Health, Taken Seriously

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, an organization comprised of the Environmental Working Group, the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, the Breast Cancer Fund, the Clean Water Fund, Commonwealth, Friends of the Earth, National Environmental Trust, and Women’s Voices for the Earth, among others, released a report last week about the presence of cancer-causing chemicals in products designed for babies and children.  The specific carcinogenic chemicals were formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane.  What’s especially alarming about this report is the that neither of these chemicals is listed as ingredients in the products.  In fact, they’re not really ingredients added in the first place, but rather by-products formed when certain ingredients react to one another.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics tested 48 products for 1,4-dioxane and 28 for formaldehyde and found that over 60% contained both chemicals.  More than 80% of the 28 tested for formaldehyde had levels of 54 to 610 parts per million (ppm).  Almost 70%  of the 48 tested for 1,4-dioxane contained levels of 0.27 to 35 ppm.  All the products were marketed as “gentle” or “pure.”  You can see a list of all the products tested and the results here.

What is a parent to do?  These chemicals aren’t disclosed in the ingredient list because they’re by-products or contaminants, not ingredients.  And the U.S. government, unlike others (Europe, Japan), does not regulate the amounts of these carcinogens in personal care products.  According to the report, you can avoid the preservatives that release formaldehyde with time–quaternium-15, DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea, and diazolidinyl urea.  You can also avoid ingredients likely to be contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, such as PEG-100 stearate, sodium laureth sulfate (which is in so many products!), polyethylene, and ceteareth-20.  Apparently, 1,4-dioxane could easily be removed from products, but since manufacturers are not required to do so by law, they don’t.  They could also not add ethylene oxide (a known breast carcinogen) to other chemicals, which then undergo a process called ethoxylation, producing 1,4-dioxane.  Sadly, ethylene oxide is added in the first place to make other chemicals less harsh.  For example, sodium laurel sulfate, an incredibly common lathering agent, is a harsh chemical for the skin.  But when ethylene oxide is added and sodium laurel sulfate becomes ethoxylated into sodium laureth sulfate, it is less harsh on the skin.  It is also now contaminated with 1,4-dioxane.  If manufacturers would just use more gentle ingredients in the first place, they wouldn’t need ethylene oxide and their products wouldn’t be contaminated with 1,4-dioxane.

Another important step in reducing the amount of toxins you apply to your body and the bodies of your loved ones via personal care products is to simplify.  Use as few products as possible!  Do you really need to bath your child daily?  Do they really need soap all over her body, shampoo in her hair, conditioner, body lotion, etc, etc?  Can you get by with maybe one or two products?  And what about for you?  Can your skin and hair care routines be simplified?  Could you wash your hair every other day?  Are there products you could eliminate entirely??  And of course, please remember to check the EWG’s Skin Deep cosmetic database to see if any of the products you’re using are unsafe.

If you’re interested, you can look at the full report here.  You can also tell Congress that you want safe products!