Replies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 18, 2005

CONTACTS: Nick Guroff, NET, 415-863-8934 x109; Rebecca Farmer, BCA, 415-243-9301 x16; Kevin Donegan, BCF, 415-346-8223 x14

Safe Cosmetic Bill Faces Critical Vote

Public Health Advocates Challenge Industry's Faulty Science

SACRAMENTO, CA—Tomorrow in the Assembly Health Committee, Assemblywoman Judy Chu's (D-Monterey Park) legislation to promote cosmetic safety will receive its first and most critical legislative vote. Assembly Bill 908 would prohibit the use of two ingredients (DBP and DEHP, two chemicals known as phthalates) in personal care products that have been linked to male infertility, birth defects in the male reproductive system and premature breast development in females. Volumes of research on these chemicals have already been conducted at independent research institutions and published in peer reviewed journals. Cosmetics giants Revlon, Unilever and L'Oreal recently announced plans to remove the phthalates DBP and DEHP, while the European Union has prohibited these two hazards from cosmetics altogether.

"The question tomorrow before the Health Committee is not about whether the science exists to support a ban on these health hazards. Without a doubt it does," said Jeanne Rizzo, Executive Director of the Breast Cancer Fund, an environmental health organization that is co-sponsoring the bill. "We commend industry leaders such as L’Oreal and Revlon who have voluntarily agreed to discontinue using phthalates in their products worldwide. We can’t wait for decades, as happened with nicotine, lead and DDT, for other manufacturers who refuse to take leadership on this issue."

The results of scientific research on chemicals tend to differ based on the source of funding. A recent compilation of new science on another problematic chemical (bisphenol-A) in consumer products, found that over 90 percent of independent studies reported harmful effects of low dose exposure, while 100 percent of industry-funded studies reported no significant adverse effects. This same trend has held true with regard to DBP and DEHP. While supporters of AB 908 point to the studies that have informed the National Toxicology Program and the State of California's designations of these chemicals as reproductive toxicants, industry trade groups have “substantiated” the safety of DBP by relying on outmoded EPA safety levels—a safety level determined by a rat mortality study published in 1953, long since obsolete.

"Industry's hired guns will argue the science isn't there. When the science is presented, they will do everything in their power to discredit it. If they can't discredit it they will claim that acting on the science will put the little guys out of business," said Nick Guroff, California Representative for the National Environmental Trust. "Make no mistake about it, if these guys really cared about small business, they'd be putting their millions into safer products and not high-paid consultants."

Contrary to what many consumers may believe, the FDA has no legal authority to require safety assessments of cosmetics (www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-206.html). Product safety is by default the responsibility of the industry and its own appointed Cosmetic Ingredient Review panel. The CIR has found just nine of 1,175 reviewed ingredients unsafe for use in cosmetics. Further, the CIR has reviewed only 11 percent of the ingredients in personal care products for their safety at large. Not only is this panel unable to act with autonomy from the industry, even when CIR has issued health recommendations, they have been ignored by industry (www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep/report/safety_violations.php).

"Industry lobbyists can't have it both ways. They can't on the one hand claim that they know phthalates are safe and then on the other claim that we would need more research to prove them harmful," said Barbara Brenner, Executive Director at Breast Cancer Action. "It's time to stop the hamster wheel on these hazards and get them out of products. Women’s lives are at stake."

AB 908 will be heard in room number 4202 after 1:30 tomorrow afternoon. Other bills related to safe consumer products Senate Bill 484 (Migden) and AB 319 (Chan) will be heard on April 20 and April 26, respectively. SB 484 would require cosmetics manufacturers to report the use of harmful chemicals in their products to the state, while AB 319 would prohibit DBP, DEHP, and bisphenol-A from children's toys. For peer reviewed research on the phthalates DBP and DEHP please note the listing provided below. Abstracts and complete studies will be made available upon request.