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Great Books Make Great Gifts: What EWG Is Reading
Tea Tree and Lavender Oils: What We (Don't) Know
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Toxins in our Kids' Foods: Where is the FDA?
Why, oh why is there plastic in my aluminum water bottle?
Fluoride in Your Water: How much is too much?
Borax: Not the Green Alternative It's Cracked Up to Be
Test Your Knowledge of Cosmetics Safety: 8 Myths Debunked
EWG's Tips to avoid BPA exposure
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?
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Monthly Archive
Good, Bad and Truly Awful: Top Environmental Stories of 2011
By Nils Bruzelius, EWG Executive Editor
People are messy. So is nature. And what people do when nature unleashes its fury often makes things worse.
The staff at Environmental Working Group took a look at the major environmental news stories of the year and came up with two lists: the Top 10 Good News storie and the Top 10 Bad News stories.
Since environmentalism is mostly about limiting or preventing the harms done to people's and the planet's health by careless human activity, it's hardly surprising that all but one of the "good news stories" involved doing something about problems that we humans created. The only exceptions involved contaminants that can come from both natural and man-made sources.
The message, once again, is that we are our own worst enemy. Good news comes when we do something to clean up our messes. Bad news comes when we create brand new environmental harms or risks, or just plain fail to address the ones already out there - even when we recognize the threat.
By a wide margin, EWG staffers said that the two top bad news stories of the year were President Obama's decision to kill the Environmental Protection Agency's latest effort to reduce the health threat from smog and the nuclear disaster that erupted in Japan when an unprecedented tsunami overwhelmed the defenses that were supposed to protect a complex of five reactors built at the very edge of the sea.
Trying not to get too depressed in the middle of holiday season, we'll go to the good news first.
Again by a wide margin, EWG staffers said the two top good news stories were the growing momentum to limit or ban BPA and (in the messy category), the emergence of evidence that the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing really can be a threat to drinking water supplies. Drilling companies have insisted for years that fracking poses no threat to water supplies, but we've been skeptical, and so have many property owners in the states where drilling is intensifying. We're glad to see some hard facts on the table.
First, the Good
Here's the full rundown of the top good news stories as chosen by EWG's researchers and other staff:
1. BPA Feels the Heat
Two months after trend-setting California banned the endocrine-disrupting chemical BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups (as of 2013), the federal Food and Drug Administration agreed under the pressure of a law suit to decide whether to eliminate BPA in all food packaging. Meanwhile, the American Chemistry Council, a trade group that has fought fiercely against the California bill and other legislative curbs on BPA, appeared to throw in the towel, at least part way, as it petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to "clarify for consumers" that it no longer uses the chemical in children's food containers.
2. Truth Will Out: Fracking Has Tainted Ground Water
Giving the lie to gas drillers' long-standing insistence that hydraulic fracturing to release shale oil and gas has never contaminated drinking water supplies, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it had detected chemicals associated with fracking in groundwater in Wyoming. Earlier, EWG's own investigation uncovered a long-forgotten 1987 EPA report that found fracking-related contamination in water wells used by West Virginia residents. In the face of mounting public pressure, meanwhile, regulators decided to postpone action on rules that could open the door to widespread drilling and fracking in the vast Delaware River watershed.
3. New Reason for Caution on Cell Phone Radiation
In another case where bad news is seen as good news - because it indicates that important new information is coming to light - the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization, for the first time listed radiation from cell phones as "possibly carcinogenic" to humans. The jury is still out on the possible health risks from these ubiquitous devices, but the decision was significant for those who live by the precautionary principle.
4. The Grand Canyon Gets Protection
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar took an important step toward protecting the chief water source for California and the Southwest when he extended for 20 years a ban on new uranium mining on 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon. EWG called attention to this looming danger in its report, Conflict at the Canyon.
5. Getting Rocket Fuel out of Water
Reversing a decision made during the administration of former President George W. Bush, the EPA said it will begin the process of setting legal limits on perchlorate, an ingredient in rocket fuel, and 16 other chemicals known as volatile organics that have contaminated water sources used by millions of Americans.
6. Blowing the Whistle on Sugar in Kids' Cereals
Bringing renewed attention to a problem that food makers have persistently refused to correct, a widely publicized EWG report pointed out that a number of heavily-marketed children's cereals contain unhealthy amounts of sugar, some of them more than popular desert items.
7. California Moves to Curb Chromium-6
California's state Environmental Protection Agency adopted a first-in-nation health-based standard (public health goal) for hexavalent chromium in drinking water, the initial step in establishing a legal limit in drinking water for this widely found carcinogen that gained public notoriety in the movie Erin Brockovich.
8. HHS Calls for Less Fluoride in Drinking Water
Citing potential health risks to children, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposed in January that utilities a, which EWG and other public health advocates had long recommended. Three days later, the EPA granted a petition by EWG and two other environmental groups to end the use of sulfuryl fluoride, an insecticide and food fumigant that is also a source of fluoride exposure.
9. Sunscreen Rules - Too Little, Too Late
After deliberating for 33 years, the FDA finally got around to proposing rules governing the content and labeling of sunscreen products, but in EWG's view, they fall far short of the mark.
10. Brazilian Blowout Declared Unsafe
The FDA warned the makers of "Brazilian Blowout" in September that the company's hair straightening product, which contains carcinogenic formaldehyde, is "adulterated" and "misbranded." Earlier in the year, EWG's investigation found that a total of 16 companies used high levels of the chemical as an ingredient in similar products.
Now for the top Bad News. Take a deep breath.
1. President Obama Kills Tighter Smog Limits
As summer was winding down, Obama shocked EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and the environmental community by blocking plans to impose stricter national standards on ozone-containing smog. It was the strongest indication yet that the administration was approaching major environmental decisions with a cold eye on the 2012 election.
2. Fukushima Melts Down
By itself, the Japanese tsunami was a horrendous, almost unimaginable event, one that reminds us that even the most highly developed nations can be left all but helpless when the full forces of nature get unleashed. But what happened at Fukushima had a more profound lesson: that technological hubris, self-serving bureaucracy, lack of transparency and a host of other human failings always have the capacity to take a bad situation - and make it worse. Unfortunately, Japan will be reminded of this lesson every day for decades to come.
3. A Deadly Year for Foodborne Illness
Cantaloupes and sprouts. Record-setting outbreaks of foodborne disease in the United States and Europe underscored once again that assuring food safety is a critical priority. The U.S. listeriosis outbreak, which came just months after Congress passed major new food safety legislation, was linked to cantaloupes grown in Colorado. It killed 29 land sickened at least 139. In Europe, an outbreak ultimately linked to sprouts unleashed an unusually deadly strain of E. coli, killing at least 18 and sickening about 2,000.
4. House Republicans Target EPA and Environmental Regulation
Propelled by the anti-regulatory fervor of the Tea Party and Republicans' desire to blame unemployment on Obama and "job killing" regulation, GOP members of Congress took aim at the EPA and environmental regulations of all types, even voting to block a non-existent rule on rural dust. The cost in lives, illness and economic loss from environmental degradation didn't enter into the discussion.
5. Still No Reform for Outdated Toxics Law
Thirty-five years and counting. That's how long it's been since Congress passed the Toxic Substances Control Act, the only one of the 70s era environmental reforms that has never been updated. In public, there seems to be consensus that it's high time to update a law that allows new chemicals on the market with no meaningful safety testing. But when it comes to actually working out a reform bill in the halls of Congress, that consensus evaporates.
6. Emissions Up, Action Down on Climate Change
Recently released data shows that in 2010, carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels jumped by the largest amount of any year since the industrial revolution. But in the United States, parts of Europe and much of the rest of the world, the prospects for concerted international action to curb climate change seemed to be fading away. Que sera, sera?
7. Fracking Wastewater Reaches Rivers, Water Treatment Plans
Wastewater from the natural gas drilling boom, laden with chemical contaminants and sometimes radioactivity, passed through sewage treatment plants that weren't designed for it and ended up in rivers that supply drinking water to cities in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Meanwhile, the battle over whether and how to allow fracking in New York State neared a climax.
8. Federal Judge Blocks S.F. Cell Phone Right-to-Know Ordinance
The EWG-led campaign to require cell phone retailers to post information about cell radiation emissions suffered a setback when a federal judge struck down most of an ordinance passed by the San Francisco City Council, but the battle isn't over. A revised ordinance passed in 2011, but it, too, is being challenged.
9. Ballyhooed Solar Panel Company Goes Belly Up
President Obama's effort to promote a "green economy" alternative to fossil fuels and to help revive the economy took a hit when Solyndra, a California manufacturer of solar panels, declared bankruptcy. Critics used the scandal to attack subsidies for alternative energy programs, but the fact is, petroleum and other fossil fuels have fattened up on federal subsidies for decades.
10. Contaminated Chinese Dry Wall
The online news organization Pro Publica brought national attention to the growing scandal over contaminated Chinese dry wall that emits foul odors, causes appliances to fail and mades people sick. Thousands of homeowners and renters were affected, and the scandal is still unfolding.
'Tis the Season for Being Green in the Kitchen
Treat your guests to a home and food that are healthy for them and the environment.
New for you this year: our Meat Eater's Guide to Climate and Health. What's the difference between cage-free and free-range? Grass-fed and pasture-raised? Our label decoder demystifies shopping - everyone needs one!
Back by popular demand -- holiday kitchen tips from Jane Houlihan, senior vice president for research at Environmental Working Group:
1. Choose food low in added chemicals and pollutants
Food can contain ingredients we don't want to eat - pesticides, hormones, artificial additives and food packaging chemicals. Some simple tips to cut the chemicals:
- Buy organic when you can. Organic produce is grown without synthetic pesticides (I prefer my dinner without, thanks!). Organic meat and dairy products limit your family's exposure to growth hormones and antibiotics.
- It's OK to choose non-organic from our "Clean 15" less-contaminated conventional fruits and vegetables, too. EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides ranks popular fruits and vegetables based on the amount of pesticide residues found on them. Get the iPhone App).
- Cook with fresh foods, not packaged and canned, whenever you can. Food containers can leach packaging chemicals into food. I like to check in with EWG's Healthy Home Tips when planning grocery trips.
- Eat healthier meat. When shopping, look for:
- Grass-fed or pasture-raised
- Lean cuts
- No antibiotics or hormones
- Certified organic
- Certified humane
- Local
- Unprocessed, nitrate-free and low sodium
- Want to know more? Check our report
2. Use non-toxic cookware
Using a great pan makes a huge difference. I skip the non-stick so that my kids, pets and I don't breathe toxic fumes from overheated non-stick pans.
- For safer cooking, EWG suggests cast iron, stainless steel and oven-safe glass. Yes, there are many new products on the market, but most companies won't tell you exactly what they are. They don't have to release their safety data to the public.
- If you're in the m for a new cast iron pan, purchase it through Amazon and a portion of your purchase total will go to EWG!
- Cook safer with non-stick if you're stuck with it. Never heat an empty pan, especially at high heat, don't put non-stick baking pans in an oven hotter than 500 degrees F, and use your stove's exhaust fan.
- Learn more about cooking safely in our Healthy Home Tip: Skip the non-stick.
3. Store and reheat leftovers safely
Leftovers can extend the joy of a holiday -- by giving you a break from the kitchen! But be sure to avoid plastic when storing and (especially) when heating them. Here's why -- and how:
- The chemical additives in plastic can migrate into food and liquids. Ceramic or glass food containers (like Pyrex) are safer. Click here to get a 10-piece Pyrex set on Amazon (and a portion of your purchase will go towards helping EWG!).
- Don't microwave food or drinks in plastic containers, even if they claim to be "microwave safe." Heat can release chemicals into your food and drink. Microwaves heat unevenly, creating hot spots where the plastic is more likely to break down.
- If you do use a plastic container, handle it carefully. Use it for cool liquids only; wash plastics on the top rack of the dishwasher, farther from the heating element (or by hand!); Cover food in the microwave with a paper towel, not plastic wrap. Also, avoid single-use plastic like bottled water bottles. Reusing it isn't safe -- it can harbor bacteria, and tossing it fills up landfills and pollutes the environment.
- Read more about heating and storing food safely in EWG's Healthy Home Tip: Pick plastics carefully.
We wish you and yours a very happy holiday season. Happy Holidays!
P.S. Take a look at EWG's recommended reading list from the year - great gift ideas for others - and, of course, yourself.
No Coincidence: Camp Le Jeune's Contaminated Drinking Water
By Alex Rindler, Government Affairs Associate
Nearly 40 Marine veterans diagnosed with male breast cancer today urged President Obama to support legislation in Congress that would provide health care for those made ill by carcinogenic chemicals that contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
"We, the undersigned, are constituents of the largest male breast cancer cluster ever identified - 73 men," begins a letter circulated by the Environmental Working Group on December 14, 2011 and signed by veterans, their dependent children and surviving family members. "What happened to us is no coincidence."
Over a period of 30 years, an estimated one million servicemen and women, their families and civilian workers at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune were exposed to tap water polluted by known carcinogens. These include trichloroethylene (TCE), vinyl chloride and benzene - all classified as known human carcinogens by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.
It took too long to act
The Marine Corps leadership was aware of the contamination years before steps were taken to remove the chemicals from the drinking water. Thousands of veterans from the base have filed for disability compensation with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, but only a handful have been approved for benefits so far. Mike Partain, a son and grandson of Marine officers who was born at Camp Lejeune and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, poses important questions:
"These men are just one small group of the tens of thousands of Marines, sailors, their families and base employees who have been affected by their exposures to the fouled drinking water. Will the medical help we need arrive only after we have all passed away? How many men with breast cancer will it take for our country to recognize that everyone exposed to the contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune was poisoned? Where is this nation's honor for our veterans and their families?"
Help may be on the way
Two pending bills - the Caring for Camp Lejeune Veterans Act of 2011, introduced by Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), and the Janey Ensminger Act, introduced by Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) - would provide medical care and services to the affected veterans and family members. Both have bipartisan support. And EWG's support.
The Camp Lejeune incident, the largest documented case of drinking water contamination at a domestic military facility, is the subject of the award-winning film Semper Fi: Always Faithful. The film, which takes its name from the Marine Corps motto, was recently short-listed for an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature.
Watch the trailer here:
Semper Fi: Always Faithful Trailer from Rachel Libert on Vimeo.
Want to see it yourself? Find a screening near you.
Stand Up for REAL Food - Twinkies Aren't Breakfast
By Lisa Frack, EWG Social Media Manager
Of course you don't serve your kids Twinkies or Chips Ahoy! cookies for breakfast. But many of us are serving our kids just as much - or more - sugar every day in the good ol' American cereal bowl (see how bad it really is in our new report, Sugar in Children's Cereals). And even as they're busily adding sugar to their products, cereal makers are in Washington, lobbying hard to block proposed federal voluntary guidelines that would limit marketing of their cereals to kids.
We think the guidelines don't go far enough (they propose a voluntary cap of 26 percent sugar in cereals, while we prefer a mandatory 15 percent limit), but if these companies get their way (which they seem to do rather often), these ridiculously sugary cereals (10 worst listed here) will keep their kids'-eye-level place on your grocery store shelves.
They just don't belong there.
All you have to do is take a look at the growing list of news stories, cable TV shows, blogs and terrific images about our sugary cereals report (see some of our favorites below) to grasp that people are reacting to this information.
Why is this news?
As one EWG Facebook commenter - and many friends - asked, "Is this actually a surprise to anyone?"
To which we say: yes and no:
- Yes, to people who assume that if it's on the shelf and marketed to kids, surely someone out there must have made sure it's not - at the very least - outrageously unhealthy (they'd be wrong, of course).
- Yes, to people who pay no attention to nutrition labels.
- Yes, to people who grew up eating these cereals and still draw on that experience.
- Yes, to people who shop at grocery stores that don't offer healthier options.
- Yes, to people who give in to their kids' whining and look the other way.
- Yes, to people who think it can't be that bad.
- Yes, to people who assume that the front-of-the-box marketing claims (Vitamin A! Vitamin C!) are closely regulated.
- Yes, to people whose kids see the TV ads - far too often.
- Yes, to people who are short on time.
- Yes, to people who believe what they read on the Froot Loops web site, where the URL makes the intent quite clear: http://www.frootloops.com/healthymessage/index.html.
But we also say no:
- No, to those of us who are label readers.
- No, to us Grape Nuts and Amaranth Flakes types.
- No, to people who understand the link between sugar consumption and childhood obesity and Type II diabetes.
- No, to health-conscious parents.
- No, to folks who know to shop around for lower-sugar breakfast options.
- No, to people who say no to cold cereal in the morning altogether.
But we'd wager that the yeses outweigh the nos.
Something bigger going on here
Beyond the simple facts here - that kids' cereals are loaded with ludicrous amounts of sugar and the companies want to keep it that way because they sell so very well - there's something far bigger going on. This solid information (which EWG compiled from cereal makers themselves), and the humorous images of cookie-filled bowls that go with it, reflect the sordid food system that we've allowed to thrive while our bad health gets worse.
So while we do suggest that you not eat these desserts cereals, which some call "food" and our government lamely allows, we hope it's obvious that many of us want something completely different. For now, some big, rich companies and their lobbyists are standing in the way - and the time has come for them to STEP ASIDE and let the eaters prevail. We're not going to take it anymore. And we get the feeling that you're not, either.
It's Time: Stand up for your food rights
It may be old news to many (especially EWG fans!) that there's a whole lot of sugar in kids' cereals, but the intense coverage and reaction to our report speaks volumes, doesn't it? It tells us loud and clear that the food movement's moment has arrived. Let's take advantage of it. You can start right now by signing EWG's petition to turn the farm bill (it's up for renewal in 2012) into a healthy food bill.
What we want isn't that complicated. We want REAL food, not manufactured "food." Period.
Here's some of the great coverage of our sugary cereals report:
Great Books Make Great Gifts: What EWG Is Reading
By Jane Houlihan, EWG V-P for Research
If there's one thing we at Environmental Working Group love, it's a good book - especially about the issues we work on. Honestly, there are so many good ones.
So when I started putting together my holiday shopping lists, I asked my coworkers for their recommendations. As I expected, the books they've been reading this year are as amazing as they are - I couldn't wait to share them with you.
Plus, if you shop for great books through our special Amazon links (below), your purchase will do some good because you'll be supporting EWG at the same time - no matter what you purchase.
Whether you're shopping for someone trying to live greener, an aspiring chef or a new parent, we've got you covered. I hope you find these suggestions as interesting and inspiring as I did.
Cookbooks:
Ken loves cooking from Sheryl Crow's If It Makes You Healthy: More Than 100 Delicious Recipes Inspired by the Seasons.
Director of Technology Chuq Yang makes dinner almost nightly from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food.
Other favorites from our office chefs? Myra Goodman's The Earthbound Cook: 250 Recipes for Delicious Food and a Healthy Planet and Laurie David's The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids, One Meal at a Time.
Green living:
When our Social Media Manager Lisa Frack is getting ready for a special occasion, she turns to Corey Colwell-Lipson's Celebrate Green for fun and sustainable ideas.
With the love of good food and a good story in mind, Chief of Staff Heather White recommends Thomas McNamee's Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, the biography of Alice Waters.
Ken enjoyed reading Dr. Andrew Weil's latest, Spontaneous Happiness.
As EWG's Senior Vice President of Research and director of our Skin Deep Cosmetics Database, I recommend Stacy Malkan's Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry for anyone who wants to know more about the safe cosmetics movement.
Director of our California office and a Senior Scientist, Renee Sharp can't get enough of the science behind Elizabeth Grossman's Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry.
Editor-in-chief Elaine Shannon found Carol Deppe's The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times to be a fascinating read by an expert gardener and scientist.
As a mom trying to raise her kids sustainably, Foundation Coordinator Nicole Oliver turns to Peggy O'Mara's Natural Family Living: The Mothering Magazine Guide to Parenting.
Healthy eating and food policy:
For an eye-opening look at the food industry and the healthy eating movement, Ken always recommends Marion Nestle's Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health.
Vice President for Media Relations Alex Formuzis loves Michael Pollan's newly illustrated Food Rules: An Eater's Manual.
Alan Bjerga's Endless Appetites: How the Commodities Casino Creates Hunger and Unrest got glowing reviews from both Press Secretary Sara Sciammacco and Senior Communications and Policy Advisor Don Carr.
Senior Food and Agriculture Analyst Kari Hamerschlag couldn't put down Oran Hesterman's Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System For All.
Senior Scientist David Andrews discovered why there was so much media attention when he read Sarah Wu's Fed Up with Lunch: The School Lunch Project: How One Anonymous Teacher Revealed the Truth About School Lunches - And How We Can Change Them!
Legal Fellow Etan Yeshua - a true tomato lover - recommends Barry Estabrook's Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit.
With so much media attention on childhood nutrition, Director of Development Jocelyn Lyle picked up Susan Levine's School Lunch Politics: The Surprising History of America's Favorite Welfare Program.
With all these ideas, your holiday shopping is practically done! And don't forget to grab a good read for yourself - which topic are you ready to learn more about?
[Thanks to flickr and jimmiehomeschoolmom for the great holiday gifts pic]
Tea Tree and Lavender Oils: What We (Don't) Know
Second of a two-part blog on health concerns tied to natural ingredients.
By Swati Sharma, MS, EWG Research Assistant
"Natural" and homemade cosmetics and cleaning products aren't by definition safer than mainstream products. EWG takes a closer look at two common plant-based ingredients - tea tree and lavender oils - and finds that the science is still evolving and safety can't be assumed.
Earlier this week, we took a close look at tea tree oil - its uses, and some potential health concerns we should all keep in mind as the popularity of this natural ingredient skyrockets in both store-bought and homemade cosmetics and cleaning supplies. Today, we examine lavender oil and provide some suggested precautions when using either of these oils or products that contain them.
Lavender Oil
Lavender oil is widely used in consumer products as a fragrance (all that lavender soap!). In fact, it is the third most commonly used fragrance in U.S. cosmetic products. Lavender is also frequently used to relieve pain and anxiety and as an antiseptic, due to its antifungal and antibacterial properties.
Despite its ubiquity in cosmetics, researchers in Japan who compared eight essential oils found that lavender caused the greatest number of skin allergies. Several other studies have also linked allergic reactions to lavender oil. Linalool and linalyl acetate, major components of lavender oil, were found to react with oxygen in the air, forming allergens that can cause contact dermatitis. Furthermore, tests have found that lavender may be toxic to human skin cells. All this is to say that the soothing scent of lavender in your soap or lotion may not be welcome if you happen to be allergic to this naturally derived compound!
Do these oils disrupt hormones? We don't know.
An intensely debated study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2007 suggested that topical use of tea tree and lavender oil could possibly disrupt sex hormones in people, causing estrogenic and anti-androgenic effects. The study was a case report of three boys who had abnormal breast development after applying products containing lavender oil, and in one case, tea tree oil. When the boys stopped using the products, their breast development subsided. The researchers concluded that, "The medical community should be aware of the possibility of endocrine disruption and should caution patients about repeated exposure to any products containing these oils."
Drawing a definitive conclusion on the basis of any one case study with such a small number of patients is notoriously difficult. Further, the study did not provide specific product names or full lists of ingredients, so the influence of other chemicals can't be ruled out. While the study provoked intense curiosity and discussion, no additional case reports have surfaced to corroborate its findings. The European Commission's Scientific Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP), evaluating tea tree oil found the connection "implausible," saying that the hormonally active components of tea tree oil don't penetrate the skin. We've got our eyes peeled for any studies that support or refute this potential health concern.
In the meantime, here are some tips for today:
Take-home tips on tea tree and lavender oil
• "Natural" does not necessarily mean safe: High doses of some naturally occurring compounds can be toxic.
• Given the evolving state of the science, EWG does not suggest that you stop using tea tree and lavender oil. However, it's definitely a good idea to try a new product on a small area of skin first to see if you're allergic is - and go easy on intensive, full-body applications.
• We do suggest you limit use of products containing tea tree or lavender oil that are old or have been exposed to light, since air and sunlight break down ingredients in these oils over time, producing more potent allergens.
• Spray cleaners, air fresheners and spray cosmetics expose the user and people nearby to lavender and tea tree oil via inhalation. With little or no data on the health effects of inhaling these compounds, such products should be used in well-ventilated areas and kept away from children.
Parting advice: Whether you're making your own products or heading for those advertised as green and "natural," make informed choices. Picking products based on front-label ad claims or natural-sounding names doesn't guarantee you a safe product. Know what you're buying. It's safer that way.
[A big thanks to flickr CC and jaybergesen for the beautiful lavender field pic.]
