June 28,1999

Dockets Management Branch
The FDA
Dept. of Health and Human Services, Rm. 1-23
12420 Parklawn Dr.
Rockville, Md. 20857

Re: 99P-1340/CP 1
Petition to Have "Eternity eau de parfume" Misbranded

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am writing because I fully support the petition to have Calvin Klein's
"Eternity eau de parfum" declared misbranded.  I believe that all fragrances    
should be saftey tested and until they are should carry a warning label
stating they have not been adequalely tested.

Many, if not most, fragrance's and perfumes have become, over the years of
being exposted to them,  a health hazard to me.  I cannot go anywhere without
being almost "fumed" to death by  over-exposure to perfumes and perfume products. 
It makes me quite ill in many ways, depending on the perfumes and the chemicals
used in those products.  For this reason I am now ,  for the most part homebound.

On those few occasions when I must go out, I come back home with everyone's
perfume odors clinging to my clothes hair and skin.  The perfume is so strong on me
just  from  what other people are wearing  that  it  is   overbearing.  By then I am having
many physical reactions and inflammation of the brain. 

Because of the brain inflammation and pain caused by perfumes and other
fragrances I  now have to  take  a  seizure medication known to relieve
brain inflammation five (5) times a day.  I also have to take regular blood tests.
The medication is expensive.  I have  no choice.

In my opinion,  fragrance products and perfume, are as much a hazard to our
health as cigar's, cigarette's and "second hand smoke.  We are all being forced to
breathe "second hand  fragrance's" and to even end up wearing it whether we want to or not.


The "harm" of breathing "second hand smoke"  on everyone's health has now
been realized. WAKE UP  breathing the toxic chemicals from perfumes and other fragrances
is no different. It is all the same thing, TOXIC CHEMICALS !!!   We  are all breathing this
into our body and brain and absorbing it through our skin.

Because of the many chemicals used in the wide variety of fragranced
products,  I now need to use oxygen due to the fact that I have Reactive Airways.  
Depending on the fragrance I am exposed to I may encounter breathing difficulties
and require the use of oxygen.  For that reason I must keep oxygen on had at all times.

The company  that I get my oxygen supply from,  sent  someone out to my
house to test me in the beginning . She wanted to see if I  would qualify to have my   oxygen
paid for.  She tested me when she first came in and  the oxygen  level   in my blood tested
normal.  We  waited a few minutes for her to do a second  test .   After  breathing  the  perfume she
was wearing for five minutes, the test result  was quite different  the second time.
Breathing  perfume for just  a  few  minutes  showed    the "oxygen"  in my blood  had.  dropped
to a great enough degree  that  I  easily  qualified to get  my   oxygen  paid  for  by insurance.

Now,  if  that is not a Red Flag  then  I  don't  know   what  is.   There
needs  to be  some serious testing  done  on  the  chemicals   used  in  perfume  and  other
fragrance"s .  This testing should be done in labs and  by  those   that do not have a  vested  interest
in the  outcome.

Breathing chemicals  that  cause  the  oxygen  in  the   blood to decrease
Is Not Good. Breathing  chemicals  that  cause  you  to   need oxygen  because  you
cannot  breathe  Is Not  Good. Breathing  chemicals  that   cause  inflammation  in the  brain and
headaches,  Is  Not  Good. Breathing  chemicals  that  cause   gastro-intestional  problems/reactions
Is  Not  Good.

Guess what,  the  chemicals  in   perfumes  and  other   fragranced
products  "do  cause" this  and  many,  many  more   negative  health  conditions 
and  symptoms. Second  Hand, perfumes and  fragrances  are  very,   very  hazardous  to 
everyone's health.

I am asking that   this  matter   be  looked  into   and  that  something
be done  about   it  to protect  our  health  and   the air  that  we  all  breathe. 
In  this case, what  one  person  wears, that  has  fumes   and   odors,  goes 
out  into  the  air  around  them and we "all"   have  to breathe  it.  Often  it
hangs  heavy in the air  and  lingers for a long time even after  the perosn
wearing   the perfume  has  left  the area.  It  truely is  "air pollution"
in  the same  way  that  a smoker  pollutes  the  air.

Do  not  forget  that  babies  and  children  with    young   lungs  and
developing immune systems   breathe  the  chemicals  from   fragrances  too.  
It  is  up   to adults  to  protect  them from   harmful   substances.   If   there  were 
not  harmful  chemicals used  in  the  making of  perfumes   and  other  fragrances 
then  there would  not be  so  many people  getting  sick from  breathing  them.  
It  is  just  that  simple.

We  should  not be forced  to wear  someone else's  perfume,   anymore  than
we should be forced to breathe  someone  else's  cigar  or   cigarette  smoke.  
The second  hand  smoke issue  has  been  delt  with   thankfully.  The  perfume
issue is  of  the same urgency  in  my opinion.

Sincerely,      
Patricia  Rentz