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- Fails
to Warn of Cosmetic Hazards
- Federal legislation on labeling
of cosmetic risks requested
Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) has criticized the U. S.
Food and Drug Administration during hearings on the 1997
FDA cosmetics
reform
bill: “Our
message is that cosmetics can be dangerous to your health. The
American people have a right to full and fair information about the actual
and potential dangers of the products they use every day."
The U. S. Food and Drug Administration
continues denying consumers their right-to-know by refusing to
require
label warnings on
the risks of cosmetic ingredients. This failure violates
the 1938 Federal
Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act which mandates that "each ingredient
used in a cosmetic product--shall be adequately substantiated for
safety prior to marketing," and which authorizes
FDA to recall and seize unsafe products. Nevertheless,
the Agency merely requires
a listing of the complex chemical names or their
abbreviations of the 10 to 20 ingredients on product
labels. However, this information
is incomprehensible to consumers, let alone their
physicians.
- A November 1994 citizen petition to
the FDA requested
the agency to require that cosmetic talc products
be labeled with a warning
that frequent application to the genital area significantly
increases risks of ovarian cancer. FDA declined
to act on this petition
on grounds of the "limited availability of resources and other
agency priorities."
- An October 1996 citizen petition to
the FDA requested the agency to require that cosmetics containing
the common detergent diethanolamine
(DEA) be labeled with a cancer warning, as DEA
reacts with nitrites present in many products
to
form a
potent (nitrosamine)
carcinogen.
DEA itself was also subsequently shown to be
carcinogenic when applied to mouse skin. FDA similarly declined
to act on this
petition.
- More seriously, FDA has declined to
request Congressional authority to require label warnings
on black and
dark brown coal tar hair
dyes, which are technically exempt from the
1938 Cosmetic Act. This reflects
disregard of a series of studies over the last
three decades incriminating prolonged use of
these dyes
with breast and
bladder cancers, and
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
FDA policies and those of the Cosmetic,
Toiletry and Fragrance Association (CTFA), the U.S.
trade association,
which represents
the multi-billion
dollar cosmetic industry, are mutually supportive.
The major priority of the CTFA is to prevent "new and unnecessary" label
warnings.
Label warnings are even more critical
in view of the escalating incidence of cancer, now
striking nearly one
in two men
and more than one in
three women in their lifetimes. Still sharper
increases
are anticipated in coming decades.
Informed by user-friendly labels, consumers
could reduce their avoidable risks of cancer
and other
disease by
shunning unsafe
products and
shopping for safer alternatives. While
currently limited, their availability will rapidly
increase with increasing
demand; this
is well exemplified
by the organic food industry which has
escalated to its current $8 billion market share over
the last decade.
Legislative action
by
Senator Kennedy would not only protect
consumers, but also stimulate overdue recognition by
the $20 billion
mainstream
petrochemical
cosmetic industry that safety sells.
In striking contrast to FDA policies,
the Scientific Committee on Cosmetic Products
of the European
Union recently called
for a blanket
ban on all carcinogenic, gene-damaging
and reproductive toxic ingredients in cosmetics.
Finally, FDA's failure to require the
cosmetic industry to disclose information on risks
of their products
to U.S. consumers is at
least as critical as SEC's failure to
require disclosure of information on corporate
accountability to public
investors. Clearly, the
FDA
is a lap dog, rather than watchdog, of
the cosmetic industry.
CONTACTS:
-- Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Professor
emeritus, Environmental and Occupational
Medicine,
Univeristy of Illinois
Chicago, School of Public Health,
Chairman, the Cancer Prevention Coalition, epstein@uic.edu,
phone 312-996-2297
-- Mark Helm, Director, Media Relations,
Friends of the Earth, Washington,
D.C., mwhelm@foe.org, 202-783-7400
x102
-- Bryony Schwan, National Campaigns
Director, Women's Voices for the
Earth, swan@wildrockies.org,
phone 406-543-3747
ENDORSERS:
-- Larry Bohlen, Friends of the Earth,
lbohlen@foe.org, 202-783-7400 x251
-- Alise Cappel, Center for Environmental
Health, acappel@cehca.org, phone
510-594-9864
-- Gary Cohen, Environmental Health
Fund, gcohen@igc.org, phone 617-524-6018
-- Mary Lamielle, National Center for Environmental
Health Strategies, Inc., marylamielle@ncehs.org,
phone 856-429-5358
-- David Monk, Oregon Toxics Alliance, dmonk@oregontoxics.org,
phone 541-465-8860
-- Barbara Wilkie, Environmental Health Network,
wilworks@lmi.net, phone 510-527-3567
-- Janet Zeller, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense
League, BREDL@skybest.com, phone 336-982-2691
FOR DETAILS ON PHTHALATES in cosmetics and their
dangers, visit:
www.NotTooPretty.org
Excerpted from Cancer
Prevention Coalition Press Release August 16, 2002
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