Cosmetics Contaminated With Asbestos in Korea

South Korea media have reported that the Korean Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) has withdrawn several cosmetics and baby powder from the market under alleged contamination with asbestos.

Among the banned items are a face powder, a shading compact in two shades, a make up base and a face colour. The source of contamination would be a talcum powder imported from China by several distributors. Over 300 cosmetics companies, drug manufacturers, and baby powder companies are suspected to have purchased the tainted talc.

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Common Fragrance Ingredient is a Potent Allergen

A thesis presented at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden suggests that linalool, a common fragrance ingredient in personal care products and household products, instigates allergic skin reactions in considerably more people than was previously thought to be the case.

Linalool is a colourless fragrant terpene found in various plants e.g. lavender, rosewood. It is also synthetically manufactured to cut costs and used in household and hygiene products as a fragrance chemical. The concentrations used in cosmetics are fairly low but in aromatherapy products, natural products and in homemade soaps and fragrances, higher Read more

EU Nanoparticle Legislation Should be Exported to US

“Small may well be beautiful but to protect public safety and prevent a consumer backlash the US should adopt European style rules on nanomaterials,” says Guy Montague-Jones of Cosmeticsdesign-europe.com.

In March the EU amended the Cosmetics Directive to implement stricter requirements for nanomaterials, including mandatory listing of nanomaterial ingredients used for certain purposes on cosmetic packaging and the requirement for manufacturers to inform the EU Commission six months prior to product launch if they intend on using nanomaterials in a formulation, Read more

Nanoparticles in Cosmetics May Harm Environment

Using aquatic microbes as their “canary-in-a-cage,” scientists from Ohio today reported that nanoparticles now being added to cosmetics, sunscreens, and hundreds of other personal care products may be harmful to the environment.

Their report was part of symposia that included almost two dozen papers at the 237th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society where scientists grappled to understand the environmental and human health effects of nanotechnology. Hundreds of products utilizing these microscopic particles — 1/5,000th the diameter of a human hair — already are on the Read more

Shampoo Boosts Drug-resistant Bacteria

Scientists at Birmingham and Warwick universities have warned that fabric softeners, disinfectants, shampoos and other household products are spreading drug-resistant bacteria around Britain. Once these products are released into sewers and rivers they instigate the proliferation of drug-resistant microbes, increasing the likelihood that certain medicines will not be able to combat dangerous diseases.

The research suggests that the problem of drug resistance is not simply due to antibiotics being over-prescribed or poor hygiene standards in hospitals, although the emergence of deadly superbugs such as MRSA are not linked to the use of disinfectants.
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EU Cosmetics Directive Strengthened

The EU Cosmetics Directive is being amended to implement stricter requirements for nanomaterials and CMRs (carcinogens, mutagens and reproductive toxicants). Environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth (FOE) have been calling for some time for nanomaterials to be listed on ingredients listings on packaging and this has finally become mandatory. A safety assessment procedure will also be established for all products containing nanomaterials. Manufacturers who add nanomaterials to cosmetic products must inform the EU Commission six months prior to launch and the Commission will then consult an expert committee. The EU Commission had previously contested that adequate legislation was in Read more

Cocktail of Cosmetic and Pharmaceutical Chemicals Pollute Oceans

Research conducted by Tobias Porsbring of the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, has demonstrated that chemicals assumed to be non-toxic in isolation can pose an environmental threat when in combination with other chemicals. When European and other authorities assess the environmental risks of chemicals they often look at them individually but they do not work alone in the environment. As it states on the University of Gothenburg website, “Chemicals, drugs and personal-care products that accompany wastewater often end up in the oceans, where they form a “cocktail” of chemicals. This “cocktail-effect” may be more harmful than the individual chemicals alone.”

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Personal Care Products and Human Medications in US Waterways

Researchers at Baylor University, working in conjunction with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, have detected residues of pharmaceutical drugs and personal care products in fish caught near wastewater treatment plants serving five major U.S. cities.

Findings from this nationwide study of human medicines in fish tissue, published in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, have prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to expand similar ongoing research to over 150 different locations.
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EU Ban on Testing Cosmetic Ingredients on Animals

The Seventh amendment to the EU Cosmetics Directive (legislation covering cosmetics) means that from March 11, 2009, it is illegal to test cosmetic ingredients on animals for skin irritancy, phototoxicity, corrosivity, percutaneous absorption, genotoxicity, ocular irritancy and acute toxicity. It is now illegal to test cosmetic ingredients on animals anywhere in the EU and to sell or import into the EU cosmetic ingredients or products that have been animal tested after March 11, 2009, with the exception of eight other tests which are still authorised until 2013.

In 2013 animal testing will also become illegal for carcinogenicity,
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Campaign for Safe Cosmetics: Carcinogens in Children’s Bath Products

A report called “No More Toxic Tub” released today by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has revealed that, far from being safe and gentle, dozens of best-selling children’s bath products are contaminated with the cancer-causing chemicals formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane. 

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics commissioned an independent laboratory to test 48 products for 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde. Findings included:
  
17 out of 28 (61 percent) products tested contained formaldehyde and 1,4- Read more

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