Nano Materials in Personal Care Products

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For Immediate Release, October 10, 2006

Contact: Lauren Sucher, EWG (202) 667-6982

 

Hundreds of Personal Care Products Contain Poorly Studied Nano-materials

FDA Concerned About Hazards But Lacks Authority

to Require Pre-market Safety Studies

 

 

 

(WASHINGTON) — An Environmental Working Group (EWG) computer analysis

of 25,000 personal care product labels found that more than 250

products on the market today contain one or more of 57 different types

of nano-scale or micronized ingredients identified on product labels.

Another 9,500 products contain ingredients that are available in

nano-form, but were not labeled as either nano-sized or

conventional-sized on the label. The absence of a clear government

definition for nano-materials makes quantifying their presence in

personal care products even more difficult.

 

None of the nano-scale materials identified have been substantiated

for safety by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the industry's

own Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel (CIR). In fact, only 11

percent of conventional chemical ingredients in cosmetics have been

assessed for safety by the personal care products industry's own CIR.

 

" The industry may have the studies to support the safety of these

nano-materials, but they are not required to make any of this

information available to the public, " said Jane Houlihan, vice

president for research at EWG, and author of the EWG assessment.

" Manufacturers seem to be following the pattern they established with

conventional chemical ingredients — put poorly tested chemicals into

personal care products and do the science later if at all. "

 

But with nano-sized materials the stakes could be much higher.

Nano-materials are potentially quite hazardous and unpredictable

because, according to the FDA, their small size and extremely high

ratio of surface area to volume can produce chemical or physical

properties that are very different from larger materials.

 

In spite of these potential dangers, FDA cannot require pre-market

safety studies of nano-materials used in personal care products under

the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. While all nano-materials used

personal care products must be " substantiated for safety, " the FDA has

not defined safety for nano-materials, and the industry does not have

to disclose the science supporting this claim to the FDA or the

public. Typically, the industry relies on its own CIR panel to assess

ingredient safety, but to date the CIR has not assessed a single

nano-material.

 

Before industry is allowed to introduce any more nano-materials into

personal care products, the FDA must:

 

Define, through a public process, what substantiation of safety means

for nano-materials.

Require industry to make public all of the studies it has

substantiating the claim that products containing nano-materials are

safe.

Identify the presence of nano-materials in all products.

Request information on particle size from all personal care product

manufacturers.

Please visit ewg.org for a list of nano-materials, micronized

ingredients and the products they are found in.

 

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The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit research organization

based in Washington, DC that uses the power of information to protect

human health and the environment. The Group's research on ingredients

in personal care products is viewable online at

http://www.ewg.org/issues/siteindex/issues.php?issueid=5005.

 

 

 

http://ewg.org/issues/cosmetics/20061010/index.php