Chemicals In Cosmetics Prompt Women To Embrace Natural Alternatives
Time Union, Stephanie Earls
Published January 22, 2008
Like their counterparts in elementary and middle schools everywhere (and Egyptians 5,000 years ago), sisters Kylie and Katherine Small loved their lip products. Especially lip gloss -- the flavored kind that tastes like dessert.
Put it on, lick it off. Repeat. Yum.
One day about a year ago, though, Katherine checked out the ingredients
listed on the packaging. Chemicals, preservatives, numbered dyes and things she couldn't even begin to pronounce. It scared her.
"I thought, I can't believe I put this stuff into my body," said the
12-year-old Alplaus resident, now a seventh-grader at Brown School in
Schenectady.
On any given day, the average woman uses as many as 25 products, containing hundreds of chemical compounds.
Historically, though, makeup -- and its ingredients -- has experienced highs and lows. The ancient Egyptians lived (and died) by their makeup, which historians say likely contained lead as well as mercury. The Puritans condemned it. Queen Victoria officially denounced it as impolite. The lead in the white makeup used by early geisha damaged skin and could fatally poison wearers.
After World War II, cosmetics had become more or less a fashion-must for women around the world. Powerhouse cosmetic companies, including Max Factor and Elizabeth Arden, were founded.
The post-war boom in synthetics production (fueled by the pinup and
Hollywood culture) made self-care products, from makeup to perfumes and
lotions, ubiquitous, said Bonnie Spanier, an associate professor in women's studies at the University at Albany. Spanier has a doctorate in microbiology and molecular genetics and speaks about research that ties the chemicals in cosmetics to a range of cancers.
"After World War II, production shifted from plant-based to synthetic
materials," said Spanier, co-president of the Capital Region Action Against Breast Cancer. And while the Food and Drug Administration was charged with cracking down on companies that sell poisonous, unsafe or dangerous products, or those falsely marketed, the federal agency does not routinely test or approve makeup before it hits the market.
A fact, say chemical-free cosmetic advocates, that opens wide the door for industries to use the newest chemicals, preservatives and colors. Spanier points to research that shows some of the popular chemical ingredients in personal care products -- including phthalates, which make plastics flexible, toluene, a solvent used in nail polish, and paraben, a preservative -- have been shown to cause birth defects and affect hormones, whose abnormal growth can increase the risk for certain cancers.
Hysteria-du-jour?
Not so, according to the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association, which (according to its Web site) considers makeup fears the hysteria-du-jour. It contends that its products are among the nation's safest available to consumers, and dismisses any arguments to the contrary -- namely the ones coming from the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit public health and environmental consumer group, online at
http://www.ewg.org, which is the cardinal site for many on the organics-only track.
The industry is self-regulated by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review,
established by the CTFA and funded by cosmetic research companies.
The industry group contends that "no credible research has ever shown that any cosmetic or personal care products cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. We don't use ingredients that would be harmful for use in cosmetics or personal care products. Ingredients and products must be substantiated for safety before they are marketed."
Organic advocates, however, say cosmetic companies are baby feeding
carcinogens to the general public mostly unchecked, a tiny poison at a time.
Spanier counters: "Technically, what they're saying may be valid, but not because there's no evidence pointing to the toxicity of thousands of these chemicals. The claim may be valid, but it's misleading."
Spanier points to popular chemicals that work as endocrine-disruptors," which are structurally similar to the body's natural hormones. The body can mistake these imitation hormones for the real thing, which can lead to a range of abnormal hormonal responses, including cancer.
"People have been using cosmetics for thousands of years, don't you think we know by now what's good for us and what's not?" said Spanier, who -- along with others in the grass-roots organics movement -- are pushing for governments to adopt a "precautionary principle" when it comes to chemicals.
"The idea is that if there's something suspicious in terms of the evidence that something might be toxic, we say we don't want to allow it in our personal products until it has been proved to be safe."
Checking amounts
The health hazards may come with dosing -- or overdosing -- as the case may be.
While the amounts of chemicals in each individual product "may be low, the average woman uses so many products a day," said Julie Ann Price, founder of Beauty With A Cause. The company, which opened in 2007 and relies mainly on Web sales, is based out of Price's home/office/workshop in Glenville. "Over a lifetime, that's not an insignificant amount."
Like the Smith sisters, Price -- a 36-year-old mother of two -- was spurred by a traditional makeup epiphany. Expanding on her 2007 New Year's resolution to be more environmentally conscious, Price -- then a part-time nail technician -- decided to take a closer look at what she was putting on her face. She turned to the Web site
http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com, which provides a "hazard score" for thousands of makeups on the market. Price was appalled with what she found.
The next day, she went to put on her makeup and couldn't do it -- knowing what was in there, Price said. "It really scared me. A lot of those chemicals are suspected cancer-causing ingredients."
Turned off by the over-the-top prices of true organic products, she was
determined to find and offer an alternative for people like herself: Those who want healthy, affordable products, and one-stop shopping. Price (who no longer works as a nail tech) makes some of her own products, which range from hair and body care to makeup; others she buys and resells from companies she's researched and verified. Her product prices range from $4 to $20 and are available at
http://www.beautywithacause.com.
Making their own
For Kylie and Katherine Small, after discovering the ingredients in their lip gloss, the siblings went in search of all-natural alternatives. They found them, but they were expensive. They also learned that some of the glosses marketed as organic didn't actually meet the guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which requires a product to be at least 95 percent all natural.
The girls began experimenting in the kitchen, using organic bases, some they bought locally, some they purchased online: canola oil, organic soy wax, fractionated coconut oil. By the fall of 2007, they'd perfected, bottled and packaged (in easily recyclable containers) their own organic creations. With some help from mom Sharon, they'd also started their own company, Aphrodite's Elements, and set up a Web site at
http://www.organic-girls.com.
Two days after the girls began offering the $4 glosses to friends and
classmates, they'd sold 80 tubes.
Kylie: "With the whole global warming and endangered species and
everything..."
Katherine: "...and now the whole lead in lipstick thing ... "
Kylie: "...it was a little frightening. And at our age, there's very little we can do. We can do this."
Stephanie Earls can be reached at 454-5761 or by e-mail at
searls@timesunion.com.
... And what the industry says
Check out both sides: Here are some cosmetic information Web sites run by consumer groups, and the chemical and makeup industry:
http://www.safecosmetics.org
http://www.bcaction.org
http://www.ewg.org
http://www.organicconsumers.org
http://www.breastcancer.org
http://www.cir-safety.org
http://www.personalcarecouncil.org
http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org
What's in there
A 2005 article from the Fremont (Calif.) Argus offers this list from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment of chemical ingredients found in personal care products that are linked to cancer or cause reproductive harm, including birth defects:
Coal tar, a carcinogen, can be found in shampoos and hair dyes, and contains toxic substances such as napthalene and benzopyrene.
Formaldehyde, a carcinogen, is a disinfectant used in nail polish,
deodorant, soaps, shampoo and shaving cream.
Phthalates (Di-exyl-hexyl phthalate), a carcinogen, has been linked to birth defects in the male reproductive system. It can be found in nail polish, deodorant, fragrance, hairspray and lotions.
Propylene glycol mono-t-butyl, a carcinogen, is found in nail polish and other products.
Toluene causes birth defects or other reproductive harm, and is found mainly in nail polish and hair dye.
