinion is a threat to the industry. Since we often argue that modern perfumes are getting worse, this could certainly explain part of that. I suppose this is inevitable in an environment where perfume companies are almost always merged into some larger entity. Perfumers may be getting tamed and regulated into mediocrity.
Another part of the article had to do with how the Bureacracy is regulating what goes into perfume, sometimes with excessive zeal. Some regulation of that sort is certainly good, but you ban too much, and you get perfume that's bland garbage. [I was going to name frags here, but I'll try to be nice!] We're talking parts-per-million here. [and the writer is highly involved in ecological concerns, not somebody trying to spread bad chemicals!]
My first thought was that buying niche stuff would be a way to avoid mediocrity, but I suppose they are as vulnerable to the Perfume Police as anyone! But so far they seem OK.
On a lighter note, I know that being able to spell is regarded as a quaint, old-fashioned curiosity, but I can't resist pointing out one nice typo in a title in the article:
The Damn Bursts
Dave

Answer:
Originally Posted by Cognoscento Apparently anyone having a strong opinion is a threat to the industry.
Dave Ah, that explains the recent Burr and Turin articles ...

Answer:
Interesting article. Apparently, IFRA's 40th Amendment brought the industry to a halt:
red-tape had pretty well strangled the aroma industry already, and yet here was the most involved pieces of technical bureaucracy yet devised – 82 categories of fragrance use under 11 major headings, requiring virtually every ingredient used in a fragrance to have multiple calculations associated with its proposed incorporation in its various applications. In fact, the art of perfumery could now be declared dead at this point [...]. I wonder if that's truly the case, but I'm not in a position to evaluate that point. It strikes me, however, that rules and regulations are often singled out as the root of all evil. I think it's not that simple. I seems to me that the industry failed to anticipate on the necessity of said laws and regulations. Perhaps if they kept their eyes open in the 1980s, when other industries were facing similar problems, they wouldn't be taken by surprise twenty years later. Anyway, since there hasn't been any serious dialog between the parties involved, it's about time to start one. I don't question the author's integrity or good intentions in this matter, but I fear that announcing boycotts and throwing mud at bureaucratic institutions in a frantic attempt to improve things, will only have a polarizing effect.

Answer:
Good article ... it explains why i "can't get no satisfaction" from the industry in the last twelve years or so. Oh, i keep looking, but there's just nothing for me to take away from them.
Perfumery is ART. One does not regulate art.
No worries, next time i'm in Bruxelles - i'll have a few words with the chaps off Schuman. Kidding, heh. Maybe. No, definitely kidding.

Answer:
Talking about reformulations, has anyone noticed a difference between the new Van Cleef pour homme bottles and the older ones ? To my nose the new one smells more bright and less "dark and serious" ... its not a total loss, but I do detect some differences

Answer:
Hmm... They're worried about consumer health? If the consumers get sick then they can GO TO THE DOCTOR. If they have enough money to be spending it on a luxury item such as perfume, then they have enough to go get allergy pills from their physician. Same mentality in the cigarette industry, only fragrances won't give you cancer. Time and time again, economics has shown that if you let the consumer choose what products they want to purchase, then you have a healthier economy. By limiting customers only to products without certain chemicals, you are limiting their choice and hurting the economy of perfume.
- Rich