So you think the big makeup companies care about you more than their pocket book? Think again! Some makeup companies are now scrambling to get Parabens out of thier products when they have know about this the whole time. Why now? Why should you now trust them?

Laboratory tests reveal adolescent girls across America are contaminated with chemicals commonly used in cosmetics and body care products. Environmental Working Group (EWG) detected 16 chemicals from 4 chemical families - phthalates, triclosan, parabens, and musks - in blood and urine samples from 20 teen girls aged 14-19. Studies link these chemicals to potential health effects including cancer and hormone disruption. These tests feature first-ever exposure data for parabens in teens, and indicate that young women are widely exposed to this common class of cosmetic preservatives, with 2 parabens, methylparaben and propylparaben, detected in every single girl tested.

In Alex (Washington DC): 12 hormone-altering cosmetics chemicals. "It's frightening to learn about the many different kinds of toxic chemicals that can be found in my body. At the same time I would much rather be knowledgeable about my body's chemical makeup than uninformed; in this case, ignorance is NOT bliss."

This work represents the first focused look at teen exposures to chemicals of concern in cosmetics, exposures that occur during a period of accelerated development. Adolescence encompasses maturation of the reproductive, immune, blood, and adrenal hormone systems, rapid bone growth associated with the adolescent "growth spurt," shifts in metabolism, and key changes to brain structure and function. Alterations in an array of sex hormones, present in the body at levels as low as one part per billion (ppb), or even one part per trillion (ppt), guide this transformation to adulthood. Emerging research suggests that teens may be particularly sensitive to exposures to trace levels of hormone-disrupting chemicals like the ones targeted in this study, given the cascade of closely interrelated hormonal signals orchestrating the transformation from childhood to adulthood.

During this window of vulnerability to toxic assault, adolescent girls typically experiment with an increasing number and variety of body care products. Teen study participants used an average of nearly 17 personal care products each day, while the average adult woman uses just 12 products daily. Thus, teens may unknowingly expose themselves to higher levels of cosmetic ingredients linked to potential health effects at a time when their bodies are more susceptible to chemical damage.

Cosmetics and other personal care products are an alarming example of government and industry failures to protect public health. Federal health statutes do not require companies to test products or ingredients for safety before they are sold. As a result, nearly all personal care products contain ingredients that have not been assessed for safety by any accountable agency, and that are not required to meet standards of safety. To protect the health of teens and all Americans, we recommend action:

• The federal government must set comprehensive safety standards for cosmetics and other personal care products.
• Teens should make healthy choices for themselves by reducing the number of products they use, and by using our Shopper’s Guide to Safe Cosmetics to select safer products.
• Companies must reformulate products to protect consumers from exposure to potentially toxic chemicals, untested ingredients, and noxious impurities.

  In fact, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has no authority to require testing of personal care product ingredients for safety before they are sold. Instead, FDA states that the manufacturers of these products, with few exceptions, "may use essentially any raw material as a cosmetic ingredient and market the product without an approval from FDA" (FDA 1995). While the required ingredient list on body care products provides consumers, including teens, with some information, this list does not document the presence of impurities – contaminants formed when a raw material is manufactured, or when it breaks down within a product – many of which are commonly found in cosmetics. Worse, FDA does not have the power to require the recall of a harmful product – recalls are voluntary company actions, and the mere act of FDA suggesting a recall requires that the Agency have firm evidence of potential human harm.

  
  In Natalie (San Francisco, CA): 15 hormone-altering cosmetics chemicals. "I think the fact that this issue even exists is ridiculous. Although the results are frightening, I am honored to be a participant in this study as it is a problem that truly affects everyone."

  In place of government authority to ensure safety, the personal care products industry polices itself through an industry panel called the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR). This industry-funded panel of scientists has reviewed just 11% of all ingredients in cosmetics, including many no longer in regular use. An EWG investigation found that the panel chooses criteria regarding sensitivity and irritation for 80% of its safety recommendations, ignoring more serious health concerns such as cancer, birth defects, and hormone disruption, and as a result finds more than 99% of ingredients reviewed safe as used. What's more, companies are not bound by the panel's restrictions or recommendations – compliance is entirely voluntary.

  As it stands, it's up to individual cosmetic companies to make decisions about safety – for adults and teens alike. Some companies make body care products safe enough to eat; others make products using ingredients with documented links to birth defects in humans, or ingredients laced with cancer-causing impurities.

  Companies are also free to represent their products in any way they choose - marketing claims for body care products are entirely unregulated. FDA tried establishing official definitions for terms like "natural" and "hypoallergenic," but these protections were overturned in court. As a result, manufacturers can use marketing claims "to mean anything or nothing at all" (FDA 2000). According to FDA, "Image is what the cosmetics industry sells through its products, and it's up to the consumer to believe the claims or not" (FDA 2000). While FDA has taken pains to research and account for the still-maturing decision-making abilities of teens using over-the-counter medications (FDA 2007b), they have made no attempt to protect teens from the deceptive marketing practices used in the cosmetics industry.

  
  In Donalin (Boston area): 13 hormone-altering cosmetics chemicals

  Body care products provide an appalling example of the inadequacy of current chemical regulations in the U.S. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the law governing cosmetics safety, does not require companies to test products for safety before they are sold. The Toxic Substances Control Act, the law that regulates all industrial chemicals in the United States, was created over 3 decades ago, and assumes chemicals in everyday products are innocent until proven guilty. The products we and our children use each day can contain thousands of ingredients that have never been tested for safety.

  We cannot continue to allow a self-regulating industry to make decisions about the health of young women and men throughout America. Health protective reform of chemical standards must include:

  • Premarket testing of products and their ingredients for safety.
  • Protective purity standards for ingredients.
  • Attention to the effects of mixtures of chemicals on human health.
  • Safety standards that acknowledge critical developmental “windows of vulnerability” to chemical exposures, including the period of adolescence.