Chemicals and cosmetics: such sweet poison.

The following article and accompanying sidebars are a contribution of the Women's Environmental Network (United Kingdom), Women's Voices for the Earth (USA) the Not Too Pretty Campaign based on information previously published in press releases, brochures, websites and newsletters. Contact information for these dynamic and inspiring groups in included at the end of the article.

Want to feel young, fresh and feminine? Douse yourself in petro-chemicals, and smear your skin with hormone disruptors. And for spring-fresh confidence you didn't even know you were lacking, wash with our delicate blend of magnesium chloride, triclosan, methylchloro-isothiazolinone and other unnatural essences.

More and more products are on the market, and we feel under increasing pressure to use them. The industry fuels women's (and men's) insecurities about their appearance and body odor to sell products that are at best unnecessary and at worst linked to allergies, skin irritation, cancer and hormone disruption.

Cosmetics and toiletries in everyday use contain chemicals that threaten human health and the environment. Most popular shampoos, shower gels, moisturizers and perfumes are complex mixtures of synthetic chemicals which pose a range of risks. Even products marketed as 'organic', 'herbar or 'natural' may contain only a trace of a natural essence added to a synthetic formula.

While they may smell sweet, perfumes and fragrances are special stinkers. The ingredients of perfumes do not have to be listed, and there are no legal restrictions on the quantities or combinations of fragrance chemicals that may be used in cosmetics. Fragrance chemicals appear on the label as simply 'Parfum' in the European Union (EU) or 'Fragrance' in the United States. However, 95% of chemicals used in fragrances are synthetic compounds derived from petroleum. A typical cosmetic can contain 50-100 fragrances, which the industry claims to be too many to be easily listed. Only a fraction of the thousands of chemicals used in fragrances have been safety tested by industry; some are capable of triggering breathing difficulties, allergic reactions and multiple chemical sensitivities.

As Helen Lynn, health coordinator of the Women's Environment Network (UK), explains: "We use cosmetics and toiletries to make ourselves feel good. We should be able to choose products and know they are safe, not have to worry whether they contain risky chemicals. Safer, more natural alternatives to many of the synthetic ingredients are available and should be used by manufacturers.... This is not just a health issue--we wash gallons of these chemicals down the drain every day, polluting the environment and poisoning wildlife. Nobody has tested the effects of repeated, long-term exposure to a mixture of chemicals from our daily routines of cleansing, moisturizing, deodorizing and applying make-up." Cosmetic products and their packaging are often made of petrochemicals that carry a raft of environmental implications in addition to their health impacts. As the list on this page details, many of the chemicals used in beauty and personal hygiene products can damage hormone, immune and nervous systems. They may affect the body in many different ways: attacking the endocrine system, disrupting the normal behavior of hormones or affecting the nervous and immune systems or triggering cancer. An impact on one aspect may disrupt another, for example, estrogen imitators may disrupt hormone behavior and increase susceptibility to breast cancer. Other health concerns include fertility problems, asthma, eczema and skin irritations, and damage to the central nervous system.

The Phthalate Threat

Phthalates (pronounced tha-lates) are one group of industrial chemicals found in many health and beauty products--deodorant, perfumes, body lotion, hair conditioners, nail polish, hair spray. Phthalates also are used as plastic softeners or solvents in a range of consumer products such as PVC (polyvinyl chloride or vinyl) baby toys, vinyl flooring and wall covering, and plastic food packaging. Phthalates can be absorbed through the skin, inhaled as fumes, ingested when they contaminate food or when children bite or suck on toys.

Hundreds of animal studies have demonstrated that phthalates can damage the liver, the kidneys, the lungs and the reproductive system, especially the developing testes. Some patients who receive treatment using PVC medical devices softened with phthalates have developed the same health problems that animal studies show come from exposure to these chemicals. Other health problems seen in animal studies have never been studied in human beings. But scientists in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Health Canada and the U.S. National Institute of Health's Toxicology Program agree that animal studies predict that phthalates can be dangerous to humans.

We are repeatedly exposed to phthalates from many different sources all the time, and these aggregate exposures are adding up to levels of concern. In the U.S., 5% of the 20- to 40-year-old women tested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are getting up to 45 times more phthalates than previous daily intake estimates. While the CDC found evidence of phthalates in virtually every person tested, evidence of the highest levels of exposure to the phthalate DBP (dibutyl phthalate) were found in women of childbearing age. This reality is especially alarming because phthalates have been shown to cause birth defects in laboratory animals--particularly to the reproductive organs of developing males.

While the chemical industry argues that phthalates have been used safely for 40 years with no impact on humans, no well-designed human epidemiological study has ever been conducted to demonstrate this claim. On the contrary, a Harvard study released in December 2002 researchers documented the damage done by phthalates to sperm in adult men. The study found a correlation between damage to DNA in sperm and exposure to diethyl phthalate (DEP) at levels already present in the men. Recent tests of cosmetics found the chemical in 71% of fragrances, hair sprays and deodorants tested in the United States. DEP is also the phthalate found in the most concentrated levels in people, according to the CDC and reconfirmed by the Harvard study

Dr. Ted Schettler, science director of the Science and Environmental Health Network (U.S.), explains: "The link with DEP is a concern because until now DEP has been considered one of the least toxic phthalates. The correlation found in this study is extremely troubling and deserves urgent follow-up. The last thing you want is DNA damage to sperm, which can lead to infertility and may also be linked to miscarriages and birth defects, infertility and cancer in offspring." And as Bryony Schwan of Women's Voices for the Earth succinctly observes, "Chemicals linked to birth defects do not belong in products marketed to women."

States and Industry React

While the EU has now passed a ban on two types of phthalates used in health and beauty products--dibutyl phthalate, DBP, and di-2-ethylhexyl-phthalate, DEHP--many U.S. companies say that they will not reformulate their products for the Americas. Even though companies like Proctor and Gamble will have to reformulate their health and beauty products sold in Europe to meet the new EU rules, they are unwilling to make their products elsewhere as sale as they will be in Europe.

While some companies like Aveda, the Body Shop International and Neways have pledged to make products free of phthalates, not enough is being done to protect us from this harmful set of chemicals. In the U.S. activists blame the Federal Drug Administration's "Balkanized" approach to regulation. The FDA is responsible for food contaminants, drug ingredients, medical devices and cosmetics--all of which can contain phthalates. Unfortunately, each of these activities is the responsibility of a different division within FDA, each of which carries out its work in isolation from the others. Moreover, the legislation that authorizes the agency to monitor these various products differs considerably when dealing with food, drugs, medical devices and cosmetics. As a consequence, when the medical device division considers the safety of exposure to DEHP, they consider only medical devices and not the real world of population-wide exposures to multiple phthalates from multiple sources.

The FDA does regulate the amount of phthalates that can be present in food containers and has also issued warnings about the use of a particular phthalate (di-2-ethylhexyl-phthalate, DEHP) in medical devices. On July 12, 2002, the FDA issued a Public Health Notification recommending that health care providers take precautions to limit the exposure of the developing male to DEHP, a phthalate added to PVC plastic as a softener for IV bags, tubing and other devices used in the health care setting. The FDA recommended that alternatives to DEHP-containing PVC medical devices should be used when possible for certain medical procedures. However, the agency failed to require labeling of DEHP-containing medical devices, leaving health care providers with no way of knowing which products are leaching potentially unsafe doses of DEHP (for more information about the FDA Public Health Notification, please see http://www.noharm.org).

Also, U.S. toy manufacturers already have voluntarily stopped using phthalates in children's pacifiers and teething rings although phthalates are still present in many other vinyl children's products. Finally, the Cosmetics Ingredients Review panel, an independent panel charged with assessing the safety of ingredients in cosmetics, decided in June 2002 to conduct a new study to determine whether phthalates are safe for use in cosmetics.

The FDA and the regulatory agencies of other governments must seriously consider the reality of multiple exposures to toxic chemicals and require meaningful pre-market testing of commercial chemicals. As citizens defending our right to health, we must insist on the right to know what chemicals are in commercial products and to have unhindered access to toxicity and exposure data.

Civil Society in Action

The Women's Environmental Network (UK) reminds us that we can act positively. We can scrutinize the products we use and demand that manufacturers remove harmful chemicals. We can lobby government bodies to provide tougher legislation on labeling. We can use simple, natural alternatives and safer products to stay beautiful--naturally.

And we also can join with others who are taking action around the world to make sure that governments protect us from these dangerous chemicals.

* Chemicalreaction.org, a joint project of the European Environmental Bureau, Friends of the Earth and Green-peace, linked 483 organizations and 23,600 citizens from around the world that signed the Declaration for a Toxics-free Future. The Declaration was presented to the Environment Commissioner, Margot Wallstrom, in Brussels on July 8, 2003, as a submission to the European Commission's Internet consultation on the draft legislation (now closed). This civil petition called for phase-out and substitution of hazardous chemicals, for a full right to know which chemicals are in what products and for the same standards for imported goods. The European Consumers' Organisation (BEUC), the European Health Alliance (EPHA), Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF) and WWF also joined the action, together representing several tens of millions of citizens.

* Women's Environmental Network (WEN) supports a local campaign to 'end the cosmetics cover-up' in the UK. WEN encourages women to join its local groups to find out more about the risks, to help gather evidence on how commonly the ingredients are used and how frequently people are exposed to them, and to write to the manufacturers of their favorite products to demand safer ingredients.

* In both the European Union and the United States, a number of women's and environmental organizations have joined forces in the "Not Too Pretty" Campaign, spearheaded in the U.S. by Women's Voices for the Earth. Through the website, http://www.NotTooPretty.org, more than 4,250 people have already contacted the FDA and product manufacturers asking for labeling and phase outs of phthalates in cosmetics. The campaign encourages citizens to send letters to their representatives in Congress, tell friends and talk to their doctors, pharmacists, drug stores owners and the manufacturers of their favorite products that phthalates are unnecessarily added to consumer products.

The ChemIcals in CosmetIcs

Phthalates

Found in: Hair sprays, perfume, nail polishes.

Names to watch out for: Anything ending in phthalate including Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP or BzBP).

Used as: Plasticizers to soften plastic, skin moisturizers and skin penetration enhancers in cosmetics.

Research indicates:

* DBP, DEHP and BBP are all known to cause serious reproductive and, developmental effects in lab animals.

* Phthalates have been linked to premature breast development in young girls and interference with productive development in male fetuses.

* Some phthalates act like hormone disruptors.

* There is growing evidence that phthalates can contribute to allergic disease--one Nordic study linked them to asthma--and other health problems.

* U.S. toy manufacturers already have voluntarily stopped using phthalates in children's pacifiers and teething rings though phthalates are still present in many other vinyl children's products.

Parabens

Found in: Toiletries (such as deodorants and moisturizers) and foodstuffs (such as p e filling beer and jam).

Names to watch out for: Alkyl parahydroxy benzoates butyl/methyl/ethyl/ propyl/isobutyl paraben.

Used as: Preservatives.

Research indicates:

* Parabens are estrogen mimics,

* They can penetrate the skin.

* The cumulative effect of daily low-level exposure to parabens is unknown,

Triclosan

Found in: Deodorants, toothpaste, vaginal washes clothing, liquid soaps, mouthwashes.

Names to watch out for: 5-chloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)-phenol. May not be listed on label as it is contained in some patented mixtures.

Used as: Antibacterial agent.

Research indicates:

* Levels of triclosan have been found in human breast milk and in fish.

* Dioxins (linked to cancer) are formed when it is manufactured or incinerated.

Toluene 

Found in: Lacquers and nail polish.

Names to watch out for: Toluol or methylbenzene.

Research indicates:

* Occupational studies show exposed women are more likely to experience spontaneous abortions.

* Toluene is volatile, flammable and attacks the central nervous system. eyes, blood, liver, kidneys and skin.

* It is a skin irritant and may cause liver damage.

* Toluene is narCotic in high concentrations.

Xylene 

Found in: Lacquers and nail polish.

Names to watch out for: Xylol or dimethylbenzene.

Research indicates:

* Xylene is a skin and respiratory tract irritant.

* It may cause liver damage.

* Xylene s narcotic in high concentrations.

Formaldehyde

Used as: Disinfectant, germicide, fungicide, defoamer and preservative.

Found in: Deodorants, nail varnish.

Names to watch out for: Formalin, formal and methyl aldehyde.

Research indicates:

* Formaldehyde is a suspected human carcinogen.

* Asthma may occur in sensitive individuals.

* Formaldehyde is an irritant to eyes upper respiratory tract and mucous membranes.

* Individuals can become sensitized after repeated exposure.

* Formaldehyde can damage DNA. Alkylphenol ethoxylates

Used as: Surfactants (lower the surface tens on of liquids so they can foam or penetrate solids).

Found in: Shampoos hair dyes, shaving gels.

Names to watch out for: Nonylphenol, octylphenol. Research indiCates:

* Alkylphenol ethoxylates are hormone disruptors.

* They are extremely toxic to fish.

* Alkylphenols are bio-accumulative (they build up in body fat faster than they can be broken down).

* Several alkylphenols are listed internationally to be phased out.

Acetone 

Used as: Nail polish remover, perfumes. Rasearch indicates:

* Acetone is flammable and toxic if ingested.

* It irritates the lungs and causes nails to become brittle.

Ethyl acetate

Found in: Nail varnish

* Ethyl acetate irritates the eyes and the respiratory tract.

* It has anesthetic effects.

* Ethyl acetate may effect the central nervous system.

Source: WEN, "Chemicals and Cosmetics--What's the Problem?" On-line at http://www.wen.org.uk

The Big Picture

* Some 300 synthetic chemicals made since 1945 have been detected in human body tissues and secretions, including breast milk.

* an estimated 400 million metric tons of synthetic chemicals are manufactured annually worldwide.

* Over 1,000 new chemicals are produced each year.

* An estimated 5,000 to 10,000 chemicals are considered hazardous, of which 150-200 are thought to cause cancer.

Source: WEN, "Chemicals and Cosmetics--What's the Problem?" On-line at http://www.wen.org.uk

"Pretty Nasty" Beauty Products

Pretty Nasty: Phthalates in European Cosmetic Products is a report on the results of tests commissioned by the Women s Environment Network (UK), the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and Health Care Without Harm, Europa, to find out if phthalates were in widespread use in cosmetics on sale in Europe. Thirty-four leading brands of cosmetics--perfumes, deodorants, hair sprays, hair gels and sent for testing by an selected and sent for testing by an independent laboratory. Twenty-seven products (four out of five) contained at least one phthalate, more than half contained two or more, and 14 contained two phthalates which are on a European list of substances considered potentially harmful to human fertility and/or human development.

--The full report can be download in PDF format from the Women's Environment Network website at http://www.wen.org.uk/health/Reports/Prettynasty.pdf

For more information or to support these important initiatives, contact:

Svenska Naturskyddsforeningen I

(Swedish Society for Nature

Conservation)

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Fax: [phone]

Website: http://www.snf.se

Women's Environmental Network

PO Box 30626

London E1 1TZ

United Kingdom

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Website: http://www.wen.org.uk

Women's Voices for the Earth

PO Box 8743

Missoula, MT 59807

USA

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Website: http://www.womenandenvironment.org

Heath Care Without Harm

1755 S Street NW Suite 6B

Washington, D.C. 20009

USA

Tel.: [phone]

Website: http://www.noharm.org

Environmental Working Group

1426 U Street, NW, Suite 100

Washington, D.C. 20009

USA

Tel.: [phone]

Chemicalreaction.org

E-mail: [e-mail]

Website: http://www.chemicalreaction.org