ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
Cancer-Risk Cosmetics
By Mary Anne Dunkin
Could the products you use to condition your hair, paint your nails, smooth facial lines or even screen your skin from the sun's harmful rays increase your risk of breast cancer? Jeanne Rizzo, executive director of the Breast Cancer Fund, a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to identify and advocate for the elimination of environmental and other preventable causes of breast cancer, recommends that women visit the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database (safecosmetics.org) to find out.
According to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C., 97 percent of hair relaxers, 82 percent of hair dyes, 66 percent of hair removers, 45 percent of sunless tanning products and 36 percent of facial moisturizers may be contaminated with a cancer-causing impurity called 1,4-dioxane.
To find out if the products you use contain this or one of hundreds of other potentially harmful agents, you can check out the group's interactive database of nearly 25,000 products. The database will not only tell you which chemicals are in the products you are using or considering, but also can suggest alternatives.
By educating yourself you can begin to make simple changes, which in turn can make a difference for all women, Rizzo says. "Professional women have purchasing power. We are the ones who drive the economy," she says. "We can make choices with what we buy or don't buy. We can say, 'I'm not going to use this nail polish because it has formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. I am going to buff my nails this week.' We can make a tremendous change in the cosmetics industry. This is something professional women have the opportunity to do."
Leading the Way
The Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors (BCERF) at Cornell University is devoted to lowering the risk and incidence of cancer by promoting methods of sound decision-making at personal and public levels. Since the program began in 1995, BCERF has been funded by grants. It is currently funded by the New York State Departments of Health and Environmental Conservation, as well as by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Breast Cancer and Environment Research Centers (BCERC), a seven-year project jointly funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Cancer Institute, studies the impact of prenatal-to-adult environmental exposures that may predispose a woman to breast cancer.
The Breast Cancer Fund is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to identify and advocate for the elimination of environmental and other preventable causes of breast cancer, including toxic chemicals and radiation. Among the Fund's most notable projects are biennial state-of-the-evidence reports on what is known about the connection between the environment and breast cancer.
The Silent Spring Institute is a collaboration of scientists, physicians, health advocates and community activists and a leading research institution using multidisciplinary approaches to identify the links between the environment and women's health, especially breast cancer.
Compounds That Cause Breast Tumors in Animals
The Silent Spring Institute/Susan G. Komen for the Cure database contains 216 compounds that cause breast tumors in animals. Of those:
- 73 have been present in consumer products or as contaminants in food;
- 35 are air pollutants, from vehicles, manufacturing or other sources;
- 25 have been associated with occupational exposures affecting more than 5,000 women a year;
- 29 are produced in the United States in large amounts, often exceeding 1 million pounds per year.
