civet-related question

[Guest guest]

One of my good friends asked if I'd read about the SARS virus being

found in a few civets in a market in China, and then asked aren't

these critters endangered.

So I told her about its questionable use in perfumery, etc. Now she

wants to know which perfumes contained this historically, or still

do, so she can boycott. The only one I kind of know for sure is

Chanel No. 5. A watchdog agency asked Chanel if they used civet and

it was roundly denied back in 2000 or therabouts, then they had to

recant the denial with the explanation that well, they were using up

old stock and would soon be reformulating with a humane synthetic

alternative.... this because the watchdog agency sampled some of the

perfume and found that indeed it contained civet.

I think this might be a question for Tony especially, if he's around,

since he maintains a collection of perfumery relics that include

animal-based products. But if anyone has a list of perfumes that

have contained or recently contained or still contain civet, I'd

appreciate your sharing it with me. You can email me privately if

you like, in fact. lobelia(at)tdl.com

I don't want to see this snowball into a thread about ethics vs.

informed hedonism, I'd rather you email me privately if you want to

comment either way, please.

Many thanks,

sara

[Guest guest]

civet-related question

Hi all,

Civet is still unethically produced in farms in China, Ethiopia, India etc.

The next update to my threatened species article will say this about civet:

CIVET products were used in less enlightened times in perfumery for their

animal notes, finding employment in orientals, heavy florals and chypres.

Civet paste is obtained from squeezing or scraping the anal glands of the

civet cat Civetticus civetta (syn. Viverra civetta) from Africa, Viverra

zibetha (from India, Indonesia and Malaysia), Viverricula indica (East &

South China) and other Civet spp. De-Shay (1986) wrote a review article of

the civet cat and presented detailed GC-Mass Spec data on the composition of

steam micro-distilation-extraction volatiles from civet secretions obtained

from the Chinese Civet Viverricula indica. Yingkang C. (1991) describes

civet paste collection from Hangzou Zoological Garden in China describing

annual production as 12Kg of civet paste per year from this 1 hectare civet

farm operated by the Zoo. Farms also operate in Ethiopia, Kenya, Congo,

Guinea, Senegal and India. It is not too difficult to reflect on how

attitudes have changed: searching the back issues of the British Society of

Perfumers Newsletter for 1986, Jean-Pierre Petitdidier of Hasslauer SA,

France glowingly reports on a visit to Addis Abbaba Research Institute,

which controlled the Civet quality output from 105 Ethiopian farms.

Older versions of the H & R Guide may give more information on civet as a

perfume component than later ones - this is because few companies will admit

to owning up to using animal products now for fear of reprisals from animal

extremists. The 1989 edition of H & R Feminine Notes lists Paloma Picasso by P

Picasso and Norell II by Revlon, Volcan d'Amour by v. Furstenberg,

Aphrodisia by Faberge, La Perla by La Perla, nowing by Lauder, Maroc by

Ultima, Missoni by Missoni, Genny by Hanorah, Explosive by Aigner, Christie

by Veejaga, Coriandre by Couturier, Animale by S. de Lyon, Scandal by

Lanvin, Montana by Montana, Intimate by Revlon , Bandit by Piguet - had

enough yet!! - all listed as containing civet. However the way H & R describe

perfume advertising as we have said before, means the note is present,

rather than the natural product - i.e. if jasmine is listed as a middle note

it could be that synthetic benzyl acetate or a jasmin base has been used

rather than jasmin absolute. By the same token listing civet as a note in

the list above might indicate that synthetic civet has been employed rather

than the real thing.

Best wishes to all

Tony

www.tonyburfield.co.uk