In short
IFRA sets many restrictions by product category, because exposure differs between a rinse-off soap, a body lotion and a fine fragrance. Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) is the method behind many of the limits related to skin sensitization. The guide explains the reasoning. This study guide has you place real products in categories, because a wrong category gives you a wrong limit however carefully you do the rest.
What you will learn
- Explain why a limit depends on the product
- Find the right IFRA category for a product
- Say what QRA is meant to address, and what it does not
Before this lesson: IFRA Standards: Study Guide
What to look for as you read
- What exposure and "safety assessment factors" are doing in the method, in plain terms.
- Why QRA concerns induction of sensitization, and not every possible reaction.
- The criticisms: an EU scientific committee's 2018 opinion is a useful counterweight, so read the note in the sources below.
Practical exercise: Place eight products
- Choose eight products, including an eau de parfum, a body mist, a beard oil, a hand cream, a shampoo, a reed diffuser, a scented candle and a room spray.
- Using IFRA's current guidance, place each in a category, citing the table or section.
- Note any product that was harder to place than you expected, and why.
- Pick one restricted material. Write down its limit in two of those categories, with the amendment and date.
- Explain the difference between those two limits in a sentence or two.
You have done this well if each placement cites a section of the guidance, and your explanation talks about exposure rather than simply repeating the numbers.
Knowledge check
Written and reviewed by the RUŌOD Lab team. This is general education, not legal, regulatory, medical or safety advice. Example dilutions and exercises are for learning, are not validated products, and have not been safety-assessed. Completing a lesson confers no qualification. How we check these lessons.