ABOUT
Smart discussion of the latest science and news on toxins in your food, water, and air, and what government agencies should be doing to protect public health. Enviroblog is a project of EWG Action Fund.
GET EWG'S TIPS & ACTION ALERTS
Sign up here to stay informed.
FEED
An EWG podcast for environmental health news on the go.
Let's talk some serious shop about TSCA reform
Dear CEO: It's time to reduce children's exposure to BPA
9 safer shopping tips from the pros @ Skin Deep
FEATURED
Dear CEO: It's time to reduce children's exposure to BPA
Infant formula: How to choose it & use it
EWG's Tips for Parents: The Series
It's practically summer: Quick, Grab the (safe) sunscreen
EWG's Tips to avoid BPA exposure
Let's talk some serious shop about TSCA reform
EWG on TV
Cutting the Pork from U.S. Farm Bill
Sunscreen safety & DC drinking water
Perchlorate in people, kids' personal care products & plastics, and sunscreen
BPA in baby formula & safe cosmetics
What can I do about fluoride in my water?
What is new carpet treated with? What can I do?
Are stainless steel water bottles safe?
Is mineral-based makeup safer?
SEARCH
TIPS
Did we miss something? Email Enviroblog.
« Mixed Greens 004: All About Food | Main | Poor and uninsured. Sound familiar? »
New York Times seduced by fragrance industry
A recent New York Times article glowingly portrays the lucrative business of developing patented fragrance ingredients, likening these new and exclusive fragrance chemicals to patented active ingredients in medications.
However, there are a few differences between fragrances and pharmaceuticals. For one thing, new drugs must be screened with batteries of health and safety tests before they reach the market, while no such requirements apply to cosmetic ingredients. There is no FDA approval process for ingredients in fragrance or body care products. Instead, individual cosmetic companies make decisions about what’s safe for all of us. Labeling loopholes further allow cosmetics companies to hide the chemicals making up their secret mixtures from consumers.
We know that common fragrance ingredients including phthalates and nitro- and polycyclic musks are widespread contaminants of people, existing in our bodies at levels similar to the prescribed doses of many medications. To reduce your own exposures to these and other untested chemicals, switch to products free of fragrance – check the list of ingredients. You can use our Skin Deep cosmetics database to find products that do not contain fragrance.
The Timesarticle claims that using these untested fragrance chemicals is an ecologically sound choice, as it reduces demand for natural resources. Not mentioned: the fact that ingredients in perfumes and body care products that we wash down the drain each day end up contaminating our rivers, lakes and oceans, creating potential problems for local fisheries and aquatic ecosystems. EWG research detected phthalates, common ingredients in fragrance, in wastewater from residences, a nail salon, laundries – and in treated wastewater heading to San Francisco Bay. Phthalates can build up in the bodies of fish and affect the levels of their reproductive hormones. Studies of another common class of fragrance chemicals, nitro- and polycyclic musks, indicate several are toxic to aquatic life at low levels.
An entire article about fragrance without a single mention of health or environmental complications? All that perfume must've gone to their heads.
Photo by Ayala Moriel.
Leave a comment