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CDC Finds 97 Percent of Americans Contaminated by Sunscreens

by Ellen Holder

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a new study showing that nearly all Americans are contaminated with oxybenzone, a widely-used sunscreen ingredient. This chemical so far has been linked to allergies, hormone disruption, and cell damage, as well as low birth weight in baby girls whose mothers are exposed during pregnancy. Oxybenzone is also a penetration enhancer, a chemical that helps other chemicals penetrate the skin. So where has the FDA been on this?

Apparently in the back pocket of the sunscreen industry. The Food and Drug Administration, again, has failed in its duty to protect the public from toxic chemicals like oxybenzone. Caving to the industry lobbyists, the agency has delayed final sunscreen safety standards for nearly 30 years. FDA issued a new draft of the standards last October under pressure from Environmental Working Group (EWG), but continues to delay finalizing them because of pressure from the industry.

In their online cosmetic safety database, EWG identifies nearly 600 sunscreens sold in the U.S. that contain oxybenzone, including leading brand names like Hawaiian Tropic, Coppertone, and Banana Boat, and many facial moisturizers as well. On top of that, they also show many of these so-called sunscreens offer inadequate protection from the sun. In fact, they found that sunlight also causes oxybenzone to form free radical chemicals that may be linked to cell damage, which is the exact opposite reason many women mistakenly use the sunscreen - to protect them from damaging free radicals which lead to premature aging!

And interestingly, as sunscreen sales have risen, so has the rate of skin cancers. Go figure. We've been pressured to believe that the sun is our enemy and we need to slather on loads of sunscreen to protect ourselves, when in actuality we need sunlight for our bodies to manufacture vitamin D. For those of us who are either fair skinned or just plain vain and worry about age spots and wrinkles, limiting our unprotected sun exposure to 20 minutes a day is adequate for our daily dose of vitamin D. For more fun in the sun, overexposure can be avoided by using a natural or organic sunscreen with a reflective barrier like zinc, instead of chemical sunscreens. Even a small amount of shea butter rubbed into the skin daily offers a bit of natural UV protection. Whatever you do, don't wait for the FDA to help you in your choice. Based on their history in this category, it could be another 30 years before safety standards are improved.

References:
1. Environmental Health Perspectives: Concentrations of the Sunscreen Agent, Benzophenone-3, in Residents of the United States: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003–2004
http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2008/1126...

2. Environmental Working Group: Comments from EWG on the U.S. FDA's Proposed Amendment of Final Monograph for Sunscreens
http://www.ewg.org/node/25705

3. Environmental Working Group: Americans Carry ‘Body Burden’ of Toxic Sunscreen Chemical
http://www.ewg.org/node/26212

Protecting Our Children From Toxic Toys

by Jo Hartley

Protecting one’s children is of utmost important to parents. Unfortunately, it is now necessary to educate ourselves about how to keep our children safe from potentially harmful chemicals in their toys. Parents should be striving to limit their children’s exposure to chemicals found in many toys on the market today. One chemical of concern is phthalates. Phthalates is a group of chemicals that is often added to plastic to increase its flexibility.

The phthalates found in some toys are used as a plastic softener for polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Sometimes PVC toys are labeled with a V or #3 inside the chasing arrows triangle, which is located on the bottom of a product. Unfortunately, most are not labeled. Typically, if a toy is made of a squishy plastic (think baby dolls) or if it is highly flexible plastic (like the plastic-like "fabric" used for some dolls) you should either avoid it or call the manufacturer to see if the product is made with PVC or phthalates.

There is no comprehensive list of toys manufactured with phthalates that concerned citizens can access. A resource currently available, however, is (www.HealthyToys.org) , which has a searchable database of over 1,200 toys. In addition, MomsRising.org has gone so far as to develop a text messaging system that uses the HealthyToys.org database. Parents as they are shopping can simply text "healthytoys" and the name of a specific toy or a type of toy or a toy manufacturer or retailer to ‘41411’ to find out whether a toy is safe for their children. MomsRising will respond immediately with a message.

In addition to phthalates, lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, bromine, antimony, chromium, tin, xylene, toluene, and bisphenol-A should all be avoided in children’s toys.

One mistake parents make is assuming that products must be proven safe before they can be sold and they trust that the government wouldn't allow unsafe toys to be sold. Government regulations are very outdated and ineffective when it comes to the ever-changing world of chemicals and their use in consumer products.

The government does not require companies to disclose the ingredients of their products, or to label them so consumers can make informed purchasing decisions.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) does not even have the authority to ensure that US toys are safe. The CPSC cannot legally test children's products before sale and unfortunately they do not have the capacity or funding to do this even if they so desired. Recalls are by-in-large voluntary, and they rarely happen. If they do occur, it is only because damage has been done.

Even if we had tougher regulations in place, there is still the issue of imported toys. Currently, there are only 15 staff people watching hundreds of ports of entry.

The U.S. chemical regulatory system needs revision. Approximately 80,000 chemicals are registered for use in everyday products and approximately 2,500 new ones are introduced each year. Most of these have not been adequately tested for potential health impacts on either children or developing fetuses. This is despite these two groups’ known vulnerability to chemicals. No chemicals have been tested for cumulative effects at this time either.

When choosing toys for your children, the best guideline is to buy items made from natural materials. Solid wood that is either unfinished or finished with a non-toxic finish or toys made of organic cotton, hemp, or wool are all good choices.

The good news is that there are many manufacturers who are committed to safe, PVC-free toys. Some of these manufacturers include: Brio, Chicco, Early Start, First Years, Ikea, Lamaze Infant Development, Lego, Little Tykes, Playmobil, Primetime Playthings, Ravensburger, Sassy and Tiny Love.

Companies that are eliminating or reducing PVC products and packaging include Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, Kmart, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Nike, and Apple. A comprehensive list of companies may be found at: (http://www.besafenet.com/pvc/companypolicies.htm) .

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