More than half of black and Latin women can regularly use beauty products that contain a chemical strongly involved in uterine cancer, suggests a small study.
For the new survey, the researchers asked 70 black and Latin women in Los Angeles to record each use of all their personal care products for a week and take photos of the labels to document the ingredients.
Study participants documented formaldehyde (or formaldehyde liberation) preservatives in a wide range of products, in particular:
- Soap
- Lotion
- Shampoo
- Conditioner
- Flash
- Eyeliner
- Grue
“We have found that it is not only a question of hair lumps,” said the principal author, Robin Dodson, SCD, scientist at the Silent Spring Institute in Newton, Massachusetts, in a press release. “These chemicals are in products that we use all the time, everywhere in our body. Repeated exposures like these can add up and cause serious damage. ”
Several preservatives can release formaldehyde
Whenever study participants used a product, they recorded the information using a smartphone application developed by Silent Spring, a non -profit scientific research organization that studies the environmental causes of breast cancer.
The application also prompted participants to take a photo of each ingredient label. The researchers then used optical character recognition technology to translate each photo product label in raw text and search for formaldehyde and formaldehyde liberation release preservatives.
Hydantoin DMDM was the most common formaldehyde release curator. About 47% of skin care products and 58% of hair products with preservatives releasing formaldehyde contained DMDM hydantoin, the study revealed.
Is formaldehyde really dangerous?
The study was not designed to prove whether or how to formaldehyde or the chemicals that release it could directly cause cancer or other health problems.
Industry groups repel the characterization of these chemicals as dangerous. “Formaldehyde liberation agents have been used for many decades as a method of condoming well-studied products, resin and antistatic / smoothing agent that are internationally recognized as safe,” said Tesia Williams, spokesperson for the personal care products.
“They are used to preserve the integrity of products and are largely considered safe and effective to protect consumer care products from a wide range of microbial contamination,” said Williams.
Environmental scientists say that the possible health risks posed by these chemicals probably increase with regular use and with products like hair relaxants, which remain on the skin instead of being washed like a soap or a shampoo.
“Black and Latin women can face a higher cumulative exposure, especially from leaves in leaf products such as hair relaxants that are used more frequently and remain on the skin or scalp for long periods,” explains Sharon Horesh Bergquist, MD, Associate Professor at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta which was not involved in the new study.
“Although one exposure can present a minimum risk, repeated exposure or layers of several products increases the potential health problem,” explains Dr. Bergquist.
Relaxing hair, which often contains chemicals for formaldehyde release and are used by many black women to smooth curly or closely coiled hair, have been previously linked to an increased risk of uterine cancer, which has an impact in a disproportionate manner to black women.
Cancer is not the only concern with formaldehyde in beauty products, explains Tracey Woodruff, PHD, MPH, professor and director of the program on genesic health and the environment at the University of California in San Francisco.
“Formaldehyde is known to increase many health risks beyond cancer, including respiratory problems such as asthma and exacerbation and allergic conditions, and there are also concerns for reproductive effects,” said Dr. Woodruff, who was not involved in the new study.
White beauty ideals can endanger women
Cited in the declaration of the Silent Spring Institute, Janette Robinson Flint, director general of non -profit blacks based in Los Angeles, said that many black consumers use a variety of personal care products with formaldehyde and other toxic ingredients in an effort to comply with white beauty ideals.
Black women may have learned to avoid products with formaldehyde on the label, but they still use a lot of products with chemicals that have other names and publish formaldehyde.
“We should not have to be chemists to understand what types of products will make us sick,” said Flint in the press release.
Conservatives releasing formaldehyde and formaldehyde have many names
- Formalin
- Formic aldehyde
- Methanal
- Methyl aldehyde
- Methylene glycol
- Methylene oxide
And these are some of the chemicals used as preservatives that can free formaldehyde:
- Benzylhemia
- 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3-Diol
- 5-Bromo-5-Nitro-1,3-Dioxane
- Diazolidinyl urea
- DMDM Hydantoin (1.3-Dimethylol-5.5-Dimethydantoin)
- Imidazolidinyl urea
- Hydroxymethylglycin sodium
- Quaternium-15
The reduction in exposure can be difficult because formaldehyde is released by a range of preservatives listed under so many different chemical names, known as Bergquist.
“One of the most practical ways to minimize the risks is to simplify your routine,” explains Bergquist. “Use fewer products overall and be particularly attentive to the ingredients of those used frequently or daily.”
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