CHICAGO, July 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The following was released by
Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition,
and Professor emeritus, Environmental Medicine, University of Illinois
School of Public Health, Chicago:
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.
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 highest levels in pre-menopausal
women. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) responded
that it would "consider" this information. 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.
A critical 1990 report by the U.S.
General Accounting Office, charging that the FDA committed no resources
for assessing cosmetic/personal
care products safety, had no impact on the agency's reckless
policies.
The agency's sole requirement is restricted to ingredient labeling
of products, except fragrances and perfumes.
However, 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. Examples of carcinogenic
products and ingredients include:
-- 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.
-- Cosmetic grade talc is carcinogenic
in experimental animals. Also, frequent genital dusting with talc,
routinely practiced
by some
17% of premenopausal women, increases
risks of ovarian
cancer.
-- A group of widely used preservatives,
such as quaternium 15 and bronopol, commonly used in baby products,
though not carcinogenic
themselves, break down to release formaldehyde, a potent irritant
and carcinogen.
-- Lanolin, widely used on babies'
skin and nipples of nursing mothers, is commonly contaminated with
DDT and other carcinogenic
pesticides. 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.
-- DEA (diethanolamine), another
widely used detergent, has been known since 1975 to combine with
nitrite preservatives
or contaminants
in cosmetic/personal care products to form a highly carcinogenic
nitrosamine. Furthermore, in 1997, DEA itself was shown to
be carcinogenic following application to mouse skin.
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.
Concerns on cancer risks from cosmetic/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.
Mainstream industry products thus
pose significant public health risks, particularly reproductive
and cancer. 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. 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.
NOTE: Information on carcinogenic and toxic cosmetic/personal
care products and on safe alternatives is detailed in: the
Cancer Prevention
Coalition's website www.preventcancer.com ; Epstein, S.S.,
THE POLITICS OF CANCER, Revisited (Appendix 14), 1998, East
Ridge
Press, Hankins, NY; and Steinman & Epstein,
The Safe Shoppers' Bible, 1995, Macmillan/Hungry Minds, Inc.,
New York.
CONTACT: Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Chairman of the Cancer Prevention
Coalition, and Professor emeritus, Environmental Medicine, University
of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health M/C 922, 2121
W. Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612; ph. 996-2297, epstein@uic.edu
