Are Antiperspirants Safe?

Are Antiperspirants Safe?

By Rachael Flynn, MPH

A widely circulating e-mail article claims that antiperspirant use causes breast cancer. The e-mail states that since antiperspirants prevent your body from sweating out toxins, toxins build up in the lymph nodes and result in breast cancer. Some versions of the e mail attempt to legitimize these claims by providing details, such as names of fictitious experts. However, antiperspirants have never been linked with breast cancer.

Even though the e-mail’s allegations are unfounded, there is a valid health concern regarding antiperspirants and deodorants. Antiperspirants and deodorants are on a long list of ordinary consumer products which may contain an environmental toxin, phthalates.¹ Phthalates are used in many beauty and self care products for their plastic softening properties. The law greatly restricts these chemicals in the environment, and even a small release into the atmosphere must be reported to the authorities.¹ Although they are recognized environmental pollutants, phthalates are not regulated in beauty or self care products. According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), "neither cosmetic products nor cosmetic ingredients are reviewed or approved by FDA before they are sold to the public."²

Phthalate exposure could potentially contribute to several health problems, such as birth defects, premature female breast development (thelarche), and reproductive tract abnormalities in males.¹^,³,⁴ Women of childbearing age are estimated to be at 20 times greater risk for phthalate exposure, due to their increased use of cosmetics and beauty products. Therefore, a mother’s exposure could put her fetus at risk for harmful developmental effects and chronic health problems.

Perhaps most disturbing is that no one really knows how phthalates affect humans since it has not been fully investigated. For instance, one common phthalate, dibutyl phthalate, has safety standards based on a 1953 study which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers weak and flawed.⁵ Historically, the difficulty in testing people for phthalate exposure has created a false sense of security that it was not a problem. When an accurate testing method was recently developed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), a newly published study found phthalates in every subject tested, some at surprisingly high levels.⁶ The CDC is now conducting research on the effects of phthalate exposure, particularly for infants and pregnant women.⁷

In conclusion, the safety of antiperspirants and deodorants, as well as the wide range of other consumer products containing phthalates, is unknown. It is important to remember that ingredients in consumer products change over time and that not all antiperspirants or deodorants contain phthalates (see Table 1). However, a lack of research should not be considered proof of safety. Until future research provides more answers about the effects of phthalates on humans, it is reasonable to question their long-term safety. This is especially true for pregnant women and children.

This table is from Beauty Secrets.¹

Table 1. Major corporations hold patents that proposed to use the
toxic plasticizer dibutyl phthalate (DBP) in a broad range of consumer products.

Company Holding Patent		Products for which DBP is proposed as an essential or possible additive
Procter & Gamble (Cincinnati, OH)		lotion, hairspray, mousse, gel, lotion, cream, pomade, hair spray, conditioner, spritz, hair tonic, facial moisturizers, foundations, lipsticks, mascaras, nail polishes, oral pharmaceuticals, hair loss treatments
L'Oréal (Bureau D. A. Casalonga-Josse)		hair and nail products
Lever Brothers Company (New York, NY)		deodorant, skin and hair cleansers
Maybelline Cosmetics Corporation (Wilmington, DE)		nail enamel
Anheuser-Busch, Incorporated (St. Louis, MO)		gelled antiperspirant
Chesebrough-Pond's USA Co., Division of Conopco, Inc. (Greenwich, CT)		product to treat or prevent baldness
Colgate Palmolive Company (New York, NY)		antiperspirant and deodorant gels
Eastman Chemical Company (Kingsport, TN)		nail products
Elizabeth Arden Co., Division of Conopco, Inc. (New York, NY)		skin products
Kraft General Foods, Inc. (Northfield, IL)		sunscreen
Revlon Consumer Products (NY, NY)		nail enamel
Rhodia Chimie (Courbevoie, FR)		hair and skin care products (sprays, tonic lotions, gels, mousses)
Rhone-Poulenc Chimie (Courbevoie Cedex, FR)		nail varnishes
Unilever Patent Holding B.V. (Vlaardingen, NL)		skin and hair care products, antiperspirants

For more information about Phthalates on the Web:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/dls/report/

Our Stolen Future
http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NewScience/oncompounds/phthalates/phthalates.htm

Consumers Union
http://www.consumersunion.org/food/plasticny698.htm

The Environmental Working Group
http://www.ewg.org/pub/home/Reports/BeautySecrets/execsumm.html

References:

1 Houlihan J and Wiles R. 2000. Beauty Secrets. Does a Common Chemical in Nail Polish Pose Risks to Human Health? Environmental Working Group. Washington, DC. November 2000.

2 US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Office of Cosmetics Fact Sheet. February 3, 1995. Available online at http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-206.html

3 Colon I, Cao D, Bourdony CJ, and Rosario O. Identification of Phthalate Esters in the Serum of Young Puerto Rican Girls with Premature Breast Development. Environmental Health Perspectives 108 (2000):895-900.

4 Our Stolen Future. "About Phthalates." Available online at http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NewScience/oncompounds/phthalates/phthalates.htm

5 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 1990. Integrated Risk Information System. Dibutyl phthalate, CASRN 84-74-2. October 1990. Available online at http://www.epa.gov/ngispgm3/iris/

6 Blount, BC, MJ Silva, SP Caudill, LL Needham, JL Pirkle, EJ Sampson, GW Lucier, RJ Jackson, JW Brock. 2000. Levels of Seven Urinary Phthalate Metabolites in a Human Reference Population. Environmental Health Perspectives 108 (2000):979-982.

7 Center for Disease Control (CDC). 2000. Study Demonstrates Exposure of People to Phthalates. Available online at http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r2k0901.htm.

| Research Network | Making A Difference | Women's Health |

| Newsroom | Work, Family & Economic Security |

National Center for Policy Research (CPR) for Women & Families
1901 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 901, Washington, DC 20006. (202) 223-4000