300% Rise in Cosmetics Complaints, Trump EPA Ignores Cancer-Linked Chemical in Personal Care Products
A new Northwestern University study revealed that consumer complaints have more than doubled for cosmetic products from 2015 to 2016, highlighting problems with the under-regulated multibillion-dollar beauty industry.
In fact, cosmetics companies and manufacturers are not legally required to share complaints about its products to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) meaning potentially harmful products are on our shelves today.
"You can create a cream tonight and sell it tomorrow. You don't need FDA approval for any of these kinds of things as long as it's for cosmetic purposes," Dr. Shuai Xu, an author of the report and resident physician in dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told ABC2 News.
According to the research, published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine, side effect complaints rose 78 percent to 706 in 2015, followed by a 300 percent increase to 1,591 adverse events last year. Hair care products were a top offender, especially WEN by Chaz Dean products.
"In 2014, the FDA began investigating WEN by Chaz Dean Cleansing Conditioners after directly receiving 127 consumer reports," the study states. "The FDA later learned the manufacturer had already received 21,000 complaints of alopecia and scalp irritation."
Despite scores of complaints of hair loss, scalp irritation and other problems, "the product remains on the market with the FDA currently soliciting additional consumer reports," the study adds.
Notably, the authors suggested that their study might even be underestimating the number of complaints.
"Here is a $400 billion industry with millions of products and multiple controversies, but we only had about 5,000 adverse events over the course of 12 years," Xu told Health. "That's very, very underreported."
The authors are calling for greater transparency and oversight in order to protect consumers.
"Let's mandate manufacturing forwarding of adverse events to the FDA," Xu added to ABC2 News. "Let's give the FDA authority to recall devices. Let's have a clear ingredient list or at least let the FDA have one, so that not only can we identify a specific product, we can identify hopefully what ingredient within that product is causing issues and that can be translated into multiple products after that."
Distributor Guthy-Renker released the following statement about the allegations against WEN products:
"The WEN family cares deeply about our customers, and we have a long track record of going above and beyond current industry standards. We welcome legislative and regulatory efforts to further enhance consumer safety across the cosmetic products industry. However, there is no credible evidence to support the false and misleading claim that WEN products cause hair loss. Millions of bottles have been sold over the last 16 years, which is a testament to the quality of this product."
Xu also told CNN he still thinks most cosmetics are safe to use.
"When it comes to cosmetics on the shelves that are dangerous, it's very hard to prove," Xu said. "In general, cosmetics are a very safe product class."
In a related vein, New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are petitioning the FDA to require manufacturers to remove the probable carcinogen 1,4-dioxane from their products. The chemical is found in personal care products such as shampoos, soaps and lotions.
"Consumers can't identify it and most importantly, it ends up in our water supply," Schumer said, noting that kidney and liver damage can also happen after long-term exposure to 1,4-dioxane.
According to the Environmental Working Group's (EWG) Skin Deep cosmetics database, about 8,000 products may contain 1,4-dioxane but companies are not legally obligated by the FDA to list the contaminant. 1,4-dioxane is not intentionally added to personal care products. Rather, it is an unintentional byproduct during the manufacturing process.
The Trump administration's U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a plan last week to determine whether and how to regulate 1,4-dioxane, but EWG has raised flags about how the assessment would ignore exposures from personal care products.
"The Trump plan would consider the risks posed by other exposures—including inhaling 1,4-dioxane in the air, and drinking and washing with 1,4-dioxane in tap water," Scott Faber, EWG's vice president of government affairs, explained. "But the Trump plan would not include exposures from products like toothpaste, mouthwash, sunscreens and shampoos—creating an incomplete picture of the risks posed by the chemical.
"The FDA could take action to ensure 1,4-dioxane is removed or virtually eliminated from shampoos, shower gels, body washes, foaming hand soaps, bubble baths and lotions. In addition to vacuum stripping, manufacturers could take steps to slow the formation of 1,4-dioxane as a byproduct."
Humans Have Created 9 Billion Tons of Plastic in the last 67 Years
By Tim Radford
Scientists have calculated yet another item on the human shopping list that makes up the modern world: plastics. They have estimated the mass of all the plastic bottles, bags, cups, toys, instruments and fabrics ever produced and tracked its whereabouts, as yet another index of the phenomenal change to the face of the planet made by recent human advance.
Altogether, since about 1950, with the birth of a new industry, more than 8.3 billion tonnes (or 9.1 tons) of synthetic organic polymers have been generated, distributed and discarded. Of that total, 6.3 billion tonnes are classified as waste.
Senators Urged to Join Bernie Sanders in Opposing Dirty Energy Bill
By Jessica Corbett
As Senate Democrats stay silent on an energy bill that environmental groups call "a pro-fracking giveaway to oil and gas interests that would commit America to decades more of dangerous fossil fuel dependence," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is receiving applause for speaking out against it.
"As a nation, our job is to move away from fossil fuels toward sustainable energy and energy efficiency. This bill does the opposite," Sanders said in a statement.
Exxon Sues Feds Over $2 Million Fine
ExxonMobil filed suit against the federal government last week, claiming that a $2 million fine levied against the company by the Treasury Department is "unlawful" and "capricious."
The Treasury Department fined Exxon Thursday morning, alleging that the oil giant displayed "reckless disregard" of U.S.-Russian sanctions in its dealings with Russian company Rosneft in 2014 under CEO Rex Tillerson.
Big Oil Forecast: Entering the Age of Stranded Assets
By Andy Rowell
For years, environmentalists have warned that due to climate change, there will be billions of barrels of oil that we will never be able to burn. These reserves will become what has increasingly been called "stranded assets."
To give you one example: In a new report, Friends of the Earth argued that "The coal, oil and gas in reserves already in production and development globally is more than we can afford to burn. There is no room for any new coal, oil or gas exploration and production.
Is America Ready for a Nation of Tiny Houses?
Late last year, the tiny house community celebrated a watershed moment—an official appendix in the 2018 version of the International Residential Code, the model building code used by most jurisdictions in the U.S.
"There are many things that are monumental in the adoption of tiny house construction codes by the IRC," cheered Thom Stanton, the CEO of small space developer, Timber Trails. "Among them, that architects, designers, builders, community developers and (maybe most importantly) zoning officials have a means of recognizing tiny houses as an official form of permissible dwelling."
Wow! Shocking Video Shows Astonishing Amount of Plastic Polluting Our Planet
The colossal mass of throwaway plastic—from straws to bags to bottles—has grown much faster than recycling and disposal efforts can contain it. You might even say this is obvious, no matter where you look.
As a result, places that were once considered pristine—such as Antarctica and the ocean floors of Australia—have become inundated with plastic waste.
Check out this video from National Geographic to watch underwater photographer Huai Su film a diver collecting an endless amount of plastic bottles that litter the seafloor off Xiaoliuqiu Island, Taiwan.
Coral Reef in Cancún Becomes World's First to Have Its Own Insurance Policy
A reef off the coast of Cancún will become the first in the world with its own insurance policy, testing a new strategy meant to encourage local investment in the wellbeing of the reef.
Under the policy, created by insurance company Swiss Re and the Nature Conservancy, local hotels and other organizations dependent on tourism will pay into the policy, receiving reimbursements to repair the reef and local beaches after natural disasters.
Organic Farmers Fight Release of GMO Moths
The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY) denounced the USDA's permit for the world's first open-air trials of the Genetically Engineered (GE) Diamondback moth to be released in Geneva, New York.
This announcement came concurrently with the availability of a final environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact for the field release of the GE Diamondback moths. NOFA-NY considers the Environmental Assessment lacking comprehensive health and environmental details.
