Phthalates in Cosmetics Report
You can download the entire report in a pdf format at the bottom of this page.
In May 2002 a coalition of environmental and public health organizations contracted with a major national laboratory to test 72 name-brand, off-the-shelf beauty products for the presence of phthalates, a large family of industrial chemicals linked to permanent birth defects in the male reproductive system. The laboratory found phthalates in nearly three-quarters of the products tested (52 of 72 products, Table 1), including nine of 14 deodorants, all 17 fragrances tested, six of seven hair gels, four of seven mousses, 14 of 18 hair sprays, and two of nine hand and body lotions (Table 2), in concentrations ranging from trace amounts to nearly three percent of the product formulation.
Major loopholes in federal law allow the $20-billion-a-year cosmetics industry to put unlimited amounts of phthalates into many personal care products with no required testing, no required monitoring of health effects, and no required labeling. To our knowledge, the 72 product tests detailed in this study represent the most comprehensive information available on the occurrence of phthalates in individual beauty care products. None of the 52 phthalate-containing products lists the offending chemical on its ingredient label.
In animal tests some phthalates damage the developing testes of offspring and cause malformations of the penis and other parts of the reproductive tract. The same phthalates that cause permanent harm of the male reproductive system in laboratory studies are also found in hair spray, deodorant, and fragrances big-name products like Revlon, Calvin Klein, Christian Dior, and Procter & Gamble. The laboratory found phthalates in Pantene Pro V "Healthy Hold" and Aqua Net hair sprays, Arrid and Degree deodorants, and fragrances like Poison by Christian Dior and Coty's Healing Garden Pure Joy Body Treatment, to name just a few (Table 2).
Click here to download the entire Phthalates in Cosmetics Report report as a
PDF file(1000k) For more information about phthalates,
please download this report,
"Aggregate Exposures to Phthalates in Humans," published by Health Care
Without Harm in July 2002. (PDF 244k)