Green For Life

Not So Sexy: Hidden Chemicals in Perfume and Cologne

Makers of popular perfumes, colognes and body sprays market their scents with terms like “floral,” “exotic” or “musky,” but they don’t disclose that many scents are actually a complex cocktail of natural essences and synthetic chemicals – often petrochemicals. Laboratory tests commissioned by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and analyzed by Environmental Working Group revealed 38 secret chemicals in 17 name brand fragrance products, topped by American Eagle Seventy Seven with 24, Chanel Coco with 18, and Britney Spears Curious and Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gio with 17.

The average fragrance product tested contained 14 secret chemicals not listed on the label. Among them are chemicals associated with hormone disruption and allergic reactions, and many substances that have not been assessed for safety in personal care products.

IEHN — Overview

Toxic Hazards in the Marketplace

Widespread publicity around recalls of lead-painted toys, toxic chemical-contaminated toothpaste and pet food, and vinyl bibs and lunchboxes containing elevated levels of lead underscores the risk to both manufacturers and retailers of “toxic lockout” — having their products banned from the marketplace because of the toxic chemicals they contain. Such lockouts are frequently accompanied by reputational damage and litigation.

Toxic lockout can be the result of tightening government regulations and environmentally preferable purchasing programs established both by government and by the private sector. The European Union has been responsible for much of the tightened regulation of cosmetics, electronics and individual chemicals such as flame retardants containing bromine. In the absence of strong environmental and product safety regulation by the U.S. government, California and other states are increasingly following Europe’s lead, shutting their markets to targeted products and chemicals.

Proliferating private sector environmentally preferable purchasing programs are also shifting market places to safer products. For example, in the health care sector, Kaiser Permanente has awarded contracts to companies based on their ability to provide products like carpets, medical devices, and building materials free of certain chemicals. Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, is working on developing a toxics scorecard for its buyers and suppliers, to encourage substitution of safer chemicals in products.

Companies Must Adapt…or Pay the Price

It is incumbent upon companies to know the chemicals in their products, lest they be caught by surprise. Sony learned this the hard way in 2001, when cadmium found in connecting cables of PlayStations in the Netherlands led to their sale being banned during the year-end holiday shopping season. The cost to Sony of lost sales and establishing a chemicals policy to avoid a repeat has been estimated to be between $100 and $200 million. Following the recall of lead-contaminated toys including Thomas the Tank Engine, toy manufacture RC2 announced large quarterly losses, estimated recall costs of $13-14 million, and its stock dropped by about one-third. The stock of the Canadian owner of the pet food company responsible for marketing contaminated pet foods hit a record low after the company said it lost a “significant” customer.

To build public trust, reduce overhead costs, stay ahead of regulation, and for other solid business reasons, increasing numbers of companies are adopting safer chemicals policies. They are working to identify chemicals in their supply chains, establishing reduction and phaseout goals, and reporting results to the public. They are building their capacities to address these issues, developing policies and practices to encourage safer chemicals practices by their suppliers, and working collaboratively with both industry coalitions and nongovernmental organizations to collaboratively address chemical safety issues.

via IEHN — Overview: Toxic Hazards in the Marketplace.

The Environment Report

HOSPITALS GO FOR A GREENER CLEAN

Even in hospitals, the same clean can be achieved without the harsh and dangerous chemicals (Photo courtesy of the National Institutes of Health)

You might have noticed some new choices for environmentally-friendly cleaners on supermarket shelves. Most people pass them over. They worry natural cleaners won’t do the job as well as the regular stuff. But, the places that need to be the cleanest, the most sterilized, are finding that green cleaners are more effective. Julie Grant reports that hospitals have started replacing the old chemical cleaners with natural products.

Visit: The Environment Report: HOSPITALS GO FOR A GREENER CLEAN for audio clip by producer Julie Grant.

Chemicals women put on their bodies everyday

Revealed… the 515 chemicals women put on their bodies every day | Mail Online

By Maureen Rice

Women and beauty products – it’s a love affair that’s been going on for centuries. And no wonder. There’s nothing like a new lipstick or favourite perfume to make us look and feel good. Or so we thought…

In fact, according to a new report, most of our favourite cosmetics are cocktails of industrially produced and potentially dangerous chemicals that could damage our health and, in some cases, rather than delivering on their potent ‘anti-aging’ promise, are causing us to age faster.

Research by Bionsen, a natural deodorant company, found that the average woman’s daily grooming and make-up routine means she ‘hosts’ a staggering 515 different synthetic chemicals on her body every single day.

Many of those are also used in products such as household cleaners, and have been linked to a number of health problems from allergies and skin sensitivity to more serious hormonal disturbances, fertility problems and even cancer.

Parabens, for example, which are designed to preserve the shelf-life of your cosmetics, are one of the most widely used preservatives in the world, and are found in shampoos, hair gels, shaving gels and body lotions. But their use is becoming increasingly controversial – a range of different studies has linked them to serious health problems including breast cancer, as well as fertility issues in men.

Research from the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine suggests that some parabens we had previously presumed to be safe, such as Methylparaben, may mutate and become toxic when exposed to sunlight, causing premature skin aging and an increased risk of skin cancer.

Methylparabens are found in more than 16,000 products, including moisturisers and toothpastes. Cosmetic producers have always defended their use of parabens on the grounds that they can’t be absorbed into the body.

But many leading researchers disagree, including Dr Barbara Olioso, an independent professional chemist, who says: ‘Research shows that between 20 and 60 per cent of parabens may be absorbed into the body.’
There are a number of laws designed to protect us from dangerous chemicals in cosmetics, but researchers worry that they don’t go far enough. For example, cosmetic manufacturers are required to list their ingredients, but they don’t have to tell us about any impurities found in the raw materials or used in the manufacturing process, so long as they don’t end up in the finished product.

The industry insists that our cosmetics are safe. The Cosmetic Toiletries and Perfumery Association said last night: ‘Stringent laws require all cosmetics to be safe, and each product undergoes a rigorous safety assessment. The number of ingredients in a product, or whether it is natural or man-made, has no bearing on how safe it is.’

They also say that any chemicals are present in safe doses that can’t harm us. While that may be true, there is some disagreement over what constitutes a ‘safe’ level – for young people and children, or sensitive adults, these levels may not be so safe at all.

And even if the relatively small amounts in individual products don’t hurt us, there is growing concern over the number of products women use daily, and the cumulative effect of so many chemicals being used all over our bodies every day, for many years.

As Charlotte Smith, spokesperson for Bionsen, says: ‘Women have never been more image-conscious and their beauty regimes have changed over the years, from a simple “wash & go” attitude, to daily fake-tan applications, regular manicures, false lashes and hair extensions.

‘Lots of the high-tech, new generation cosmetics and beauty “wonder” treatments naturally contain more chemicals to achieve even better results, which, of course, means women apply more chemicals than ever before.’

If you want to protect yourself from chemical overload, reduce your overall cosmetics usage; switch to natural or organic products, and read the labels on your beauty and grooming products with care.

• The Women’s Environmental network has more detailed information and advice about ingredients contained in beauty products: www.wen.org. uk; The Cosmetics Database, a website which gives a ‘hazard rating’ for products: cosmeticsdatabase.com. Or read Skin Deep: The Essential Guide To What’s In The Toiletries And Cosmetics You Use (Rodale), by Pat Thomas.