News - Report entreats FDA to assess cosmetics ingredients

ROBIN LORD - STAFF WRITER
July 25, 2004

Report entreats FDA to assess cosmetics ingredients

Ingredients in the most popular lotions, sprays, creams and cosmetics have never been tested by the Food and Drug Administration, according to a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization.

The government has not evaluated 89 percent of the 10,500 ingredients in personal care products, the Environmental Working Group said. The organization's leaders say they want the federal government to more closely monitor the industry.

Local activists and health experts believe the report could offer some answers to the region's elevated cancer levels.

Others dismiss the possibility that mainstream personal care products could be harmful, pointing to a lack of conclusive research to support the claim.

The nonprofit Environmental Working Group spent six months doing a computer check of 7,500 products to see how many contain ingredients that have known health effects on humans. The analysis examined ingredients ranging from harmless table salt and oatmeal, to cancer-causing chemicals.

One in three personal care products has at least one ingredient classified as a possible carcinogen and one in 100 has ingredients listed by the government as known or probable cancer-causing agents. Still others are known endocrine disrupters and are linked to birth defects.

"If we were serious about cancer prevention, we would not be taking this chance," said Cindy Luppi of Clean Water Action, a Boston environmental group.

EWG and other advocates are pushing the federal government to require the same testing for personal-care products now required for additives and pesticide residues in food.

While some environmentalists and public health scientists were alarmed by the report, cosmetic industry spokespeople claim the report is misleading and a disservice to consumers.

"It's alarming consumers unnecessarily," said Irene Malbin, vice president of public affairs at the Cosmetics, Toiletry and Fragrance Association in Washington, D.C. She declined to comment further, instead directing all questions to a statement on the association's Web site.

"The cosmetic industry is committed to providing the highest quality, safest personal care products possible," reads the statement. "Cost is never a consideration for a safety."

No independent tests

The report, titled "Skin Deep," is available online at www.ewg.org. It ranks the safety of the products according to how many harmful ingredients they contain. Consumers can go to the Web site and find out how their favorite products stack up.

The FDA is required under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to regulate the cosmetics industry, but is not required to test independently the products, according to an agency spokeswoman

The FDA relies on the industry to police itself through its Cosmetic Ingredient Review board, which is appointed by the Cosmetics, Toiletry and Fragrance Association, an industry group. The board looks at products for safety and effectiveness.

"I can't believe any reputable firm, if they found something was intrinsically dangerous, would deliberately expose the public to it," he said. "The big firms are very, very careful," British chemist Dr. John Emsley said.

EWG scientist Jane Houlihan took on the personal care products study after it became clear the FDA does not have the authority to order pre-market testing, Luppi said.

Clean Water Action has been working with the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition on a campaign for safer cosmetics and personal care products. It was because of that effort that Houlihan agreed to take a closer look at personal care products, Luppi said.

The FDA spokeswoman said the agency has seen the "Skin Deep" report and is "assessing it for its merits."

The FDA is authorized to mandate warning labels on products, inspect manufacturing facilities, seize illegal products and prosecute violators.

Consumer confusion

A survey conducted by Clean Water Action in Boston after the report's was released found that most people who were asked "assume that somebody is looking at the safety of these products more than they are," Luppi said.

Boston College student Cynthia Loesch, who is a member of a group called "Bold Teens" in Dorchester, helped with the survey. She said people she interviewed were shocked to learn personal care products are not tested by the government.

"It was a little bit of, 'are you sure?'" she said.

Her work made her take a second look at what she was putting on her body.

"I was using around 20 products a day, and I'm cutting down. I don't use anything with fragrance any more and I don't need the different shampoos and conditioners I used to use," she said.

Several women shopping in the CVS store on North Street in Hyannis said the report will cause them to re-evaluate the products they use.

"It would make me want to look at it, definitely," said Jennifer Healy of Cotuit as she browsed in the cosmetics aisle.

The EWG report fits with studies by Silent Spring Institute, a Newton group trying to find a link between the environment and breast cancer. State health department figures show that Cape women have a 20 percent higher risk of getting breast cancer than their counterparts in the rest of the state.

"The two pieces of work are complementary," said Julia Brody, executive director of the Institute, which was founded in 1994.

In the group's "Household Exposure Study," Silent Spring researchers collected air, dust and urine samples in 120 homes of Cape women, some who had contracted breast cancer and others who had not. Of the 89 chemical compounds they were looking for, researchers found 67, including DDT, a pesticide banned 30 years ago.

Parabens and phthalates

Two of the more prevalent toxic ingredients EWG found in personal care products and cosmetics were parabens and phthalates.

Parabens, which are used as preservatives, have been shown to have estrongenic activity. Breast cancer cells are known to grow in the presence of excess estrogen.

Studies on phthalates have demonstrated that they disrupt endocrine activity in the body and affect sperm quality and male fetal development. The chemicals, which are also found in plastics, have caused cancer in research animals, according to EWG.

"I took my reading glasses to the store recently looking for hand creams that didn't have parabens, but it's difficult to find any," Brody said.

A study conducted by Dr. Philippa Darbre earlier this year found parabens in samples of breast cancer tumors, according to Breast Cancer Action, a nonprofit advocacy group in San Francisco. Although the study sample was small, looking at just 20 tumors, it is the first proof researchers have that parabens can be absorbed through the skin from products.

But Emsley, who has just released a book called "Vanity, Vitality and Virility: The Chemistry Behind the Products You Love to Buy," disputes that report. He said parabens, which cover a large number of compounds, will not penetrate the skin by themselves. Even if they are mixed with penetration enhancers, there is no scientific proof of "a cocktail effect" from chemicals mixed together in personal care products.

He claimed phthalates have been tested by an independent Dutch organization and found to be safe for personal care products.

"It's very easy to get people alarmed," he said during a telephone interview from his home in Ampthill, England. "Even with natural products, if you expose animals to incredibly high doses of them, they can be harmed."

Proctor & Gamble spokesman Kash Shaikh said the company carefully evaluates its products.

"We have one of the most robust (research and development) departments in the world," he said. "All products are checked off as safe before being placed in the public domain."

But Silent Spring Institute Cape Cod Coordinator Cheryl Osimo said while personal care products are tested by the industry for their immediate effects, such as allergic reactions, no one has tested exposures to the individual ingredients over time.

"No one knows how long-term exposure to low doses of known and suspected carcinogens in these products affect us, particularly on top of other chemicals in the water we drink, the food we eat and the air we breathe," she said. "It makes common sense that we don't want these chemicals in the personal care products we use every day."