Looking Good: Popular Make-up Brands Get a Non-Toxic Makeover This good news is more than a cosmetic fix. Two major manufacturers of make-up products have confirmed that they have removed a number of toxins from their formulas. The move comes in response to new European Union rules now taking effect that ban a wide variety of hazardous compounds from consumer products. Rather than use different formulas in different countries, Revlon and L’Oreal have opted for one-size-fits-all approach that applies Europe’s trend-setting standards throughout the world. Now it’s time for the rest of the industry to catch up! In a classic example of how the effects of laws regulating toxic materials can easily cross borders and influence other parts of the world, Revlon and L’Oreal announced that they were in full compliance with new European Union regulations banning a wide variety of known or probable carcinogens, mutagens, and reproductive toxins from personal care and make-up products. These regulations took effect on January 1 of this year, and the two companies gave their assurances that all their products would adhere to the new standards regardless of where in the world they were made or sold. Key among the ingredients no longer being used were several types of phthalates, including those types known as DBP (dibutyl phthalate) and DEHP (di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate). Often found in nail polishes, hair sprays, and fragrances, these compounds are used in cosmetics for a number of purposes. In some cases, they help maintain a product’s flexibility when used. In others, they act as solvents that keep a formula’s ingredients dissolved and dispersed in the product. Unfortunately, phthalates are easily volatized. This means that they are readily able to leave the product they’re used in without any help. Of course, you won’t find bits of phthalate oozing out of your hairspray. Instead, phthalates usually leave the products they’re hiding in as vapors that then enter the human body via the lungs. When phthalates enter the body, they can cause all kinds of havoc. Emerging evidence has linked exposure to phthalates to reproductive and developmental disorders, cancer, organ damage, asthma, and allergies. The news that major cosmetic manufacturers have begun to address the dangerous toxicity of many of their products is good indeed. But two companies do not a healthy product category make. Indeed, many other companies have not yet said whether they will be reformulating their U.S. products to meet the European Union standards. Consumer products giant Unilever, for example said in a letter to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, that it had removed the two offending phthalates banned by the E.U. from its products but gave no indication whether or not its products offered for sale in non-E.U. nations would meet the Union’s standards for other ingredients. Contrary to popular consumer belief, the FDA, which is responsible for make-up and personal care products, neither tests, reviews, nor approves these products’ ingredients for safety before they are introduced in the market, nor does it require that companies conduct such safety testing. Instead, with a few notable exceptions, virtually any ingredient can be used. In place of government oversight and ingredients regulations, the industry instead relies on its own self-funded Cosmetic Ingredient Review panel, which is theoretically responsible for assuring that the ingredients found in cosmetic and similar products are safe for consumer use. In it’s almost 30 years of existence, however, that panel has reviewed just 11% of the 10,500 cosmetic ingredients listed by the FDA. According to the Environmental Working Group, the remaining unassessed 89% of ingredients are used in over 99% of all products on the market. Although the FDA cannot require testing of cosmetic products, it can require that companies selling untested products place a label on these items declaring “Warning: The safety of this product has not been determined.” Though virtually every cosmetic product should carry this warning, you’ve never seen it on a label. That’s because the FDA has so far declined to demand it on any product. The good news is that pressure from the Environmental Working Group has caused the agency to issue a letter to cosmetics manufacturers notifying them that it intends to begin invoking this regulation. Until then, let the buyer beware and use their clout to demand change. For more information on the issue of hazardous cosmetics, visit http://www.safecosmetics.org. You’ll find everything you need to know plus a list of companies that have signed the organization’s safe product pledge to not use chemicals that are known or suspected of causing cancer, mutation, or birth defects. There are suggestions you can use to spread the word and put pressure on companies that have yet to beautify their products by making them non-toxic. And there’s also a link to the EWG’s cosmetic products ingredient database so you can find out what toxins are hiding in your own preferred products. We also think consumers should write to those companies whose products they use and ask whether or not they intend to make their U.S.-sold products compliant with European Union Cosmetics Directive 76/768/EEC. For a look at that directive and the amendments which ban a variety of chemicals visit http://pharmacos.eudra.org/F3/cosmetic/pdf/vol_1en.pdf and http://www.safecosmetics.org/docUploads/OJ%20implementation%20CMR%20ban%202004%5F93%20EN%2Epdf. Our source: Non-Toxic Times, April 2005 Seventh Generation www.seventhgeneration.com Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. 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