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Phthalates:
Body Burden and Product Testing
BACKGROUND: CDC Data Points to Phthalates in Cosmetics as Serious Concern In September 2000, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported finding seven different phthalates in the bodies of 289 persons tested for these chemicals, and that every person tested had a particular phthalate called dibutyl phthalate, or DBP, in their body. The ubiquity of phthalates in the general population surprised the scientists: ?From a public health perspective, these data provide evidence that phthalate exposure is both higher and more common than previously suspected,? noted a CDC researcher involved in the study. But the biggest surprise came when the researchers broke the data down by age and gender for DBP. They discovered that women of childbearing age appear to receive the highest levels of exposures to this phthalate. CDC scientists reported that DBP exposures for more than two million women of child-bearing age may be up to 20 times higher than that of the average person. Even more significantly, the highest exposure estimates for women of childbearing age were above the federal safety standard. The levels of phthalate exposure in the general population are high enough to raise serious questions about their safe use in hundreds of consumer products to which we are regularly exposed. Because phthalates have been shown to cause developmental effects in animals exposed to sufficiently high concentrations, there is concern for the safety of women of childbearing age who are being exposed to these compounds. There is also concern for the children of these exposed women, should these exposure levels remain high during those months these women are pregnant. These phthalates can cross over the placental barrier to expose the developing child. Young, developing organisms are more vulnerable to exposure to phthalates than adults. In particular, the developing male?s reproductive tract appears to be the most sensitive endpoint, although effects on the liver, kidneys, lungs, and blood clotting are also of concern. When CDC scientists found high levels of DBP in women?s bodies, they speculated that cosmetics might be an important source. In a study published in November 2000, the Environmental Working Group identified popular nail care products that contain DBP, including polishes, top coats, and hardeners made by L?Oreal, Maybelline, Oil of Olay, and others. In personal care products, phthalates provide flexibility, impart an oily ?moisturizing? film, and help dissolve and fix other cosmetic ingredients. The film forming and flexibility properties imparted by phthalates are also useful in paints, inks, fillers, adhesives and caulks and insulating properties in electrical cabling and capacitors. Phthalates are also principal component of flexible PVC products, pesticides, building maintenance products, lubricants, and a variety of personal care goods that surround consumers at home, work, and in hospitals. PVC without additives is inherently a rigid and brittle material, requiring large amounts of plasticizers to make flexible products. Medical
products made from PVC contain between 20% and 80% phthalate
by weight. PVC products that release DEHP, a common phthalate
plasticizer, in the clinical setting include IV storage bags,
ventilator tubing, IV infusion sets, endotracheal tubes, IV
infusion catheters, nasogastric PVC-free and DEHP-free alternatives are available for almost every use of PVC in the health care setting, including medical devices, office supplies, building materials and furnishings. In addition to medial devices, PVC-free construction and furnishing products are widely available and are often cost-competitive. Just by using PVC-free alternatives in construction materials, furnishings, and furniture products would address roughly 75% of all PVC use. For more information and links on this topic, refer to: http://www.noharm.org/pvcDehp/pvcFree. THE PROJECT: Testing for Phthalates in Beauty Products In
May 2002 a coalition of environmental and public health organizations
contracted with a major national laboratory to test 72 name-brand,
off-the-shelf beauty products for the presence of phthalates.
The laboratory found phthalates in nearly three-quarters of
the products The network then expanded its campaign to include those chemicals that the European Union has prohibited from being used as ingredients in personal care products. These chemicals are prohibited if they are considered to be carcinogenic, mutagenic or known to cause reproductive harm. A website www.SafeCosmetics.org gives a list of safer personal care products and those that contain known toxicants. The campaign then asked a selection of the major cosmetic companies to reformulate their products and several have positively responded, including L?Oreal, Revlon, and Avalon. To obtain the most recent list of safer cosmetics and the companies that produce them, please consult the website. REFLECTIONS ON THE PROJECT This campaign is a good example of how a non-geographical community, linked together by shared concerns for future generations, can bring about a change in toxic chemical use by combining available chemical body burden data with product data generated through independent research. By identifying body burdens of potentially harmful chemicals from data generated by the Centers for Disease Control, by identifying the pathway of exposure through the independent testing of products for these chemicals, and then by making this information public, this network was able to persuade major personal care producers to change their formulation and to offer safer products to a public eager to buy them. This network was able to accomplish a change in chemical use practices that would have been very difficult if not impossible to bring about if the network had pursued federal legislative initiatives in the United States, given industry influence on the legislation process. Raising funds for product testing and having access to laboratories and scientists to analyze resulting data can be a problem for many communities, but as foundations increasingly understand the value of such campaigns, funds may become more available in the future. Contact information:
CDC website with test results: http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/phthalates/default.htm
Up-to-date
contact and resource information about phthalates
and other chemicals found in personal care products: http://www.nottoopretty.org/resources.htm
Health
Care Without Harm information on Phthalates in
medical devices: Table X Phthalates and their metabolites
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Coming Clean ? PO Box 8743 ? Missoula, MT 59807 ? info@come-clean.org |
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