Research raises questions about common cosmetic ingredient

The report from government scientists was unsettling: Women of childbearing age absorbed more of a chemical linked to birth defects than did other groups examined in a small study.

The likely explanation, an environmental group maintains, is an ingredient that Procter & Gamble Co. and other manufacturers sometimes use to keep nail polish strong but pliable to prevent it from chipping.

The chemical, dibutyl phthalate or DBP, has been shown to cause birth defects in rodents, damaging the testicles and reducing the sperm count of males exposed in the womb.

Scientists at Cincinnati-based P&G re-evaluated their own studies of and concluded that consumers had nothing to worry about.

"That work did confirm that we are well within the margin of safety on our products," said Cheryl G. Hudgins, a spokeswoman for P&G, which owns the Oil of Olay, Max Factor and Cover Girl brands.

While waiting for the results of a bigger government study, the Environmental Working Group is trying to alert pregnant women, nursing mothers and those trying to have a baby about the possibility of fetal exposure to DBP. The chemical is not absorbed through fingernails, but possibly from fumes as the woman opens the bottle or via the skin while washing.

The environmental group searched U.S. Patent Office records to find out where young women might encounter the chemical, pronounced THAL-ate.

It was listed in patents for powders, lotions, dentures, sunscreen, anti-perspirant and chewing gum, but nail polish seemed to be the product most likely to explain the higher absorption among young women, Environmental Working Group analyst Jane Houlihan said.

The group found that Procter & Gamble Co. held the most patents, 37, listing DBP as either an essential or optional nail polish ingredient, followed by 10 for L'Oreal and four apiece for Lever Brothers, LVMH Recherche, and Shiseido Co.

Houlihan said most nail polish the group checked does not contain DBP, but buyers might have to bring a magnifying glass to the cosmetics counter to find out which ones do. Some small bottles have ingredient lists with very fine print _ literally, set in type that's smaller than a flea.

Some of the more expensive polishes print the ingredient lists on paper brochures inserted into the boxes."You have to buy the box to find out what's in it," complained Houlihan.

The chemical has been used for more than 60 years as an ingredient, not just in nail polish but also lotions, detergents, solvents and wood finishes.

Irene Malbin of the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association issued a written statement pointing to a review by an independent scientific body that found phthalates to be safe when used as ingredients in cosmetics.

She also noted that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration "can take immediate action to stop the sale of any product" that isn't safe.

"Consumers can have confidence in their cosmetics given their oversight by FDA and long history of safe use," she said.

Consumers might have less confidence, said the Environmental Working Group's Mike Casey, if they knew the FDA doesn't test any cosmetic products before they're sold.

"The FDA takes the company's word for it that the products are safe, then people use them until someone figures out that they're not safe," he said.

Cosmetic companies do their own testing, and have to abide by a law that bans the use of poisonous or harmful substances that might injure users under normal conditions. If there's evidence of a problem with a product on the market, the FDA can request, but not order, a recall.

In 1998, the National Environmental Trust tested soft plastic children's toys, such as infant teething rings, and found that dozens of them contained phthalates.

Toys 'R' Us removed the toys from its shelves, and Wal-Mart, Sears, Target, Kmart, Shopko and Warner Brothers Studio Stores soon followed.

The manufacturers Chicco, Little Tikes, Disney, Mattel, Evenflo, Safety 1st, The First Years, Sassy, Gerber, Shelcore Toys and Hasbro then announced plans to stop making teethers and rattles with plastics containing phthalates.

Scientists at the Consumer Product Safety Commission subsequently decided "few if any children" were at risk because of phthalates in their teething toys.

But Houlihan said those and other past studies of phthalates didn't have the advantage of the new testing method employed in the Centers for Disease Control research released in September.

The research for the first time was able to look at what was excreted in people's urine, measuring actual absorption into the body.

A total of 289 people were tested for DBP and its cousins, diethyl phthalate and benzylbutyl phthalate. The results showed the highest levels of phthalates in women 15- to 45-years-old.

Since phthalates move through the body over a matter of days and don't accumulate in tissue, a consistently elevated measurement would indicate exposure over time.

"There are questions about how much exposure, and how much of a dose can cause an impact (to a fetus) at the earliest stage of development," said Houlihan. "We just don't know, but we feel it's important for women to know there's at least a potential problem for the male reproductive system _ atrophied testicles, undescended testicles, defective prostates and reduced sperm counts."

Reproductive disorders have been demonstrated in the offspring of rats exposed to high doses of DBP, but an expert panel convened by the federal Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction concluded in October that more study was needed before it could raise any red flags about the chemical.

No studies have been done to equate the levels of rat exposure with levels of primate exposure, the panel wrote, adding, "In the absence of such a study, the rodent data must be considered relevant and critical for human risk examinations."