Ambergris was banned as a perfume ingredient due to ethical concerns regarding whale hunting

Majority view

Ambergris has not been universally banned as a perfume ingredient, but trade and possession are banned or heavily restricted in several countries (notably the United States and Australia) under wildlife protection laws aimed at safeguarding sperm whales and discouraging whaling or exploitation, and many other countries outlaw its trade as part of broader bans on whale hunting and exploitation. These legal measures and industry shifts are explicitly tied to ethical and conservation concerns around whale hunting and protection, yet ambergris remains legally usable in perfumery in some jurisdictions (e.g., the EU) and is even exempt from CITES, so describing it as simply "banned" without qualification is inaccurate.

Credible dissent

Specialist perfumery sources and some blogs emphasize that ambergris is still permitted in perfumery in many jurisdictions and that, when naturally excreted and collected, its use does not require harming whales, so they reject blanket statements that it is banned as a perfume ingredient.[1][9][6] Environmental and regulatory-focused sources stress that in countries like the U.S. and Australia, trade and possession are banned specifically to protect sperm whales and prevent activities that could encourage whaling, and that many countries have outlawed ambergris trade within general bans on whale exploitation.[2][3][5][7][10] Some sources also incorrectly claim ambergris is obtained by killing sperm whales, while others explicitly contradict this and note it is a waste product naturally expelled.[1][2][3][10][16]