Group Wins Lawsuit Against Personal Care Cos. To Remove Cancer Causing Ingredient

The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) has finalized settlement agreements with 14 personal care companies, including Colgate-Palmolive Co., Avlon Industries Inc., and House of Cheatham Inc., to remove a chemical called cocamide DEA from their products in California. The settlements are expected to have national implications.

Graphic courtesy of ameliebeaute.com.

Cocamide DEA is a synthetic chemical made by a reaction between coconut oils and diethanolamine.  The chemical is frequently used in shampoos, soaps, bubble baths, and shower gels as a foaming agent, and as a thickener, says the CEH, which has also found it in shaving creams and some dishwashing detergents.

The concern is that the chemical is a possible human carcinogen and is known to cause cancer in lab animals.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) tested the chemical by applying it to the skins of 100 mice, for five-days-a-week for two years, which resulted in a high incidence of tumors forming on their kidneys and livers.

The IARC said that the increased incidence in mice was “associated with the high level of free diethanolamine that was present in the solutions.”

In addition, the Environmental Working Group said there is strong evidence that the chemical can trigger skin allergies.

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Outraged Senator Introduces Federal Act to Protect Young Children From Widespread Contaminants in Personal Care Products

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) . Stock photo.

NEW YORK- In response to a children’s health study done by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, Sen. Krsiten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has introduced the Safe Baby Products Act into the federal legislature.

In conjunction with the bill, now awaiting a reference number, Gillibrand wrote a letter to Frank M. Torti, acting commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, stating that “due to complete and total lack of oversight, the products that we use to care for our children could be putting their health and lives at risk. I find it to be unacceptable that the FDA does not regulate personal care products, as it does food and drugs.”

Gillibrand went on to say in her letter that, “The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics commissioned laboratory tests that revealed that personal care products are commonly contaminated with formaldehyde or 1,4-dioxane, which have been linked to cancer and skin allergies.

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