complaints to invoke an investigation. Then it may take another decade to convince legislators that
they should ban the substance from cosmetic products. The FDA has the authority to declare a product
misbranded, adulterated for reasons such as improper labeling, or dangerous to health. Generally, the
FDA must prove these allegations in court. For this reason, the FDA will often accept the industry’s
action of voluntarily withdrawing a substance from use. Many manufacturers prefer to voluntarily
recall the questionable product or quickly reformulate it to remove the dubious ingredient. In June
2008, when California filed a lawsuit against the manufacturers of shampoos, body washes, and
dishwashing liquids contaminated with 1,4-Dioxane, only one manufacturer, Beaumont, quickly
reformulated its products, removing the ethoxylated compounds from the ingredients. This proves that
cosmetic manufacturers are well aware of the potential harm caused by some of their ingredients but
will do nothing until they face a lawsuit.
And in most cases, even lawsuits are powerless. The investigation can take years, and during all
this time no one can prohibit the manufacturers and stores from selling potentially cancer-causing
beauty products. No one will voluntarily slap a sticker saying “Warning: Can Cause Cancer” on their
so-called organic products. You see, such stickers won’t help sales.
In sixty-seven years, the FDA has banned or restricted only nine personal care ingredients. It took
the FDA twenty years to ban the use of lead in paint on toys and furniture. However, a recent wave of
recalls of millions of children’s toys that were contaminated with excessive amounts of lead in paint
shows that such bans mean very little when it comes to the millions of items sold in thousands of
stores. Testing of toys, as well as of the rest of consumer products, is voluntary, sporadic, time-
consuming, and money-consuming— and, therefore, rare.
In sixty-seven years, the FDA has banned or restricted only nine personal care ingredients.
Medical research has already proven that synthetic fragrances trigger asthma (Curtis 2004), that the
detergents in shampoos can damage eye tissue (Scaife 1985; Neppelberg 2007), and that hair-dye
chemicals can cause bladder cancer and lymphoma (Zhang et al. 2008). Absorbed into the body, toxic
chemicals can be stored in fatty tissue or organs such as the liver, kidneys, breasts, ovaries, and
brain. Cosmetic companies accuse the media of alarmism, but scientists are finding plastic
components called phthalates in urine (Adibi et al. 2008), parabens and antibacterial agents such as
Triclosan in breast-tumor tissue (Darbre 2006), as well as the hormone-disrupting fragrant
component xylene in human breast milk (Reiner et al. 2007).
Still think that blue metallic eye shadow is your cosmetic bag’s worst secret?1,4-Dioxane: Silent Killer
This hidden cancer-causing petrochemical has been found at high levels in dozens of babies’ and
adults’ personal care products, including baby baths and hair dyes. In July 2007, laboratory tests
revealed the presence of this petroleum-derived contaminant in popular baby products, including
bestselling baby baths and baby washes sold worldwide. The tests also found the carcinogen in some
of the most popular shampoos, body washes, and many other personal care products used daily by
millions of women worldwide.
1,4-Dioxane is considered a probable human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). Animal tests have indisputably proven its tumor-promoting activity (Stickney et al.
2003). 1,4-Dioxane is also on California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act