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HICAGO, Illinois, March 3, 2005 (ENS)
From shortly after birth, mothers tenderly wash and
pamper their infants with a wide range of baby products. These include
soaps, shampoos, lotions, and dusting powders, some of which are used
several times daily.
However, how would mothers react if they discovered that
these baby products contain a witch's brew of dangerous ingredients?
Hopping mad could be a reasonable understatement.
Most disturbing are three groups of widely used
ingredients known as "hidden carcinogens" - ingredients which are
contaminated by carcinogens, or which break down to release carcinogens,
or which are precursors of carcinogens - to which infants are about 100
times more sensitive than adults.
At the most vulnerable time in their lives
babies are exposed to commercial products that may be carcinogenic. (Photo
courtesy U.S. Army)
The largest group of hidden carcinogens includes dozens
of wetting agents or detergents, particularly polyethylene glycols,
laureths, and ceteareths, all of which are contaminated with the potent
and volatile carcinogens ethylene oxide and dioxane. These carcinogens
could readily be stripped off during ingredient manufacture, if the
industry just made the effort to do so.
Another hidden carcinogenic ingredient is lanolin,
derived from sheep's wool, most samples of which are contaminated with
DDT-like pesticides.
The second group includes another detergent,
triethanolamine which, following interaction with nitrite, is a precursor
of a highly potent nitrosamine carcinogen.
The third group includes quaterniums and diazolidinyl.
urea preservatives which break down in the product or skin to release the
carcinogenic formaldehyde.
Of additional concern is another group of common
preservatives, known as parabens. Numerous studies over the last decade
have shown that these are weakly estrogenic. They produce abnormal
hormonal effects following application to the skin of infant rodents,
particularly male, resulting in decreased testosterone levels, and
urogenital abnormalities. Parabens have also been found to accumulate in
the breasts of women with breast cancer.
Babies have skin that is more permeable
than that of adults. (Photo courtesy Tennessee Health Department)
The common use of talc dusting powder can result in its
inhalation, resulting in acute or chronic lung irritation and disease,
known as talcosis, and even death. Additionally, talc is a suspect cause
of lung cancer, based on rodent tests.
Fragrances, containing numerous ingredients, are commonly
used in baby products for the mother's benefit. However, more than 25 of
these ingredients are known to cause allergic dermatitis.
A final ingredient of particular concern is the harshly
irritant sodium lauryl sulfate. A single application to adult human skin
has been shown to damage its microscopic structure, increasing the
penetration of carcinogenic and other toxic ingredients.
Most disturbing is the ready availability of safe
alternatives for all these dangerous ingredients. Longstanding information
on these alternatives is detailed on the
Cancer Prevention
Coalition website.
So, why is it that the multibillion dollar cosmetic
and toiletry industry has not acted on this information?
The answer is that the major priority of the industry's
trade association is "to protect the freedom of the industry to compete in
a fair marketplace."
At the same time, the association pursues a highly
aggressive agenda against what it claims are "unreasonable or unnecessary
labeling or warning requirements."
As Senator Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat,
stated at 1997 Hearings on the FDA Reform bill, "The cosmetics industry
has borrowed a page from the playbook of the tobacco industry by putting
profits ahead of public health."
Astoundingly, the interests of industry remain reinforced
by the regulatory abdication of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in
spite of its authority under the 1938 Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics
Act. Clearly, the FDA is the lapdog, rather than the watchdog, of the
industry.
Of even greater concern is the reckless failure of the
federal National Cancer Institute and the "non-profit" American Cancer
Society to inform the public of the avoidable risks of cancer from the use
of baby products, especially in view of the escalating incidence of
childhood cancers over recent decades. However, the silence of the
American Cancer Society is consistent with its over $100,000 annual
funding from about a dozen major cosmetic and toiletry industries.
With the best intentions, caregivers may be exposing
babies to carcinogens. (Photo courtesy Kansas Coordinating Council on
Early Childhood Developmental Services)
The protracted failure of Congress to enforce the FDA's
compliance with the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act has evoked the growing
concern of state legislatures.
California Assemblywoman Judy Chu, a Monterey Park
Democrat, who serves on the California Senate Health Committee, recently
introduced landmark legislation that requires disclosure of all
carcinogenic, hormonal, and otherwise toxic ingredients in cosmetics. The
bill was strongly backed by a coalition of consumer, womens',
occupational, and church groups, but, opposed by powerful mainstream
industry interests, the measure failed to pass.
However, this shot over the bows of the reckless
mainstream industry marks the beginning of state initiatives across the
country to protect consumers and their babies from undisclosed dangerous
products and ingredients.
Safe alternative products and ingredients, including organic, are becoming
increasingly available from non-mainstream companies.
{Samuel S. Epstein, MD is Professor Emeritus
Environmental & Occupational Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago
School of Public Health, Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition, and
Recipient of the 2005 Albert Schweitzer Golden Grand Medal for
Humanitarianism. Email: epstein@uic.edu
Ronnie Cummins is National Director of the Organic Consumers
Association based in Little Marais, Minnesota. Email:
ronnie@organicconsumers.org}
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