Clarins defends itself (and Angel perfume)

According to an article in Cosmetics Design, the French perfume company Clarins has fought back against an attack by the National Toxic Encephalopathy Foundation (NTEF) (reported on this blog here and here, with a response from the NTEF in a comment) claiming that Angel Perfume contains a "poison" and should be banned.  The Clarins response reports that the President of NTEF had lost a lawsuit against Clarins, and is now seeking revenge against the company.

A legal spokesperson for Clarins told CosmeticsDesign.com that the allegations made by the Las Vegas-based group NTEF are highly misleading. He said NTEF president Angel De Fazio had filed a lawsuit against Clarins in October 2004 claiming that one spray of the company's Angel Parfum had left her permanently disabled. . . . 

After a lengthy legal battle De Fazio's claims were dismissed in January 2007 and the court ruled that the allegations were without merit and brought in bad faith. She was ordered to pay Clarins $77,851 in costs, fees and sanctions.

Angel perfume contains coumarin, which can be hazardous in large amounts, but is unlikely to be dangerous in the low concentrations found in perfumes (except possibly for perfume-allergic individuals). The NTEF plans an intense campaign against Clarins over the next several months, according to the article.

While researching this article I turned up this blog post from October 2006, which demonstrates that the campaign has been going on for awhile. Also, the FDA petition from the NTEF reported on earlier is apparently now open for public comments. (Open until April 2008.) It appears that the NTEF plans additional petitions, some possibly against other products. Stay tuned . . .