DO YOU USE THESE PRODUCTS?
By David Steinman, Natural Health Magazine, September/October, 1997 pgs. 54 - 56

"If so, you may want to rethink how much you use them.  Studies point to their possible dangers."

 "Ron Owens' parents never imagined what would happen to their son after they sent him to summer camp in 1972.  Ron was like every other teenager at this mountain camp in California:  He swam, played sports, slept in a cabin with other campers.  Unlike the other boys, though, Ron slept a few feet from a no-pest strip.  Night after night, he was exposed to dichlorvos (DDVP), a toxic pesticide.  Not long after camp ended, the boy died of a fatal blood disease - aplastic anemia - that the family's attorneys argued was caused by the boy's exposure to chemicals in the no-pest strip.  (The manufacturer admitted no wrongdoing, but did give the Owens family a small settlement.)  Today, twenty five years after Ron's death, you can still buy no-pest strips containing the chemicals suspected of having caused the boy's death. 

As a consumer advocate who has investigated the safety of thousands of products over the past fifteen years, I've heard too many accounts of people, often children, felled by dangerous products.  Every day we use products that we think are safe - we assume the product has been tested and any dangerous ingredients labeled.  The truth is, products are not always safe and manufacturers don't have to tell us so.  (The warning statement on the no-pest strip makes no mention of these health risks:  bone marrow damage and aplastic anemia, as reported in 1980 in Clinical Research; immune system suppression, as determined by the World Health Organization in 1986; and cancer and birth defects, as reported by Shirley A. Briggs and the Rachel Carson Council in Basic Guide to Pesticides [Hemisphere, 1992].)

Cosmetic products are notorious.  Hair dyes with suspected cancer-causing ingredients are not required to carry warning labels.  Products often list fragrances, which can contain up to 600 different compounds, many carcinogenic or otherwise toxic, but the label only says they contain a "fragrance".  And while cosmetic makers are required to list ingredients, they are not required to conduct pre-market safety tests. 

"Even if the [Food and Drug Administration] suspects that serious adverse health effects are caused by a cosmetic product, they can't require the manufacturer to provide test data to prove the product safety", says Oregon Senator Ron Wyden. 

It should be said that products with even very toxic ingredients are not likely to kill you - or even cause illness - with one-time or short-term use.  But when so many different products on the market contain toxic ingredients, come claim that they may endanger the health of immunologically vulnerable people who use them regularly.  If you or your children frequently use such products, the risks climb.  Guarding yourself is simple:  the less you breathe, eat, or absorb a toxic chemical, the less chance there is that it can harm your health.  I recommend that people act on the side of safety and simply not use - or radically reduce their use of - products whose ingredients are proven to be dangerous, or even suspected of being dangerous based on the available research. 

In 1995, with the help of consumer advocate Ralph Nader and Samuel Epstein, M.D., the coauthor of my book The Safe Shopper's Bible (Macmillan, 1995), I compiled a list of those products that I personally choose to avoid or use sparingly.

 Personal Hygiene Products 

1.      CREST toothpaste lists saccharin and FD&C Blue No. 1 on its label.  A clear-cut bladder carcinogen in animal studies (with some evidence from human studies), saccharin has been rated carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) for a decade.  (Cancer warnings for saccharin are required on artificial sweeteners.)  Children and adults absorb the saccharin by swallowing or through the tissue in their mouths.  FD&C Blue No. 1 has also caused tumors in experimental animals.  Crest should not be singled out.  Many other brands, including Colgate, also contain these two toxic substances.

2.      The main ingredient in JOHNSON'S BABY POWDER is talc.  In 1982, Daniel Cramer, M.D., an obstetrician and gynecologist, found that women who used talc for feminine hygiene had a three-fold increase in their risk of ovarian cancer.  Additional reports in Lancet (1979), Cancer (1982), and Obstetrics & Gynecology (1992) confirm the risk associated with frequent and prolonged use of talcum powder in the genital area.  In 1994 the Cancer Prevention Coalition in Chicago petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require a label warning on this product.  The FDA has not acted on this matter. 

Household Products

3.      ORTHO WEED-B-GON LAWN WEED KILLER contains 2,4-D  Agricultural studies by National Cancer Institute (NCI) researchers strongly link exposure to this chemical with high cancer rates.  Another NCI study found that dogs whose owners use 2,4-D weed killers have higher rates of cancer.

4.      LYSOL DISINFECTANT SPRAY may contain ortho-phenylphenol.  This germ killer is carcinogenic, according to both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and IARC.  Lyson's manufacturer stopped using this ingredient in 1995, but I still see cans of Lysol containing ortho-phenylphenol on store shelves.  Be sure to read the label when buying this product.  The older formula of Lysol, which does contain this chemical, is particularly troubling because as a spray it can be inhaled deeply into the lungs. 

Cosmetics

5.      BONNE BELL GRAPE LIP SMACKER FLAVORED LIP GLOSS, which is marketed to teenagers, contains saccharin and FD&C Blue No. 1 (both of which are discussed on page 56).  Although this product is not directly ingested, these ingredients can be absorbed through the skin on the lips, or through the mucous membrane in the mouth.  This lip gloss also contains fragrances and propylene glycol, two of the leading causes of contact dermatitis, an allergic skin reaction.

6.      COVER GIRL REPLENISHING NATURAL FINISH MAKE-UP contains several potentially toxic ingredients, but no warnings.  The first is butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), which is carcinogenic, according to IARC.  The second, triethanolamine, which keeps the makeup moist, can combine with nitrite contaminants to form carcinogenic nitrosamines.  An FDA report done in 1988 found 30 percent of cosmetic products contained these carcinogens.  A third ingredient, lanolin, is perfectly safe by itself; however, it may be contaminated with pesticides.  According to a 1993 report from the National Research Council, some 16 pesticides were identified in lanolin; diazinon [sic], a neurotoxin, was found in 21 of 25 samples.

7.      CLAIROL NICE 'N EASY hair dye contains par-phenylenediamine, a dye that was recently shown to induce breast cancer in animals.  It also contains quaternium 15, a preservative that often causes allergic reactions.  One-fifth of cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among women are linked to hair-dye use.  Indeed, more than a dozen studies link hair dyes with cancer, yet the FDA requires no warning of this hazard on product labels.  Clairol is not the only hair dye to pose these risks.  Many other brands, including L'Oreal, and Revlon, contain similar chemicals.

8.      GRECIAN FORMULA for men contains lead acetate.  Lead damages the nervous, circulatory, and reproductive systems.  And this particular form of lead can penetrate skin.  Recently, researchers at Xavier University found that large amounts of lead are left on the fingers of adults and children who rub their hands through the hair of men using lead-based anti-gray products.  The FDA has suggested it will "study" the situation, according to a February 5, 1997 Associated Press report.  While they do that, Karen Filkins, M.D., director of reproductive genetics at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh, says, "Avoid products that could contain lead, especially if you are pregnant.  And prevent exposure to young children". 

Pet Products

9.      ZODIAC CAT & DOG FLEA COLLAR contains propoxur.  This chemical is a carcinogen, according to a 1989 report done by researchers at Cornell University, University of California, and Michigan and Oregon State Universities.  It may also cause learning disabilities, according to Basic Guide to Pesticides. 

David Steinman, a former representative of the public interest at the National Academy of Sciences, is co-author of the forthcoming Breast Cancer Prevention Program (Macmillan, 1997).  He is author of Diet for a Poisoned Planet (Ballantine, 1992), and co-author of The Safe Shopper's Bible (Macmillan, 1995) and Living Healthy in a Toxic World (Perigee, 1996)."