Is makeup making kids sick? Most U.S. children exposed to cancer-causing chemicals in cosmetics

NEW YORK — Think twice the following time your youngster desires face paint for a fancy dress, or some glitter for a celebration. Unsettling new findings from Columbia University and the non-profit Earthjustice stories the vast majority of children rising up in the United States use makeup and physique merchandise that will comprise probably dangerous chemicals and carcinogens like lead and asbestos.
Study authors performed over 200 surveys and located that 79 p.c of oldsters report their kids (ages 12 and youthful) use makeup and physique merchandise marketed towards children. More particular examples embody glitter, face paint, and lip gloss.
Earlier analysis warns that these merchandise usually comprise poisonous chemicals like lead, asbestos, PFAS, phthalates, and formaldehyde. Moreover, the poisonous chemicals discovered particularly in kids’ makeup and physique merchandise (CMBP), comparable to heavy metals, seem to be notably dangerous to each infants and children. Such chemicals, whether or not producers are including them deliberately or they seem as contaminants, have a hyperlink to quite a few well being issues like most cancers, neurodevelopmental hurt, and different severe and irreversible well being penalties.
“There is rising proof of dangerous elements usually included in grownup cosmetics and CMBPs, and children are extra biologically vulnerable to the consequences of toxicants,” says examine co-first writer Eleanor A. Medley, who co-led the examine with Kendall E. Kruchten whereas each accomplished their MPHs in environmental well being sciences at Columbia Mailman, in a college launch.
“In this context, it will be important to uncover how makeup and physique merchandise are being utilized by children to characterize threat and enhance security,” Kruchten provides.
Which children are utilizing makeup essentially the most?
Among all surveyed children, roughly 54 p.c use CMBP on a minimum of a month-to-month foundation. Another 12 p.c use CMBP day by day, and roughly 20 p.c use CMBP for eight hours or extra at a time. A 3rd of children even reported unintentionally ingesting the merchandise over the previous 12 months. Over a 3rd of the children polled have been Latino, with 65 p.c of that group reporting CMBP use. Moreover, in comparability to different racial teams, Latino children reported utilizing CMBP extra usually than another demographic.
These findings come simply as a number of states, comparable to New York and Washington, have began to contemplate tightening client rules round toys, makeup, and private care merchandise.
“Children are notably susceptible to opposed well being dangers related to chemicals usually discovered in makeup and physique merchandise,” explains senior writer Julie Herbstman, PhD, professor of environmental well being sciences and director of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. “In addition to dermal publicity by means of the pores and skin, behavioral patterns comparable to hand-to-mouth exercise could improve publicity to merchandise by means of unintentional ingestion. Additionally, children’s small physique dimension, speedy development fee, growing tissues and organs, and immature immune programs make them biologically vulnerable to the consequences of toxicants.”
“It is alarming that business is being allowed to promote makeup and physique merchandise marketed to children that comprise extraordinarily poisonous chemicals. Findings from this examine can assist federal businesses higher perceive how children are utilizing these merchandise and can hopefully spur businesses to act to defend children from poisonous chemical exposures,” concludes Earthjustice Attorney Lakendra Barajas. “Unfortunately, at the moment little is being achieved on the federal stage to defend children from poisonous chemicals in children’s makeup and physique merchandise.”
The examine is revealed in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

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