So, if you read our earlier blogs, What Toxins Are Lurking In Your Makeup? & Can Parabens Cause Cancer?, you are already aware that the FDA does not regulate what toxins are in cosmetics. Below is a rare mainstream media report about one of the hazards these chemicals have on our health. They will rarely tell you which brands to avoid for fear of losing sponsorship from this billion dollar industry. You need to take it upon yourself to research what these chemicals are. I assure you, you will want to throw everything you currently use away. (The good news) – There are many safe alternatives from companies that have been around for thirty or more years. These stories and studies are going to continue to gain attention as American’s start to become more aware. I hope it is 60 Minutes who blows the lid off and exposes these companies for knowing of the dangers, just like they did with the cigarette manufacturers.
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Phthalate chemicals in nail polish, hair sprays tied to raised Diabetes risk in women
July 16, 2012 2:30 PM (CBS News) Chemicals commonly found in beauty products such as nail polishes, hair sprays and perfumes may increase risk of diabetes for some women, new research suggests.
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Researchers analyzed urine samples from 2,350 women who participated in the long-running National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a nationally representative sample of American women. They were looking for concentrations of chemicals known as phthalates, which are often found in personal care products and in adhesives, electronics, products used to manufacture cars, toys, packaging and even some coatings for medications.
Phthalates are considered “endocrine-disrupting” because they can alter normal regulation of certain mechanisms in the body, including hormone regulation, and have been tied in previous research to diabetes and obesity risk, Dr. Kenneth Spaeth, director of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Center’s department of population health at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., told HealthPop. He was not involved in the study.
The researchers found that women with the highest concentrations of two types of phthalates – mono-benzyl phthalate and mono-isobutyl phthalate – were nearly two times more likely to have diabetes compared to women with the least amounts of these chemicals. Women with moderately high levels of the phthalates mono-n-butyl phthalate and di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate were 70 percent more likely to have diabetes compared to their counterparts.
The findings were published in Environmental Health Perspectives, a journal published by the government’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
“This is an important first step in exploring the connection between phthalates and diabetes,” said Dr. Tamara James-Todd, a researcher in women’s health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said in a press release. The researchers could not prove that phthalates caused diabetes or having diabetes increased concentrations of the chemicals in a person’s body.
“We know that in addition to being present in personal care products, phthalates also exist in certain types of medical devices and medication that is used to treat diabetes and this could also explain the higher level of phthalates in diabetic women,” she added. “So overall, more research is needed.”
One of the problems is that chemicals like phthalates are practically unavoidable, according to Spaeth.
“These chemicals are unfortunately ubiquitous,” Spaeth explained. “It’s pretty clear from studies that we’re exposed all day long to these various household or personal care products.”
Spaeth says it’s a real challenge to reduce phthalate exposure because sometimes the chemical is a metabolic byproduct of another ingredient or a product label may not say it contains phthalates only for phthalates to be found in the packaging the product came in, which does not need to be mentioned on a product label.
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