Buyer Beware or Just Another Scare?

You step out of the shower, dry off and apply satiny-smooth lotion all over your body. Are you hydrating your skin or damaging your fertility? And what about that French manicure you have scheduled for Saturday? Will it make your hands look gorgeous at Saturday night's affair or render your husband infertile? Also, your eau de toilette, will it make you smell like Spring all day long or merely increase your unborn child's risk of birth defects?

Clearly these questions do not occur to the average consumer, as we stroll down the personal care aisle in our local drug store or go about our grooming rituals, but there is a growing group of advocates who say that these are the very questions we should be asking ourselves.

However, other groups urge caution stating that we should not throw the baby out with the bath or toilette water as the case may be.

Certain "controversial" chemicals known as "phthalates" (pronounced THAL-aytes) are used in hair products, deodorants, body lotions, fragrances and nail polishes. Small amounts of a phthalates known as di-butyl phthalate (DBP) make nail polish chip resistant and when perfumes are dissolved in di-ethyl phthalate (DEP) or di-methyl phthalate (DMP), their scent lingers longer. In hair sprays, phthalates avoid stiffness by allowing the spray to form a flexible film on the hair.

Some health advocates argue that use of these chemicals among women of child-bearing age is leading to birth defects and declining sperm counts across the globe, while others argue that phthalates have been used for years and there is no evidence that they cause any harm in humans. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.

Phthalates in Cosmetics 101

Phthalates are a group of chemicals used in hundreds of products. Some examples include toys, vinyl flooring and wall covering, detergents, lubricating oils, food packaging, pharmaceuticals, blood bags and tubing and personal care products such as perfume, nail polish, hair sprays, body lotions, soaps and shampoos.

A recent review by the independent Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) Panel found no evidence that the use of phthalates in cosmetics pose any health risk to users. The decision incensed certain healthcare advocate groups who say phthalates should be banned from use in women's cosmetics. The Environmental Working Group of Washington, DC recently called on women of reproductive age to shun cosmetics containing dibutyl phthalates (DBP) at a press conference.

According to Not Too Pretty, an advertising campaign sponsored by Coming Clean, the Environmental Working Group and Health Care Without Harm, cosmetic and personal care companies say that the level of phthalates in their products is "safe," and this might be true if people were exposed to only one phthalate from one source at a time.

However, they state, exposures add up and since many phthalates have similar effects, we may be affected by the total exposure to this group of chemicals. In other words, what appears to be a "tolerable" level of exposure to a single phthalate could contribute to an unsafe overall exposure.

There's activity across the globe when it comes to phthalates and cosmetics. Earlier this year, the European Parliament prohibited the use of the phthalates DEHP and DBP in cosmetics. A European study found that four out of five products tested in Britain and Sweden contained at least one phthalate and more than half contained multiple phthalates.

The proof is in the perfume?

At the center of the US maelstrom are results from a study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Researchers tested 289 adults aged 20 to 60 for seven metabolites associated with exposure to various phthalates and found it was present in all of those tested, with women of childbearing age having the highest levels. What's more, blood levels of two of the seven phthalates that they tested for -- diethyl phthalate (DEP) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) -- were higher than levels of other phthalates that are produced in greater quantity.

Still, most industry insiders are standing behind the CIR report. Dr. Gerald McEwen, Vice President - Science, the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association (CTFA) in Washington, DC. said that the highest dose rodents can tolerate without getting sick is more than a thousand times higher than the phthalate kick that could be expected by a heavy user of cosmetics.

Cosmetic makers, he said, calculate a risky dose to humans at more than 36,000 times higher than the expected phthalate dose from cosmetics.

"Consumers can be absolutely secure in use of cosmetic products that have phthalates," states Dr. McEwen.

Gil Ross, MD, medical director of the American Council on Science and Health in New York City, agrees stating that "Phthalates, in general, have a variety of very important uses in medicine having to do with flexible plastics including intravenous lines, bags and surgical devices."

When it comes to using phthalates in medicine, there is no safe substitute that has been studied as extensively, he adds.

"There has never been any valid data to link phthalate exposure to adverse health effects in human beings from environmental exposures including cosmetics. And, they have been used for decades," Dr. Ross states. "I feel very strongly that no harm would come to any human from exposure to phthalates in cosmetics."

Tip sheet

The one thing both sides would probably agree on is the importance of an educated consumer. Knowing what are in the products you trust most will enable all consumers to make wise choices

"If a product uses phthalates, it will be listed on ingredient list," Dr. McEwen says. "The only time where there would not be a phthalate identified would be when it was a part of the fragrance and in that case 'fragrance' would be on the label and any consumer that wanted to know could and should contact the company.

The following are just a sampling of products free of phthalates:

Hand and body lotions: Priori Advanced AHA Hand & Body Revitalizing Lotion, TheraSeal Hand Protection, Vanicream Moisturizing Skin Cream, 4 oz.

Hair Care: Free & Clear, Tricomin, Nizoral A-D Shampoo, DHS Tar Shampoo and California North Watermint Conditioner.

Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter. I hope you have found it informative.

Denise Mann
DERMAdoctor Staff Writer

(Any topic discussed in this article is not intended as medical advice. If you have a medical concern, please check with your doctor.)

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