Cosmetics Could Be Harmful to Your Health: What Every Woman Needs to Know

You use them everyday to moisturize, add volume and to even give your hair that strong, long lasting hold. But what you don't know is that phthalates used in perfume, lotion, shampoo, hairspray, nail polish and numerous other common cosmetics could be harming yourself or even your unborn child.

DMP, DEP, and DBP are the three types of phthalates used in cosmetics and personal care products. They help scents linger longer and nail polish from chipping just to name a few of the incentives for companies to use them.

But do the warning signs outweigh the benefit? The debate has reached a fever pitch as more and more women who used phthalate laden products prior to getting pregnant saw birth defects and low sperm count in their male children. A few even believe phthalates contributed to their breast cancer diagnosis.

The Center for Disease Control's stance is that early studies have significant limitations but that levels of exposure to each phthalate used in personal care products were well within the safety levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency. In 2001 the Federal Drug Administration studied the CDC's data and determined continued research wasn't warranted. However, in 2002 the Cosmetic Ingredient Review was commissioned to study the literature on DMP, DEP and DBP and agreed if cosmetics were used properly they were safe. No additional studies since the initial CDC report in were done.

So why should you worry?

First and foremost the outdated literature used very different criteria to assess risk, including high level exposure for cancer and occupational exposure leading to adult infertility. In recent years Dr. Earl Gray who works for the EPA has focused on low-dose toxicity of phthalates during crucial windows of fetal development in animals. In his studies DBP and DEHP produced dramatic changes in male sexual characteristics when exposure took place in utero. These changes included increases in the rates of hypospadias and other indications of demasculinization.