Your medicine cabinet is one of the most dangerous areas of your house, and not for the reasons that you may think. Lurking just behind your bathroom mirror, where all of your favorite beauty products are housed, lays a virtual toxic nightmare. The growing list of synthetic ingredients manufacturers add to their products are turning the most innocent looking shampoos and moisturizers into cocktails of toxins that could cause cancer or reproductive damage over years of sustained use. Modern cosmetics contain a host of dangerous ingredients, which would be more at home in a test tube than in our bodies.

Like most people, you probably assume that the ingredients found in beauty products have been thoroughly tested for safety well before they ever land on your grocery store’s shelves. After all, the government has regulations in place for the water that we drink, the food that we eat and the air that we breathe. One would assume that the FDA would also be overseeing the cosmetic industry to ensure the health and safety of consumers. Unfortunately, the FDA has little power when it comes to regulating the ingredients found in your beauty products. In fact, the only people ensuring the safety of personal care products are the very people who govern the industry: The Cosmetic Trade Association (CTFA). Scientists paid by the CTFA make up the Cosmetic Ingredient Review panel (CIR) and are tasked with regulating the safety of its industry’s own products.

In 2004 the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released the findings of a study that they conducted into the safety of beauty care products. Comparing approximately 10,000 ingredients found in 7,500 different products against lists of known and suspected chemical health hazards, their research revealed that the CIR was falling tragically short in ensuring consumer safety.

Of the 7,500 products tested by the EWG, only a mere 28 had been evaluated for safety by the CIR. The EWG found that 1 in every 120 products analyzed contained ingredients certified by the government as known or probable carcinogens and that nearly 1/3 of all the products contained ingredients classified as possible carcinogens. Astoundingly, 54 products even violated recommendations for safe use that the CIR had set into place, yet these products are still available for sale today.

Of the products tested, the worst offenders were products containing the cancer causing ingredients coal tar, alpha hydroxy acids and beta hydroxy acids and those containing the hormone-disrupting ingredient, phthalate.

Coal Tar
71 hair dye products evaluated were found to contain ingredients derived from coal tar (listed as FD&C or D&C on ingredients labels). Several studies have linked long time hair dye use with bladder cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma.

A research study conducted in 2001 by the USC School of Medicine found that women using permanent hair dye at least once a month more than doubled their risk of bladder cancer. The study estimates that, “19% of bladder cancer in women in Los Angeles, California, may be attributed to permanent hair dye use.”

A link between hair dye and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was established in a 1992 study conducted by the National Cancer Institute, finding that 20% of all cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma may be linked to hair dye use.

While the FDA has not stepped in to prevent the use of coal tar in beauty products, they do advise consumers that reducing hair dye use will possibly “reduce the risk of cancer”.

Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHA) & Beta Hydroxy Acids (BHA)
AHA and BHA are commonly used in products advertised to remove wrinkles, blemishes, blotches and acne scars. With consumer complaints of burning, swelling and pain associated with AHA and BHA flooding into the FDA, they began conducting their own research about 15 years ago. Their findings linked the use of AHA and BHA with a doubling of UV-induced skin damage and a potential increased risk of skin cancer.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, skin cancer has reached “epidemic proportions”, with 1 million new cases occurring each year and 1 person dying every hour from the disease. They estimate that at the current rate, 1 in 5 people will develop skin cancer over their lifetime.

The FDA’s study findings were presented to the CIR, but the panel approved the continued use of AHA and BHA, “in spite of serious safety questions submitted by a consumer group and a major manufacturer,” according to an FDA spokesperson.

Even though 1 out of every 17 products analyzed by the EWG study had either AHA or BHA in their ingredients (with nearly 10% being moisturizers and 6% sunscreens), the most that the FDA could do was suggest that products containing the ingredients carry a warning to use sunscreen and to limit their sun exposure while using the product. A puzzling solution, since some of the products containing the dangerous ingredient are designed specifically for use in the sun.

Phthalates
Phthalates are industrial plasticizers widely used in personal care products to moisturize and soften skin, impart flexibility to nail polish after it dries and enhance the fragrances used in most products. Studies indicate that phthalates cause a wide range of birth defects and lifelong reproductive impairments, targeting every organ in the male reproductive system and causing problems ranging from low sperm count to serious genital deformities that can lead to an increased risk of cancer.

While the EWG only found 4 products with phthalate listed as an ingredient (all nail care products), there is no telling how many products actually contain it. The industry is not required to list the ingredients in their fragrances or “trade secret” ingredients on their products and phthalates often fall into one of those two categories.

In September of 2004, the European Union implemented a ban on all beauty products containing phthalates. California Assemblywoman, Judy Chu, has proposed a similar bill (AB 908) to be voted on later this year that would implement the same ban in the US. Opponents to the bill, mainly the CTFA, argue that changing their labeling process would present a huge economic burden and could infringe on trade secrets. A similar bill failed only last year.

4 Steps of Action!
1. Go to www.ewg.com and check out the health risk of your favorite products. EWG has compiled a guide of 7,500 beauty care products and has ranked them according to their ingredients’ potential to cause cancer, trigger allergic reactions, interfere with the endocrine (hormonal) system, impair reproduction or damage a developing fetus.

2. Visit the FDA’s website at www.fda.gov and familiarize yourself with the steps that you can take in order to file complaints or concerns about consumer products.

3. Visit www.safecosmetics.org to learn more about how you can become involved with bill AB 908 to ban phthalates in beauty products in the United States.

4. Check out my recommendations for all natural and safe products for both you and your family at www.scmedicalcenter.com. All products mentioned have been used safely and with wonderful results by my patients for years!

Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy recommends visiting www.perfectlyhealthy.net.

LEIGH ERIN CONNEALY, M.D. after college, matriculated to the University of Texas for a Masters in Public Health. Following this, she received her M.D. from the University of Chicago and did her postgraduate training in gynecology at Harbor (UCLA Medical Center) in Los Angeles, California.

Dr. Connealy has been the Medical Director of South Coast Medical Center for New Medicine since 1992. She began practicing medicine in 1986 and subsequently was exposed to some brilliant mentors who taught her other ways of treating medical problems other than what was traditionally taught. Many patients would ask her about alternative treatments and this prompted her to seek this knowledge. It is her belief that strictly treating medical problems with medications does not find the root cause of the illness and/or symptoms. Her goal is to empower and educate individuals and their families through her treatment plans, lectures, newsletters and articles.

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