perfume - fragancia - fragance - parfum - parfumu: the International Fragrance Association [IFRA]

Oakmoss is on the outer. What? Well among the more fanatical of fragrance fans, this news created a stir when the International Fragrance Association [IFRA] circulated a regulation restricting the use of the resinous substance exuded from the lichen on oak trees.

Oakmoss has been used in some of the world's most noted and distinctive fragrances, among them Mitsouko, Femme, Cabochard, Aromatics Elixir, Miss Dior, Knowing, Ma Griffe and Paloma Picasso. The chypre group of fragrances depends on its mossy, sensual aroma which softens and lengthens floral, green and oriental aromas.

The use of resins in fragrance-making dates back to Roman times. Oakmoss itself was burned in incense mixes in medieval days and listed in perfume recipes in the late 18th century. Its failing, like that of other natural substances, is it can cause allergic reactions and this is what has got it in trouble with IFRA.

The international body, set up in 1973, represents the makers and suppliers of fragrance ingredients and compounds worldwide, including here in New Zealand, and now the Asean nations, which signed up this year. Its main purpose is to ensure the safety of fragrance through its science programme. Around 90 per cent of the global market for fragrance compounds comes from IFRA-affiliated companies, and the association regulates more than 200 fragrance materials.

But the regulation is a touchy subject, with a number of classic scents having been reformulated or deleted. This has led to suggestions that is suits the self-regulating industry to use synthetic substances instead of costly, rare natural ones. The defence is denial, with perfume-makers pointing out that some synthetics are as costly to create as it is to harvest some natural substances. Perfumes now are said to be safer and healthier, as modern societies expect.

But do they smell the same?

The answer is no, but whether this is a grand conspiracy or just times a changing, is a matter of opinion. And whether most people notice is debatable. For instance, the enduringly popular Chanel No. 5 is not the same as the fifth sample scent Coco Chanel chose back in 1921. It has been relaunched a number of times through the decades; reinterpreted to suit the times and, presumably, the regulations.

Fragrance preferences have also shifted markedly through the ages, from single-note florals, through citrusy colognes and floral compositions to intriguing woody and green mixes and the heady orientals, to oceanic and ozonic accords - being light, airy signs of more unisex times.

Fragrance-making has passed from "noses" mingling the harvests of the fields to chemists pushing the boundaries of creation in their laboratories - many still concentrated in France, despite America now being the world's biggest consumer of fragrances.