- CHICAGO, Illinois (ENS) -
The Environmental Working Group, Coming Clean, and Health Care Without
Harm groups are to be warmly commended for their stellar July 10 report
on unlabelled phthalate ingredients in common cosmetics and personal care
products.
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- In October 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and other federal scientists reported on the identification
of phthalates in the urine of adults, with the highest levels in premenopausal
women. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) responded that it would
"consider" this information.
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- This response was and remains reckless, in view of well
documented evidence since 1985 that phthalates induce birth defects, low
sperm counts, and other reproductive toxicity in experimental animals.
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- Nail polish (Photo credit unknown) A 1990 report by the
U.S. General Accounting Office charging that the FDA committed no resources
for assessing cosmetics and personal care product safety had no impact
on the agency's reckless policies.
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- The agency's sole requirement is restricted to ingredient
labeling of products, except fragrances and perfumes.
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- With rare exceptions such as children's bubble baths,
the FDA has never required the industry to label its products with any
warning of well documented risks, particularly reproductive and cancer;
nor has the FDA banned the sale of unsafe products to an unsuspecting public,
although so explicitly authorized by the 1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetics
Act.
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- Here are some examples of carcinogenic products and ingredients:
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- * Black and dark brown permanent hair dyes contain "coal
tar" dye ingredients recognized as carcinogens in experimental animals.
This evidence is supported by studies establishing that regular use of
these dyes poses major risks of relatively rare cancers - non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, and multiple myeloma.
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- * Cosmetic grade talc is carcinogenic in experimental
animals. Also, frequent genital dusting with talc, routinely practiced
by some 17 percent of premenopausal women, increases risks of ovarian cancer.
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- * A group of widely used preservatives, such as quaternium15
and bronopol, commonly used in baby products, though not carcinogenic themselves,
break down to release formaldehyde, a potent irritant and carcinogen.
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- * Lanolin, widely used on babies' skin and nipples of
nursing mothers, is commonly contaminated with DDT and other carcinogenic
pesticides.
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- * Commonly used detergents and foaming agents, such as
polysorbates and PEG, are usually contaminated with the volatile carcinogens
dioxane and ethylene oxide, although they could readily be removed by vacuum
stripping during manufacture.
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- * DEA, another widely used detergent, has been known
since 1975 to combine with nitrite preservatives or contaminants in cosmetics
and personal care products to form a highly carcinogenic nitrosamine. In
1997, DEA itself was shown to be carcinogenic following application to
mouse skin.
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- Some hair dyes and other styling products may contain
harmful chemicals (Photo credit unknown) Citizen petitions to the FDA by
the Cancer Prevention Coalition in 1994 and 1996 detailing evidence on
the cancer risks of talc and of DEA containing products, respectively,
and "Seeking Carcinogenic Labeling" on these products, met with
no substantive response.
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- Concerns on cancer risks from cosmetics and personal
care products are emphasized by: the unrecognized presence of over 50 carcinogenic
ingredients in these products; lifelong use of multiple products by the
majority of the U.S. population; the ready skin absorption of many carcinogenic
ingredients, further increased by detergents, especially when left on the
skin for prolonged periods; and by decades long suppression of information
by FDA and the industry in denial of consumers' democratic right to know.
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- Mainstream industry products thus pose significant public
health risks, particularly reproductive and cancer risks. The role of these
avoidable exposures in the escalating incidence of cancer, now striking
nearly one in two men and over one in three women in their lifetimes, remains
largely unrecognized by our apparently health conscious society.
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- Armed with such information, consumers should protect
themselves by shopping for safe alternative products available from the
growing non-mainstream industry. Finally, Congress should belatedly and
aggressively ensure that the FDA obeys the law.
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- Information on carcinogenic and toxic cosmetics and personal
care products and on safe alternatives is detailed on the Cancer Prevention
Coalition's website at: <http://www.preventcancer.comhttp://www.preventcancer.com
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- {Dr. Samuel Epstein is chairman of the Cancer Prevention
Coalition, and professor emeritus, Environmental Medicine, University of
Illinois School of Public Health, Chicago. He is the author of "The
Politics of Cancer, Revisited," 1998, East Ridge Press, and co-author
of "The Safe Shoppers' Bible," 1995, Macmillan/Hungry Minds Inc.}
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- Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All Rights
Reserved.
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- http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2002/2002-07-15e.asp
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