Human vomeronasal organ function: A critical review of best and worst cases

The human vomeronasal organ (VNO) has been the subject of some interest in the scientific literature and of considerable speculation in the popular sc ience literature. A function for the human VNO has been both dismissed with ridicule and averred with conviction. This question of VNO function has be en needlessly tied to the separate question of whether there is any place f or pheromone communication among humans, a topic that is itself bogged down in conflicting definitions. This review is an attempt to weigh the evidenc e for and against human VNO function, to deconvolve that question from the question of pheromone communication and finally to provide a working defini tion of 'pheromone'. Further experimental work is required to resolve the c onflicting evidence for and against human VNO function but chemical communi cation does appear to occur among humans. However, several examples reporte d in the literature do not meet the proposed definition for communication b y pheromones: 'chemical substances released by one member of a species as c ommunication with another member, to their mutual benefit'.