marianos (1)
TRANSCRIPT
Michele’s Natural CareSafer more Natural Personal Care Products
Michele Knox Palmer, M.S.Chemist, Risk Assessor and Environmental Scientist
2 Objective of Michele’s Natural Care To help consumers make healthier, safer choices in
personal care products (PCPs) To evaluate PCPs to ensure that products that state
they are “natural” or “organic,” do not use harsh chemicals or those harmful to human health or the environment
To make recommendations on safer body care products
3 What is the present state of affairs? No definitions of “clean,” “green” or “organic”
personal care products (PCPs) Insufficient government regulation and consumer
protection Regulation by Environment Canada and the European
Union is much stricter than in the US by the FDA With “Conventional” PCPs it’s “Buyer Beware” Cosmetic makers are not required to assess how much
gets into your body and what the risks might be. No one assesses the safety of your cumulative
exposures to cosmetic ingredients. (EWG)
4 Why do you need to screen your products? Consumers expect stores to offer safer products Recently purchased a hand cream from a popular
health food store The product touted itself as being organic and
having all natural fragrance (earth science multi-therapy oatmeal hand &body lotion)
Upon reading the long list of ingredients, I discovered that it contained retinyl palmitate
Retinyl palmitate is a vitamin A derivative that is shown by the National Toxicology Program, (2012) to promote tumor growth in the presence of sunlight
5 National Toxicology Program Report: NTP Technical Report on the
Photococarcinogenesis Study of Retinoic Acid and Retinyl Palmitate [CAS Nos. 302-79-4 (All-trans-retinoic acid) and 79-81-2 (All-trans-retinyl palmitate)] in SKH-1 Mice, August 2012
Conclusions: “Compared to the control cream, RP further enhanced the photocarcinogenic activity of SSL in SKH-1 mice based upon increased incidences and multiplicities of squamous cell neoplasms of the skin.”
6 Environmental Working Group The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has the
Skin Deep Database an on-line safety guide for cosmetics and personal care products
http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/2004/06/15/exposures-add-up-survey-results/
According to EWG (2004) American adults use an average of 9 personal care products daily
American women put an average of 168 chemical ingredients on their bodies every day
So I asked myself “How many cosmetic ingredients do I use in a day?”
So I took the “Cosmetics Challenge”
7 What products do I use in a day? Dove soap unscented – 14 Aveeno AN Clear Complexion Foaming Cleanser -20 Secret invisible solid deodorant – 13 Aveeno Active Naturals (AN) Lotion – 7 Aveeno Active Naturals Clear Complexion Moisturizer – 20 Body Shop Vitamin E eye cream - 21 Revlon lip-gloss – 35 Almay mascara - 18 Crest Scope Whitening toothpaste - 20 Vaseline Intensive Care hand cream – 18 For a grand total of 186 chemicals
Not counting water, sodium chloride, plant oils and essences. There may be duplicate chemicals.
8 How can you lower your chemical body burden? By using less personal care products By using products with less chemicals in them With more plant based ingredients Stores can help consumer make better choices Stores can pre-screen products for the consumers
9
Conventional Personal Care Products Number of chemicals EWG Hazard*
Dove soap, unscented 14 4
Aveeno Active Naturals Clear Complexion Cleanser 20 6
Secret Invisible Solid deodorant 13 4
Aveeno Active Naturals Lotion 7 2
Aveeno AN CC Moisturizer 20 5
The Body Shop eye cream 21 4
Revlon lip-gloss 35 4
Almay Mascara 18 3
Crest Scope whitening toothpaste 20 4
Dove shampoo 38 5
GF Leave-in conditioning hair cream 10 4
Vaseline hand cream 18 4
Total Chemicals and Average Hazard 234 4.1
*EWG Skin Deep Cosmetics Database 0-2=low hazard, 3-6=moderate hazard, 7-10=high hazard
Chemical Body Burden and Hazard from Conventional Personal Care Products
10
More Natural Personal Care Products Number of chemicals EWG Hazard*
Nubian Heritage (NH) Shea butter soap 4 1
Face Naturals (FN) face soap 0 0
FN lavender deodorant 1 1
NH Shea butter lotion 6 2
FN face moisturizer 2 0
FN Plum perfect eye cream 2 0
Burt's Bees lip-gloss 14 4
Tarte mascara 14 3
FN Peppermint toothpaste 1 0
Alaffia Black African Soap 1 1
GF Leave-in conditioning hair cream 10 4
NH papaya&coconut handcream 8 2
Total Chemicals and average hazard 63 1.5
*EWG Skin Deep Cosmetics Database 0-2=low hazard, 3-6=moderate hazard, 7-10=high hazardous
Lowered Chemical Body Burden from More “Natural” Personal Care Products
11 Conventional vs. Natural Products
0
50
100
150
200
250
Number of Chem-icals
Conventional Natural
00.5
11.5
22.5
33.5
44.5
EWG Hazard Rank
Conventional Natural
12 Why is Lowering your Chemical Body Burden Important?
It is important to lower both the chemical exposures and the hazards of the chemicals used
Minute exposures add up We do not know the effects of multiple additive
exposures over a lifetime. Women of child-bearing age are especially
susceptible, because they tend to use a lot of personal care products
And many chemicals can be passed on to an unborn child
13 What can Michele’s Natural Care do for You? Provide consulting to offer an informed opinion on
products to label “Natural” as a chemist, risk assessor and environmental scientist
Help offer your “Conventional” products a certain level of protection
Provide recommendations on products to carry and to reconsider based on potential harmful health and environmental effects
14 What does “Natural” product mean? Can make an individual store-wide determination Michele’s definition of “Natural”
more plant based ingredients less synthetic chemicals no toxic chemicals, petrochemicals, phthalates nor
parabens no animal testing not suspected to be harmful to human health or the
environment
15 References and Websites
http://www.safecosmetics.org/ http://www.watoxics.org/ http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/ http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/2004/06/15/exposures-
add-up-survey-results/ http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/htdocs/lt_rpts/tr568_508
.pdf Photos courtesy of www.ewg.org,
www.Nubianheritage.com and www.Facenaturals.com
16 Michele’s Natural Care
Michele Knox Palmer, M.S.B.S. Chemistry, M.S. Environmental Engineering7156 S Oglesby AveChicago, Illinois 60649773-288-1775 (h) 773-562-5982 (m)[email protected](All of the ideas and opinions presented herein are property of the author and the quoted sources)