Adolescent exposures to cosmetic chemicals of concern

 

By Rebecca Sutton, Ph.D., Staff Scientist, September 2008

Laboratory tests reveal adolescent girls across America are contaminated with chemicals commonly used in cosmetics and body care products.  Environmental Working Group (EWG) detected 16 chemicals from 4 chemical families – phthalates, triclosan, parabens, and musks – in blood and urine samples from 20 teen girls aged 14-19. Studies link these chemicals to potential health effects including cancer and hormone disruption.   These tests feature first-ever exposure data for parabens in teens, and indicate that young women are widely exposed to this common class of cosmetic preservatives, with 2 parabens, methylparaben and propylparaben, detected in every single girl tested.

In Alex (Washington DC): 12 hormone-altering cosmetics chemicals. “It’s frightening to learn about the many different kinds of toxic chemicals that can be found in my body. At the same time I would much rather be knowledgeable about my body’s chemical makeup than uninformed; in this case, ignorance is NOT bliss.”

This work represents the first focused look at teen exposures to chemicals of concern in cosmetics, exposures that occur during a period of accelerated development. Adolescence encompasses maturation of the reproductive, immune, blood, and adrenal hormone systems, rapid bone growth associated with the adolescent “growth spurt,” shifts in metabolism, and key changes to brain structure and function. Alterations in an array of sex hormones, present in the body at levels as low as one part per billion (ppb), or even one part per trillion (ppt), guide this transformation to adulthood. Emerging research suggests that teens may be particularly sensitive to exposures to trace levels of hormone-disrupting chemicals like the ones targeted in this study, given the cascade of closely interrelated hormonal signals orchestrating the transformation from childhood to adulthood.

During this window of vulnerability to toxic assault, adolescent girls typically experiment with an increasing number and variety of body care products. Teen study participants used an average of nearly 17 personal care products each day, while the average adult woman uses just 12 products daily. Thus, teens may unknowingly expose themselves to higher levels of cosmetic ingredients linked to potential health effects at a time when their bodies are more susceptible to chemical damage.

Cosmetics and other personal care products are an alarming example of government and industry failures to protect public health. Federal health statutes do not require companies to test products or ingredients for safety before they are sold. As a result, nearly all personal care products contain ingredients that have not been assessed for safety by any accountable agency, and that are not required to meet standards of safety. To protect the health of teens and all Americans, we recommend action:

• The federal government must set comprehensive safety standards for cosmetics and other personal care products.
• Teens should make healthy choices for themselves by reducing the number of products they use, and by using our Shopper’s Guide to Safe Cosmetics to select safer products.
• Companies must reformulate products to protect consumers from exposure to potentially toxic chemicals, untested ingredients, and noxious impurities.

Children Exposed Daily to Personal Care Products With Chemicals Not Found Safe For Kids

WASHINGTON – From baby shampoo to diaper wipes, children are exposed to products every day containing chemicals that have not been assessed for their hazards to children, according to an investigation by Environmental Working Group (EWG) that exposes the lack of federal safety protections for children’s personal care products.

In an online survey of more than 3,300 parents, EWG found that the average child is exposed through body care products to 27 chemicals a day that have not been found safe for children, including some associated with cancer, brain and nervous system damage, allergies and hormone disruption. These chemicals are common ingredients in baby shampoo, lotion, diaper cream, sunscreen, and a number of other children’s body care products.

“Just because a shampoo or sunscreen is labeled ‘children’s’ doesn’t mean it’s been tested and found safe for kids,” said Jane Houlihan, EWG’s vice president for research. “Children are more at risk than adults from many chemical hazards, but we have no special standards to protect them.”

Children are typically more vulnerable to chemicals than adults. A child’s skin is 30 percent thinner than an adult’s, and can absorb greater amounts of chemicals from the skin surface. They breathe in more air (and air pollution) relative to their weight than adults, and the blood-brain barrier that helps block chemicals from penetrating brain tissue is not fully formed until a baby is six months old. Even then, many chemicals cross this barrier and target developing brain tissue, with potential life-long harmful effects.
EWG found:

• 82% of children are exposed every week to one or more ingredients with the potential to harm the brain and nervous system.
• 69% of children are exposed every week to one or more ingredients that may disrupt the hormone system, and 3.6% of children are exposed to ingredients with strong data linking them to cancer, including chemicals classified as known or probable human carcinogens.
• 80% of children’s products marked as gentle and non-irritating contain ingredients linked to allergies and skin or eye irritation according to government and industry sources.

The safety of baby products falls under the purview of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but unlike for drugs and food additives, the FDA has no power to require that cosmetics are tested for safety before they are sold. And due to other loopholes in the law, manufacturers are free to use any claim they wish, such as “safe” and “ultra mild,” without proof, and many do just that.

“In the absence of adequate regulation, the manufacturers of children’s products should take responsibility to inform and protect their customers,” said Michael Passoff, associate director of the As You Sow Foundation, which supported the study. As You Sow represents shareholders in engaging publicly held companies to adopt more progressive social and environmental policies “Something shouldn’t be marketed to kids if it’s not proven safe for them,” said Passoff.

Included in EWG’s analysis is a comprehensive Safety Guide to Children’s Personal Care Products to help concerned parents decide which products are best for their children, and which ones to avoid available at http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com. It provides recommendations on choosing safer products instead of the many that contain ingredients of concern for children.

“The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has long been concerned about childhood exposures to unsafe ingredients in cosmetics and body care products because the scientific evidence indicates that timing of exposure matters,” said Janet Nudelman, coordinator of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. “EWG’s childhood exposures survey helps us better understand the extent to which kids are being exposed to chemicals linked to hormone disruption, nervous system problems, cancer, reproductive risks, and allergies.”

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) is introducing a bill that increases FDA regulation of personal care products and cosmetics, including baby products. This legislation would enable FDA to ensure that all ingredients contained in personal care products, including cosmetics, are safe for use by children and adults. Chemicals that cause cancer in people or animals would be banned from use in personal care products. Today, the FDA doesn’t require studies or testing to determine a product’s safety before a cosmetic product is put on the shelves of a pharmacy or grocery store.

“The government’s falling down on the job when children are being exposed to untested products and chemicals that are supposed to clean and protect them. Parents deserve a government they can trust to screen these products thoroughly and ensure their safety. You don’t leave our kids’ safety to the marketing gurus and cosmetics executives and hope for the best, ” said Kerry.

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EWG is a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, DC that uses the power of information to protect human health and the environment. EWG’s research on personal care products is available at http://cosmeticsdatabase.com/ As You Sow is a corporate social responsibility organization based in San Francisco that uses shareholder advocacy to promote safer and more transparent corporate practices.

WebMD: Household Chemicals Show Up in Blood

Study by Environmental Group Shows Toxic Chemicals End Up in Blood Samples

May 1, 2009 — Up to 48 toxic chemicals commonly used in everyday consumer products have shown up in blood and urine samples of five prominent women environmental activists, according to a study by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization devoted to protecting human health and the environment.

“Testing was primarily targeted toward products used in everyday consumer products that have escaped regulation under the Toxic Substances Control Act,” Anila Jacob, MD, MPH, a senior scientist with the organization, said at a news briefing.

The findings, according to Jacob and others from Environmental Working Group, offer more proof that the Toxic Substances Control Act is antiquated and needs a major overhaul to protect Americans from the adverse effects of chemicals found in everyday products.

Companies should be required to prove their products are safe before they go on the market, Environmental Working Group scientists say.

While some officials from the chemical industry support modernization of the Toxic Substances Control Act, they contend that the sampling system used in the report provides only a snapshot in time, without enough details on exposure to prove an adverse effect on health.

The Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 gives the Environmental Protection Agency authority to oversee chemical substances and mixtures, but generally excludes food, drugs, cosmetics, and pesticides.

In February, Congress held the first of what is expected to be several hearings on the law’s reform.
Toxic Chemicals Study

The Environmental Working Group study, funded by Rachel’s Network, an organization of women environmentalists, took two years to complete. Researchers sampled the activists’ blood and urine and analyzed them for toxic chemicals, using four independent laboratories.

“In each of these women we found at least one controversial chemical,” says Sonya Lunder, MPH, a senior analyst with the Environmental Working Group and a co-author of the report. To be termed controversial, she says, a chemical must be one whose safety is being debated.

“In everyone we found fire retardants, Teflon chemicals, fragrances, bisphenol A or BPA, and perchlorate,” she tells WebMD.

Flame retardants are found in foam furniture, televisions, and computers. Teflon is used in nonstick coatings and grease-resistant food packaging. BPA is a plastics chemical; perchlorate, a rocket fuel ingredient, can contaminate tap water and food. Fragrances have been associated with hormone disruption in animal studies.

Every woman tested positive for up to 60% of the 75 chemicals evaluated, the report found.

The women live far apart: in Green Bay, Wis.; New Orleans; Corpus Christi, Texas; and Oakland, Calif. But their toxic chemical load is similar, according to the Environmental Working Group scientists.

Each woman had at least one chemical at a high percentile –such as the 81st percentile for bisphenol A, meaning her level of chemicals was higher than all but 19% of Americans who have been tested.

Industry Response

Tiffany Harrington, a spokeswoman for the American Chemistry Council, would not comment on the study itself but did issue a statement that reads in part: “The American Chemistry Council supports science-based biomonitoring programs and the responsible and appropriate communication and use of biomonitoring information in assessing the potential risk posed by exposure to chemicals. However, biomonitoring provides only a snapshot of substances present in the body at a single point in time.”

Biomonitoring is defined by the CDC as the direct measurement of exposure to a toxic substance by examining the substances themselves or their metabolites in human blood or urine samples.

The statement from American Chemistry Council continued: “It does not tell us where a substance came from, when the exposure to the substance occurred, or the duration and frequency of exposure. The presence of a substance detected by biomonitoring is not, on its own, an indicator if there will be any health effects.”

The group does support modernization of the Toxic Substances Control Act, she says.

Jacob notes that health trends in the U.S. suggest that the chemical load plays a role, citing growing rates of autism spectrum disorder, diabetes, and certain cancers.

“These chemicals are showing up in people. They can be potent at very low levels of exposure; we know that from animal studies.”

While the rising number of chronic diseases has many roots, she says, the increased exposure to chemicals is one factor.

 

posted on:  www.ewg.org

All New Herbal Revolution Products Are Here!

This month we will be introducing several new products to our Herbal Revolution™ skincare line including our Reflect Sun Oil which is an all natural blend of oils which have been infused with medicinal herbs which can help your skin to resist burning on those hot sunny summer days that lie ahead.  We are also offering our Renew Lavender Face Scrub which is simply awesome!  It is a blend of french green clay, ground organic almonds, beneficial essential oils and other all natural ingredients which come together to make an invigorating and refreshing face scrub.