Long considered trade secrets allowed to skirt labeling regulations under the all-inclusive “fragrance” tag, Unilever, parent company to brands including Dove, Noxzema, and Lever 2000, just set a precedent pledging a detailed fragrance ingredients reveal of its popular personal care products.

Using the shopping app SmartLabel^TM as well as its own website, Unilever will disclose all ingredients in a product measuring higher than 0.01 percent, or a 100 parts per million by the end of 2018.

The multinational company will also detail product info including ingredient types and answer questions related to formulations, safety, and more.

“Unilever’s action is a game-changer for transparency in the personal care product market, and we expect other major companies to follow suit,” Environmental Working Group (EWG) President and Co-Founder Ken Cook said in a statement.

EWG is home to the SkinDeep database, the leading consumer resource about the safety of thousands of personal care products and ingredients.

According to the FDA, diethyl phthalate, or DEP, is commonly used in fragrance products. While the FDA says it poses no human health risks, EWG says exposure to phthalates may cause reproductive system birth defects in males, as well as hormone disruption.

“With this impressive display of leadership, Unilever has broken open the black box of fragrance chemicals and raised the bar for transparency across the entire personal care products industry – and beyond,” Cook said. “It may not happen overnight, but Unilever’s watershed actions will place enormous pressure on the rest of the market to respond and make it very difficult for other companies to continue to shield their fragrance ingredients from consumers.”

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Home Depot has said that it will phase out vinyl flooring that contains phthalates by the end of 2015. The mega home-improvement retailer is working with the Michigan-based non-profit Ecology Center to eliminate the chemical from its flooring.

Recent research has shown that most vinyl flooring contains phthalates, a chemical plasticizer that’s known to have negative health effects. The study found that 58 percent of vinyl flooring samples tested from national home improvement retailers contained the chemical at levels that exceed what’s considered safe by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission.

The study also looked at which retailers had adopted policies to eliminate phthalates from flooring and found that Home Depot was ahead of the game in their efforts to completely phase out the chemical by the end of the year.

“We congratulate The Home Depot on this landmark initiative,” said Andy Igrejas, director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families in a statement.  “As the world’s largest home improvement retailer, Home Depot’s new policy sends a strong signal to the marketplace that retailers want healthier building materials free of harmful chemicals like phthalates. We call on Lowe’s and other major home improvement retailers to join Home Depot in phasing out phthalates in flooring.”

Phthalates have been linked to asthma, allergies, reproductive diseases, changes in organ development, cancer, respiratory problems, diabetes, obesity, and autism. And while they’ve been banned in many children’s products and toys, they’re still found in vinyl flooring at dangerous levels. Phthalates can be especially harmful for children who are more vulnerable to the chemical because they’re still developing. Kids should be able to play freely on the floor without the fear of contamination.

The retailer has already eliminated phthalates from 75 percent of its vinyl flooring. Additionally, the study found the chemical in 100 percent of flooring samples at Lumber Liquidators and Ace Hardware. Phthalates were found in 85 percent of flooring samples at Lowe’s.

“Home Depot’s decision will make a hugely positive impact on indoor environmental quality,” predicted Bill Walsh, executive director of the Healthy Building Network. HBN’s 2014 report, Phthalate-free Plasticizers in PVC demonstrates these alternatives’ availability and growing use in vinyl flooring, and was a key resource in the coalition’s dialogue with Home Depot.

This study comes on the heels of an investigative report on Lumber Liquidators that found dangerous levels of formaldehyde in laminate flooring. The average level in Lumber Liquidators products was six or seven times higher than the acceptable levels, and in some cases, it was more than 20 times higher than acceptable levels. In one case, researchers thought that the testing machine was broken because the reading shot up so much.

This is a huge move from Home Depot and the hope is that it will push other retailers to take similar steps to eliminate this toxic plasticizer from flooring. Let’s see if Lowe’s, Ace Hardware, and Lumber Liquidators also step up to the plate and remove phthalates.

Related on EcoSalon

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Image: Mike Mozart

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 You know that toxic-smelling, headache-inducing perfume cloud you sometimes unwittingly walk into? The one that leaves you momentarily (or longer) queasy and taken aback? That is synthetic fragrance and it is in everything from shampoos and skincare to baby care products. It is also, of course, the mainstay in conventional perfumes. Thankfully, natural perfumes that you’d actually want to wear are now an option.

Synthetic Fragrance 411

Let’s back up to that nausea-provoking synthetic fragrance for a moment. A mainstream perfume is concocted of  a combination of synthetic ingredients. A chemical recipe created, and protected, by individual manufacturers. No two recipes may be alike, but the ingredients used are very similar. And very toxic.

These chemical cocktails can do more than make you feel bad. Phthalates, some of the most toxic (and ubiquitous) ingredients used in cosmetics and personal care products, are linked to hormonal disruptions, asthma, allergies, skin irritation, and the proliferation of cancerous tumors. While phthalates and other harmful chemical ingredients are still vastly under regulated here in the US, the European Union has banned their use in personal care products.

Diethyl phthalate (DEP)may be the toxic culprit’s name, but you will be hard pressed to find it on a perfume ingredient listing. Most perfume manufacturers slide their synthetic fragrance ingredients under the blanket term fragrance. And it’s perfectly legal. Terms like fragrance and parfum are permitted due to a FDA loophole which allows cosmetics manufacturers to guard their secret recipes. Yes, those celeb scents you see at your local drugstore are packing toxic ingredients under the guise of trade secret.

Obviously this ambiguous labelling practice makes identifying what’s really in your fragrance pretty tricky. Now here’s the real clincher. Many nontoxic perfume makers also utilize the trade secret loophole, using fragrance on their product labels. Their ingredients may be absolutely natural but you may still see this vague term on the listing. Brands committed to safety in cosmetics most often include a notation under the listing, connoting their use of natural fragrance ingredients. Something like: *from natural essential oils. If you are unsure whether a product contains chemical or natural fragrance ingredients, check the brand website for an ingredient commitment or ask me and I will find out for you. Remember, no full ingredient disclosure should raise concern about a brand’s ingredients.

A New Day for Natural Perfumes

Nontoxic perfumes are made with a combination of floral waters, floral and plant essences, and natural essential oils. If you are a scent wearer, natural perfume is the answer to this healthy lifestyle quandary. Skeptical? You’ve most likely sampled a natural fragrance and had an underwhelming experience. While organic skincare, makeup, body care, even hair care have come a million miles and perform as well as their toxin-laden counterparts, perfume hadn’t quite made the jump. I too have been repeatedly disappointed by the latest natural scent time and again. Until recently, that is.

Finally.

There are now natural perfumes that smell delicious and less like an old vial of neroli from the ’70s. (No offense if neroli is your gig.) The best part, you can enjoy these little beauties without absorbing the toxic nastiness of chemical fragrance.

5 Natural Perfumes That Smell Fantastic

Tata Harper Love Potion – The pinnacle of my newfound love for natural perfume. The perfect mixture of rose, citrus, and something earthy. I love myself more when I wear it.

Lotus Wei Infinite Love Perfume – So softly floral and fresh, yet really lasts. This one smells like you worked in a floral essence lab all day long. In only the very best way.

Strange Invisible Perfumes Eau de Parfum Prima Ballerina – A cross between Love Potion and something a bit spicier. This one is perfect for evening because it offers just a hint of duskiness.

Honoré Des Prés Love Coconut – Who isn’t a sucker for coconut? It induces that warm summertime feel and this perfume smells almost drinkable. Use year ‘round to boost mood.

Abel Organics Vintage ‘13 – This unique fragrance works on either guys or gals, bestowing a woody spiciness. Like a walk through a forest on a late summer evening. That was kinda cheesy, but once you experience it you’ll totally understand.

Safe, beautifully scented, sans the toxic chemical cloud. You may just find that new (healthy) signature scent after all.

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Image via Alexander Shustov at Unsplash, cc

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A handful of recent studies continue to find high levels of toxic materials in shoes. Here are the four major offenders to be aware of.

No ingredient labels come attached your new shoes, and yet, it is still as important for your health to understand what they are made with. Shoe manufacturing is a complicated process with many steps to assemble, and pieces that come together are often filled with toxic materials that pose serious health risks for workers and wearers alike.

A handful of recent studies, detailed below, continue to find high levels of chemicals in shoes. The series of toxins used in making shoes lends to the fact that Greenpeace’s Detox campaign to encourage brands to eliminate toxic chemicals from their products, is extremely timely. Eighteen major global brands have already committed to Detox, including Nike, Adidas, Puma, H&M, Zara, Levi’s, Uniqlo, and Victoria’s Secret. As a customer, you can show your support for the campaign by signing the Fashion Manifesto.

Below are four toxic ingredients to be aware of that are found in shoes.

Chromium

Chromium tanning is present in 80-85 percent of all globally tanned leather. Chromium, a naturally occurring metal and known carcinogen, is extremely toxic to workers and still can be present even for the wearer. The element is also soluble in water, entering waterways and commonly accumulating in fish.

Plasticiser Phthalates

A recent study by the Consumer Council tested 28 pairs of shoes, in which 15 were found to have higher than regulated traces of phthalates. Phthalates are used to soften plastics, and the chemical was found in shoes that were made with plastic. Although this substance is not easily absorbed by the body, off-gases can be inhaled and increase risk of asthma, and even cause hormonal unbalance.

Nonylphenol Ethoxylates (NPEs)

Added to rubber and plastic products during the manufacturing process, companies like GAP, Disney, Adidas, American Apparel and Burberry were found to have detectable levels of NPEs in their products. Although stable and unreactive, NPEs can accumulate in the body and work as a hormone disruptor.

Dimethyl Fumarate (DMF)

Banned in Europe in 2009, DMF is still found in leather shoes, as well as handbags, and other leather products. Used as an anti-molding agent in leather, DMF can cause skin burns and rashes when the substance comes in contact with body heat. A recent three-month study by the Council of Textile and Fashion Industries revealed 25 percent of the shoes tested were contained with the toxic chemical.

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image: Luz Adriana Villa A

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Are dangerous chemical toxins hiding in your personal care products? Thanks to a new cosmetics database released by The California Safe Cosmetics Program, it only takes a few clicks to find out.

Crazy as it might seem, a large portion of the personal care products sold in America contain ingredients known or suspected to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. These toxins have nearly unpronounceable names and are hidden inside shampoos, lotions, make-up and other products we slather all over our bodies on a daily basis.

To help consumers become more informed about what they’re being exposed to, The California Safe Cosmetics Program (CSCP) has created an online cosmetics database that makes it simple to find out if your favorite lipstick is putting you at risk for a life threatening disease.

“Searches can be done on a type of product, a specific product name, or a brand, chemical or company name. About 475 companies have submitted information for about 30,000 products so far, and the chemicals in the database include phthalates, mercury and mercury compounds, toluene and formaldehyde, among other known toxicants,” reports SF Gate.

Creators of the cosmetics database point out that just because a product contains a potentially harmful ingredient, it’s not necessarily a risk. Manufacturers are required to report the presence of a chemical, even if it’s only trace amounts.  Some chemicals are considered safe at certain levels of exposure. Although amount of ingredient is not listed on the website, it’s important to consider not just the levels of a single exposure, but cumulative exposure over a lifetime.

Encouragingly, the cosmetics database also contains information about about each of the chemical ingredients, and how chemical exposure can affects consumer health. Some health advocates say this website is an important tool for consumers that will continue the fight for safer cosmetics.

“The database reveals a snapshot of a Wild West industry where cosmetics companies can and are using a shocking array of unsafe and cancer-causing chemicals in seemingly innocent products,”  Janet Nudelman, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which is part of the Breast Cancer Fund, told SF Gate. “It will also keep the pressure on companies to reformulate products to remove chemicals linked to adverse health effects.”

Learn more about what’s in your cosmetics and personal care products at: www.safecosmeticsact.org

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The post Dangerous Toxins In Personal Care Products Exposed in Online Cosmetics Database appeared first on EcoSalon.

Common endocrine disruptors are the focus of a new dirty dozen list of toxins to avoid.

You’re likely familiar the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen–a list of the most pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables in the store. Recently, EWG partnered with the Keep a Breast Foundation to develop a report on endocrine disruptors for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“There is no end to the tricks that endocrine disruptors can play on our bodies: increasing production of certain hormones; decreasing production of others; imitating hormones; turning one hormone into another; interfering with hormone signaling; telling cells to die prematurely; competing with essential nutrients; binding to essential hormones; accumulating in organs that produce hormones,” states the Dirty Dozen report.

Here are 5 of the worst poisons on the new Dirty Dozen list (and how to keep them out of your home).

1. BPA

BPA, commonly found in plastics and food packaging, has been linked to breast cancer as well as other types of cancers. Other potential side effects of exposure to BPA include reproductive problems, obesity, early puberty, and heart disease. What’s worse, 93 percent of Americans have BPA in their bodies, including most children.

How to Avoid BPA

• Eat fresh instead of canned foods.
• Say no to receipts because thermal paper is often coated with BPA.
• Avoid using #7 plastics.

2. Dioxin

Dioxins disrupt female and male sex hormones, and research has shown that exposure to low levels of dioxins in the womb can permanently reduce sperm counts. It’s also a powerful carcinogen that impacts reproductive and immune health.

How to Avoid Dioxins

• Unfortunately, the ongoing industrial release of dioxins means that they’re hard to avoid in our food system.
• Animal products are most likely contaminated so reduce or eliminate meat, eggs, fish, and butter.

3. Atrazine

Low levels of the herbicide atrazine has been shown to feminize male frogs. Atrazine is commonly used on corn crops and often contaminates drinking water. It has been linked to breast tumors, delayed puberty, and prostate inflammation.

How to Avoid Atrazine

• Buy organic food whenever possible.
• Filter your water using reverse osmosis filtration.

4. Phthalates

Phthalates, like BPA, are becoming recognized as an endocrine disruptor to avoid. They trigger cell death in testicular cells as well as causing hormone changes and reducing mobile sperm. Phthalates have also been linked to obesity, diabetes, birth defects in the male reproductive system, and thyroid problems.

How to Avoid Phthalates

• Avoid plastic containers.
• Avoid plastic wrap made with PVC.
• Avoid using #3 plastics.
• Choose personal care products that are free of phthalates.

5. Perchlorate

Perchlorate is a potent environmental toxin. When it gets into your system it alters the thyroid, which regulates metabolism in adults as well as proper brain and organ development in infants and young children.

How to Avoid Perchlorate

• Filter drinking water through reverse osmosis.
• Get enough iodine to reverse the impact that perchlorate can have on your thyroid system.

Check out the rest of Dirty Dozen list of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals

Related on EcoSalon:
BPA and Infertility: What’s Really Going On?
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14 Fashion Brands Test Positive for Hormone Disrupting Chemicals

Image: EWG

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It’s a goal of the green movement: Everyday access to healthier elements we can incorporate into our lives. Health and beauty is no exception, and you are officially out of excuses for not buying alternative pure and natural products over poison-filled cosmetics when you have the chance.

Here’s the glowing skinny on some easy stops – even your neighborhood drugstore  – where you can evolve into that easy, breezy, and synthetic-free, cover girl of your dreams.

CVS Pharmacy

Getting that prescription filled? Shop cosmetics and skincare while you are at it through the Beauty 360 assortment at this large drug emporium. Many of the products included meet a growing customer demand for healthier ingredients without phthalates and other dangerous chemicals to add scent or other agents. Among the featured goodies: 100 percent Pure body scrubs;  Plant Love eye pencils and bamboo shadows; and Marina Cosmetics Hydrating Lip Gloss.

2. Whole Foods

If you aren’t buying the benefits of mineral cosmetics, listen to this Whole Foods podcast. It explains how synthetics interfere with the immune system and preventing nasty skin reactions. I love the selection of natural make-ups, creams and elixirs at this marketplace – an obvious natural source for everything wholesome. You can get it all here, from baby balms to pure shampoos.

3. Walgreens

There used to be two of these drugstores on the avenue near my home. That’s how ubiquitous Walgreens has become! And oftentimes, I have picked up a Neutrogena mascara or an Almay eyeliner in a pinch, knowing the hypoallergenic brands are better than the alternative for people like me with sensitive skin. The drug outlet has also introduced pure creams like the Noah’s Naturals line, free of sulfates, parabens, propylene glycol, petrolatum, phthalates or animal by-products (and made without animal testing). It also sells some mineral shadows, although since they are made in China I’m wary of the purity.

4. Pharmaca

Located in various cities in California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and New Mexico, the  Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy functions like the typical pharmacy, only it fills holistic and alternative prescriptions alongside the traditional ones. But when it comes to cosmetics and body care, you will only find the cleanest brands made with natural herbs and minerals – like Jane Iredale blushes and Dr. Hauschka ultra-fine bronzer with jojoba oil and carrot extract. Find locations here.

5. Shop Online

An obvious choice for consumers who find it hard to get unplugged, there are sites like Tartecosmetics which offer one-stop surfing for everything from natural lip stains to anti-wrinkle foundation, eyeliners, mineral powder, bronzers, self-tanners and eye shadows. Company founder, Maureen Kelly, says she started out peddling natural products in her one bedroom apartment in 1999 when she couldn’t access nourishing cosmetics sans the synthetic formulas. Her motto: Be green, be smart, be tarte. Apparently, she has a Hollywood following among those hip to the healthy. There are tons of other brands out there you can locate with your search engine.

Image: hattiesburgmemory

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Sugar coated tablets are meant to protect people from the medicine upsetting their bodies. But now a new study has found sugar coating might itself be bad for the body.

The study, sponsored by the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority and published in Toxicology Letters, has found that just one sugar coated tablet of an easy to obtain over-the-counter medication “can raise the levels of phthalates in the body by 100 fold before being quickly eliminated.”

The fact that it’s quickly eliminated is great, but the fact that it even gets into the body isn’t. And does it really go away all together in someone who is taking the medication for long term use, or will the phthalates level remain elevated and cause the patient to be at increased risk of endocrine related health illnesses?

According to the study’s authors, if drug manufacturers would simply take the phthalates out of medicines, exposure would avoided. Obvious enough, but it will probably require more studies before that sort of change occurs.

– via The Daily Green

Image: jepoirrier

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Many moons ago I wrote about an eco-conscious baby product company by the name of ZoLi. Now that I have a little baby of my own I’ve had a chance to try out some of ZoLi’s products and promises, and let me tell you, they deliver.

Health-conscious parents will be happy to know that all ZoLi products are BPA and phthalate-free.  (No endocrine disruptors leaching out of the plastic and into your baby’s body.) And their philosophy extends to their recycled paper and soy ink packaging.

But beyond all that, ZoLi’s products are just plain good.

The Baby Ohm ($20, above) is a light, portable, easy-to-clean diaper-changing mat that’s like a little yoga mat for baby. It’s more attractive than any of the other diaper mats I’ve seen and best of all there’s no off-gassing plastic smell to make diaper changing any stinkier than it needs to be.

For teething babies, the Munch teether ($5) is just lovely. The soft, textured silicone seems so much more pleasant to chew on than hard plastic, and it’s non-toxic (free of nitrosamine and PVC).

Parents looking for safe plastic bottles, ZoLi’s BPA and phthalate-free bottles and silicone anti-colic nipples are just what you need. And although my baby is many months away from eating solid foods, I’ve already used the pretty colored stackable snack dispenser ($15) to stow away nuts, sliced strawberries and other little snacks for myself.

Three cheers to ZoLi, a company created by eco-conscious parents, making our world a better place for babies, one product at a time.

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A new study conducted by Swedish and American scientists accidentally uncovered a possible link between an environmental chemical and autism.

The original focus of the study was to look at causes of allergies and indoor air pollutants. But one of the questions asked of the Swedish families taking part in the study turned up an interesting curve ball. On asking the families what type of flooring was in their houses, the researchers discovered that there was a high incidence of children with autism in homes that had vinyl floor covering.

It’s known that vinyl floors can emit phthalates. And previous studies have already shown a link between phthalates and allergies and asthma. In 2004, for example,  a study found that there was a higher rate of asthma and allergies among children living in households with dust containing phthalates. But this is the first time that a possible connection between phthalates and autism has been uncovered.

Researchers discovered, on further analysis of the survey data, that  four environmental factors in particular seem to be associated with autism: vinyl flooring, the mother’s smoking, family economic problems, and condensation on windows.

With the incidence of autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder, having increased tremendously over the past 20 years, these findings could be an important key to understanding why.

The scientists themselves have found the connections “intriguing and baffling” and warn that their results are “far from conclusive”.  However, with these clues indicating that environmental conditions are contributing to autism disorders,  they believe that further study is warranted.

Image: Jesse Millan

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