If you're looking for romance, forget Cupid's arrow. The key to a passionate love affair may be right under your nose. Pheromones, a group of odorless chemical messengers, are the newest strategy for some women and men hoping to attract members of the opposite sex. Cosmetic and fragrance companies, including Philosophy and Avon, have recently begun marketing pheromone-based perfumes, colognes and body lotions. The price for these "passion potions" may shock you. Philosophy's "falling in love," a synthetic pheromone, costs sixty dollars for a four milliliter vial. An even more expensive product costs close to six hundred dollars for an ounce. Overconfident casanovas, however, could be spending their money on products that have no effect whatsoever on the opposite sex. "These products may attract the opposite sex because chemicals in them stimulate our olfactory system, but there is no compelling scientific evidence that pheromones are at work," says Dr. W.R. Klemm, a professor of veterinary medicine at Texas A&M University. Nature of the Nose Although scientists agree that many members of the animal kingdom, including moths and mice, communicate with pheromones, there is still debate over whether human pheromones exist and if we have the ability to detect them. Other animals possess a tiny group of nerve cells called the vomeronasal organ, or VNO, that allows them to detect pheromones. The VNO connects to the hypothalamus, the brain's control center for basic emotions including sex, hunger and fear. Over a century ago, scientists located small pits inside the human nostrils that could be the VNO, but there is still question as to whether it works. "No one has demonstrated a functioning VNO system in humans," says Klemm. "Nobody has discovered human pheromones, either." Female roommates or friends, for example, often menstruate at the same time due to an unknown substance in their underarm perspiration. Could these same chemicals be sending mating signals as well? Could it be possible that another person's sweat could cause more of a sexual obsession, than say, Obsession? |
