Toxic Phthalates in Perfume
In this age of extensive beauty rituals, expensive skin care creams and custom fragrance websites, many people purchase these products without giving much thought to the potentially unsafe substances they are putting on their bodies each day. Your skin is your largest organ, and it is very sensitive to the substances with which it comes in contact. Topical exposure to toxins is often more dangerous than other types of exposure, such as ingestion, due to higher concentration of toxins that will reach the blood stream when absorbed through the skin. Additionally, many personal care products contain penetration enhancers that promote absorption, which expedites the delivery of toxins to the bloodstream. Understanding how your skin functions as a mostly unfiltered delivery system to your bloodstream is crucial to making informed decisions that affect your overall health and wellness.
This is sometimes difficult to do with the significant shortage of laws regulating the disclosure of chemical ingredients in both perfume and cosmetics. Through various animal studies done on these types of products, it has been discovered that the unreported ingredients often have high levels of toxicity and can cause skin and breathing irritations, as well as allergic reactions. Unfortunately for us, but lucky for the beauty industry, many of the chemicals in these mixtures are protected from exposure under the guise of being a trade secret. Companies have the safety of secrecy, while public safety is largely disregarded.
The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health has attempted to get the word out to the public by stating that around 3,000 ingredients, which are mostly synthetic, are used by fragrance producers. Around 900 of these ingredients are considered toxic chemicals. This is a very unsettling fact. These ingredients are not just dangerous or harmful; they are toxic. Toxicity in chemical products is a leading cause of a variety of medical problems, including respiratory problems, skin diseases and several different types of cancer.
Phthalates, an industrial chemical shown to be harmful to animals and humans, are present in many kinds of perfume, cosmetics and other items that we come in contact with every day. While some countries have taken steps to limit the use of phthalates, none have eliminated the use of these dangerous chemicals, and they are still commonly used in dangerously high amounts. The presence of phthalates in fragrance-containing products can cause serious health issues for people in all stages of life, and can be particularly harmful for newborns. Their use also results in an increased risk for a variety of diseases and conditions, including ADHD, breast cancer and inflammatory diseases.
These concerns are well documented; however, governmental agencies responsible for the regulation of the cosmetics and fragrance industry have done little to address these serious issues. Unfortunately, it still seems that protecting trade secrets and increasing profits is more of a priority than ensuring the safety of the products we use. Fortunately, there is a plethora of good information available that allows consumers to make informed decisions when purchasing personal care products.
