Evidence that products that promise youth, beauty and sexual attractiveness may actually impair fertility and increase the effects of ageing, is contained in a new briefing from Women’s Environmental Network (WEN).

Getting Lippy: cosmetics, toiletries and the environment¹ exposes the widespread use of synthetic chemicals, some of which are linked to fertility problems, cancer, allergies and other health effects.

The cosmetics industry is big business – UK consumers spend £5bn a year and women can use more than 20 different products as part of their daily routine.

Getting Lippy says: “There is increasing evidence that we are all victims of a great big con: the very products the glossy ads suggest will make us look younger, healthier and fitter, and be sexually and socially more successful, may contain ingredients that impair fertility, increase the effects of ageing, disrupt hormones, and are linked to cancer, allergies or other health problems.”
It explains that most modern cosmetics are “complex mixtures of industrially produced synthetic chemicals” and adds: “Individually these cosmetic products contain very small amounts of chemical ingredients – it is the cumulative and combined effect of applying these ingredients in the many everyday products which comprise our daily routine that gives cause for concern.”
In a random check, WEN found preservatives suspected of mimicking the female hormone, oestrogen, in 57% of products. The briefing also contains information about the history, packaging, advertising and labelling of cosmetics and toiletries, plus sections on the law, certain ingredients and a list of ideas for action.

Helen Lynn, WEN’s health co-ordinator, said: “We shouldn't have to stop using our lippy, but we have a right as consumers to expect the cosmetics we buy are safe for ourselves, our families and the wider environment. One of the first things people ask when they find out their favourite products may contain potentially harmful ingredients is ‘what products can I use?’ This is not an easy question to answer - the best thing is to become an informed consumer, choose safer products and demand your favourite cosmetics company removes those ingredients you are concerned about from their products. Getting Lippy and the companies list should help people be more savvy shoppers.”

It is accompanied by an online list of companies that have said they don’t use two sets of ingredients WEN is most concerned about². The list gives information about the companies’ other product claims to help consumers make more informed choices about the cosmetics and toiletries they buy.

Both the briefing and the companies list can be viewed online at www.wen.org.uk/cosmetics. They are produced as part of WEN’s campaign, Ending the Cosmetics Cover-up.

Ends

For more information contact Liz Sutton, Press & Information Co-ordinator or Helen Lynn, Health Co-ordinator 020 7481 9004.

Notes to Editors
1. Getting Lippy uses the term ‘cosmetics’ to cover the whole range of beauty products and toiletries, including make-up, bath products, skin-care, hair care and perfumes. It is available as a pdf (unreferenced and referenced versions) from www.wen.org.uk/cosmetics. A printed copy (unreferenced) is available price 80p from WEN, PO Box 30626, London E1 1TZ.

2. Criteria for inclusion on the list are that the company claims not to use parabens, the preservatives mentioned above, or synthetic fragrances, which can contain between 50 and 100 chemical ingredients and may indicate the presence of phthalates linked to reproductive damage. The list is not an endorsement by WEN of the companies or their products, but is intended to act as a guide to their claims based on a combination of their own product information, and their responses to a WEN questionnaire. It can be viewed at www.wen.org.uk/cosmetics

3. A series of factsheets about different types of products, will be published over the next few months and will also be available from the website.

4. Other facts in the briefing are:

• UK consumers spend £5bn a year on cosmetics


• Some 93% of British women use cosmetics in some shape or form - making us some of the highest users in Europe


• 81% of UK women use lipstick - regular wearers could consume nearly 2lb of it in their lifetime


• women can use more than 20 different products as part of their daily routine.


• 80% of boys aged 9-14 at a WEN workshop reported using deodorant every day; hair gel was their favourite cosmetic, perfume was the favourite among girls. (Puberty is a time when youngsters are particularly vulnerable to exposure to tiny doses of hormone-disrupting chemicals).


• triclosan, a common anti-bacterial agent, found in some toothpastes and vaginal washes, was found in 60% of human breast milk samples in a Swedish study.


• The US Food & Drug Administration has estimated as many as 10,000 adverse reactions to ‘anti-ageing’ ingredients known as AHAs and an industry-sponsored study has indicated they may increase the effects of exposure to sunlight.


• There is evidence that beauty workers are more at risk: hair stylists practising for 10 or more years are up to five times more likely to get bladder cancer.