Do You Believe Cosmetics Cause Cancer?
One goal of the Beauty Brains is to find lies, myths, and cons in the beauty industry and expose them with through the shining light of science. Our hope is that the entire Beauty Brains community will become skeptical consumers not easily duped by exaggerated advertising, chemical bashing, scare tactics, and knee jerk reactions. We believe thinking is beautiful.
That’s why this story about what Americans believe about cancer is interesting. According to research by the American Cancer Society a large number of people believe many unsubstantiated claims about cancer.
Cancer misconceptions about cosmetics
1. 14.7% of Americans believe that personal care products can cause cancer.
Through the efforts of “Natural” cosmetic marketers and political action groups like the Environmental Working Group (EWG) it’s no wonder so many people fall for this. People seem to believe chemicals are evil and leading us to an early death. Just read some of the comments on our posts about mineral oil to understand how passionately some people believe.
But the independent scientists who research these questions say it’s a myth. Based on the best evidence available, we know cosmetics and personal care products do not cause cancer. Stop worrying about it.
2. 67.7% believe that the risk of dying of cancer is increasing.
The truth is that cancer rates in the United States have actually been DECREASING since the early 1990’s. Your risk of cancer is actually going down. It’s something to remember the next time your organic ingesting, vegetarian friend scoffs at you for enjoying a cheeseburger.
3. 6.2% of people believe the underwire in bras can cause breast cancer.
Really!? I figured this myth would’ve been “busted” long ago. Sigh, a skeptical Beauty Brains’ work is never done.
Beauty Brains bottom line
As critical thinkers you must always question your basic beliefs. Think about everything you passionately believe. Is it really true or does it make you feel good to think it’s true? Either way, skeptical thinking can quell your fears.
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Lucia Mancuso Says:
I find way to many people fear the most odd things.
Life is to short to fear everything. If you don’t have very good facts about something than don’t be afraid of it - or research it first.
My mom always reads about something causing cancer or something being bad for this or that. We are have enough common sense to try to live a moderate life and stressing to much about anything isn’t good for you.
Your mind is a powerful thing - if you don’t nourish it, you can have stress related illnesses easier than food or cosmetic related diseases.
Enjoying the simple things in life can be one of the best medicines.
georgi Says:
Yes, you’re right, but you can’t deny that in the past there were ingredients that can cause cancer and now they are prohibited. For example - formaldehyde (as preservative), DEA, MEA, TEA, MIPA + bronopol (=nitrosamines => cancer) and so on. You can say better, because you’re in the busines. Now there are a lot of articles that claim isobutylparaben causes breast cancer. Who can give us a guarantee that some of the modern ingredients are not dangerous too?
So I carefully read the ingredients list, avoid some chemicals and I try to use products with minimum ingredients.
Silmarien Says:
What about parabens and cancer?
thebeautybrains Says:
Silmarien, we wrote about parabens some time back. You can read it here.
http://thebeautybrains.com/2006/05/02/the-perils-of-parabens/
But basically, while there was one study that showed the inexplicable presence of parabens in some tumors, there was no control to show whether there was parabens in normal tissue. More research needs to be done. At the moment, the FDA does not believe parabens cause cancer.
thebeautybrains Says:
Georgi, in fact none of the ingredients you listed are prohibited.
According to the CIR (Cosmetic Ingredient Review) board only 10 ingredients have been banned by the FDA including; Bithinol, Chlorofluorocarbon propellants, Chloroform, Halogenated salicylanilides, mercury, methylene chloride, tallow derived from tainted cattle, trichloroethane, Vinyl Chloride, & Zirconium.
http://www.cir-safety.org/staff_files/banned.pdf
Additionally, the CIR has deemed 9 other ingredients “unsafe” including Chloroacetamide, ethoxyethanol, HC Blue No. 1, p-Hydroxyanisole, various Phenylenediamines, & Pyrocatechol.
http://www.cir-safety.org/staff_files/unsafe.pdf
The ingredients you site including formaldehyde, DEA, MEA, TEA, etc. are not actually banned. They are deemed “safe with qualifications”.
The reason most cosmetic companies removed them from products is that consumers have been made significantly afraid of these chemicals. People just won’t buy products with “Formaldehyde” on the ingredient list. The fact that it can be used safely is of little consolation.
You are correct that no one can guarantee the chemicals in cosmetics won’t cause cancer. It’s impossible to prove a negative. It’s similarly impossible to prove that natural products won’t cause cancer. In fact, the CIR has listed Juniper Berry extract as an ingredient with “insufficient data” to say that it’s safe. Just because it’s natural doesn’t mean it’s safe.
patientia Says:
Do nitrosamines penetrate skin?
thebeautybrains Says:
Not likely, but you wouldn’t want to put them on your skin to find out. Cosmetic companies try to minimize your exposure to nitrosamines.
James Says:
something interesting about your second “misconception” above regarding declining cancer rates in the U.S is that the decrease was only in Men. Now thats good news for me, but what do you tell the chess burger scoffing woman out there that are steadily being diagnosed with cancer year after year. Its funny when think which gender uses the most personal skin care products by far isn’t it? maybe that’s something to add to “misconception 1″?
Left Brain Says:
Thanks for your comments. What is your proof that cancer rates in women are not declining too?
Rod Says:
I believe they do. Check an all-natural alternative at http://www.pristinerecovery.com.