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“Your exposure in just one day can greatly outweigh what this one company said was the low dose you had in your product, which is why we are concerned.” “But we are not using just one product,” Leiba said. “We believe well-crafted reforms – grounded in science – will support the industry’s ability to innovate and further strengthen consumer confidence in the products they trust and enjoy every day,” Westine said.ĭata on real-world chemical exposure is limited, and most safety assessments look at one chemical and one source at a time. While PCPC supports regulatory reforms, Westine stopped short of endorsing the Personal Care Products Safety Act, a current legislative push to increase FDA authority. “The materials cited as examples by EWG are not, and would never be, used as cosmetic ingredients because they are pesticides, narcotics, and radioactive substances.” (EWG’s list includes current cosmetic ingredients like formaldehyde, parabens and toluene.) “The number of substances on a country’s restricted list is a misleading measure of the effectiveness of regulation in protecting human health and safety,” Lezlee Westine, the president and CEO of the Personal Care Products Council, said in an emailed statement on EWG’s analysis. The Personal Care Products Council (PCPC), the trade group representing 90% of the US beauty industry, says their products are “among the safest” regulated by the FDA, and maintains that fears of certain chemicals are overblown. A recent report by the organization found that more than 40 countries have banned 1,400 chemicals in cosmetic products, compared with nine in the US. EWG has also found toxic PFAS chemicals – used in flame retardants and Teflon – in some cosmetics.ĮWG, along with other advocacy groups, is pushing for more transparency and regulation of the industry to ban certain ingredients, many of which are already blocked in other countries. So are heavy metals, like lead found in lipsticks and clay-based products, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals like parabens and phthalates, among others. Leiba said known or suspected carcinogens like formaldehyde – found in some keratin hair treatments, body soap and nail polish – and coal tar – found in some hair dyes and shampoo – are of top concern in beauty products.
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And while the rate of cancer diagnoses among men is decreasing, rates for women have remained stable since 2008.
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In the US, overall cancer rates have declined in recent years, but certain types of cancer – including those of the thyroid, liver and skin – are on the rise, according to the latest government data. “The increases are not just due to genetics and new diagnostic techniques.” “Cancer is on the rise, infertility is on the rise, allergies in children are on the rise, and people can’t figure out why,” said Nneka Leiba, the director of healthy living science at EWG, which has been monitoring chemicals in cosmetics for over a decade. Another survey, conducted by a beauty retailer in 2016, found women averaged 16 products a day on their face alone.
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And they are trying to connect the dots between these intimately used products and some worrying and unexplained disease trends – particularly in women.Īmerican women use an average of 12 products a day – nearly 200 chemicals – according to a 2004 study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit environment and health advocacy group.
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Consumer health advocates and some researchers have for years warned that at least some of those are unsafe.
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