Phthalates Are Used in Personal Products
San Jose Mercury News, Julie Sevrens Lyons
Published May 17, 2005
They're in soap. And hair spray. Baby toys. Hand lotion. Deodorant. Vinyl upholstery. Nail polish. And perfume. Chemicals known as phthalate esters are so prevalent, in fact, that most personal hygiene products and soft PVC plastics contain some -- and most Americans have traces of the compounds circulating inside their bodies, according to government reports.
But can they hurt us?
European regulators believe so, and have banned some from children's toys and cosmetics, labeling them "toxic substances." California legislators are pushing for the removal of some phthalates and for better disclosure of product ingredients.
Yet federal officials and product manufacturers insist the risk to humans remains low. Toiletries and cosmetics have been used safely for decades, they say.
Who is right?
In a sense, both sides are, scientists say.
"There's not enough human data to say they are safe and don't cause health effects. But, on the other hand, there's not a lot of human data showing they do ," said Russ Hauser, a Harvard associate professor of occupational health, who is among the few researchers to have studied phthalates in humans. Hauser's team found that some phthalates may cause sperm abnormalities .
Phthalates -- which keep nail polish from chipping and perfumes from losing their scent -- are without a doubt ubiquitous in American society.
Research results
Research has consistently demonstrated that laboratory animals experience developmental and reproductive problems when exposed to high levels of some phthalates, levels that are usually 100 to 1,000 times greater than those people come into contact with.
"The question is, are the levels humans are exposed to potentially
hazardous?" Hauser said.
The answer remains elusive.
The concerns have fueled a flurry of legislation in California this year, with politicians weighing in on the pros and cons of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and dibutyl phthalate.
One bill, AB 319, would ban phthalates from children's toys and feeding
products. A second, SB 484, would require cosmetic manufacturers to report to the state Department of Health Services all ingredients that may cause cancer or harmful reproductive effects.
A third, AB 908, would have prohibited the use of two phthalates in products sold in this state, but it failed to garner enough votes before the Assembly health committee last month.
Even the staunchest of environmentalists are not suggesting a bar of soap or a bottle of nail polish can kill you.
"But I'm not just using one bottle over time,
said Jeanne Rizzo, executive director of the San Francisco-based Breast Cancer Fund, which is calling for the voluntary removal of some phthalates from products.
Indeed, the average American woman puts 12 beauty products on her skin each day, according to the Environmental Working Group, a Washington advocacy organization.
Not every soap, shampoo, sunscreen or skin lotion contains a phthalate. But about two-thirds of all personal hygiene products tested do, according to an analysis released by the Food and Drug Administration this month. Hair sprays, deodorants, nail products and hair mousse were consistently found to contain two or more.
And because manufacturers are not required to list on labels ingredients that give a product its fragrance -- a primary purpose of some phthalates -- many consumers will not even know their hand cream or deodorant contains them.
Widespread exposure
Scientists know that phthalates can enter the human body through our skin, nose or mouth. In fact, of nearly 2,500 people studied by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than three-fourths were found last year to have phthalates in their urine, "suggesting widespread exposure in the United States."
While the substances are thought to stay in our system for 12 hours or less, "if you use that product daily or twice daily," Hauser said, "you're going to be continuously exposed."
Women of childbearing age were found in one government study to have
elevated levels of phthalates, raising concerns that unborn babies --
considered especially vulnerable to toxins -- could be at risk for health defects. "In a perfect world, all those chemicals we're putting on our skin each day could be safe. But we don't know that to be true," said Lauren Sucher, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Working Group. The organization found that 89 percent of the thousands of ingredients used in personal care products have not been evaluated for safety.
Unlike drugs, personal care products are not subject to FDA approval, and the agency generally does not test them.
But manufacturers are responsible for substantiating the safety of their products, and industry-supported studies have deemed phthalates safe at current concentrations. Even in slightly higher amounts, the substances pose no risk to people, they claim.
Products defended
"Cosmetics are safe, have been safe, will be safe," said Gerald McEwen,
vice president of science for the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance
Association. "They have a long history of safe use." Lab rats are not
humans, and they don't respond to toxins in the same way that people do, McEwen said.
Research by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel -- a group supported by the cosmetics industry -- found that people detoxify phthalates more quickly than rats. And even the most appearance-obsessed Americans aren't exposed to the same levels of the substances as lab animals.
The government has made studying phthalates a top priority. But from the research it has carried out, "we don't have any compelling evidence that phthalates as used in cosmetics pose a safety risk," said an FDA
spokeswoman.
Since 1999, the European Union has prohibited the use of phthalates in
children's toys. Last year, a new ban went into place in European countries barring two phthalates from cosmetics, too.
A grass-roots movement is under way in the United States to encourage
cosmetic manufacturers to replace potentially hazardous ingredients with safer alternatives within the next three years. So far, more than 100
companies, including Revlon and Estee Lauder, have agreed to do so. Most are small makers of natural products.
"If companies can make personal care products without ingredients linked to cancer . . . or birth defects, shouldn't they? To me, that's just common sense," said Sucher of the Environmental Working Group.
"I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of the creaminess in my hand lotion," she said, "if it means it will be free of chemicals linked to serious health problems."
