TO DIE FOR

Among the cosmetic toxins that consumer advocates are most concerned about are nitrosamines, a group of potent carcinogens that contaminate a wide range of cosmetic products, from shampoos to hand lotions and sunscreens. One of these nitrosamines, N-nitrosodiethanolamine (NDELA), is formed when a common contaminant of such cosmetic ingredients as TEA and Cocamide DEA interacts with the nitrites that many cosmetic-makers use as preservatives.

The Cancer Prevention Coalition, a Chicago-based health-advocacy group founded by University of Illinois-Chicago pathologist Samuel Epstein, wants nitrosamine-contaminated cosmetics banned. Coalition program director Melissa Troester puts it this way: "Nitrosamines have been identified as one of the most potent classes of carcinogens, having caused cancer in more than 40 different animal species as well as in humans. The FDA should take regulatory action against companies manufacturing cosmetic products; responsible corporations should remove these avoidable contaminants from their products; and the public should boycott all products containing nitrosamines."

In the mid-'70s, the nitrosamine contamination of cooked bacon and other nitrite-treated meats became a public-health issue. Since then, the food industry, which is more strictly regulated than the cosmetic industry, has drastically lowered the amount of nitrosamines found in nitrite-processed meats. (A risk, however, may still exist. A study of children up to age 10 in Los Angeles County between 1980 and 1987 found that children who ate more than 12 hot dogs a month had nine times the normal risk of developing childhood leukemia.

Today, nitrosamines contaminate cosmetics at significantly higher levels than those cooked bacon once contained. While people don't eat cosmetics, their skin absorbs the nitrosamines in products such as lotion and sunscreen. Writing in the journal Carcinogenesis in 1985, National Cancer Institute scientists William Lijinsky and Robert Kovatch reported that NDELA is the specific nitrosamine "to which human exposure is the greatest," since it occurs "in cosmetics" and is "absorbed readily through the skin." In 1978, the International Agency for Research on Cancer surveyed the available research and concluded: "In view of the widespread exposure to appreciable concentrations of NDELA, efforts should be made to obtain epidemiological information. Although no epidemiological data [are] available, NDELA should be regarded for practical purposes as if it were carcinogenic to humans."

The FDA has long known that the nitrosamines in cosmetics pose a risk to public health. On April 10, 1979, FDA Commissioner Donald Kennedy called on the cosmetic industry to "take immediate measures to eliminate, to the extent possible, NDELA and any other N-nitrosamines from cosmetic products." He went on to warn that "cosmetic products may be analyzed by the FDA for nitrosamine contamination and that individual products could be subject to enforcement action."

In the 18 years since the FDA issued that warning, cosmetics manufacturers have done little to remove nitrosamines from their products, and the FDA has done even less to ensure that the industry does so. All the while, evidence mounts that nitrosamines are a danger to public health.

In 1985, Lijinsky and Kovatch discovered that NDELA was more carcinogenic than originally thought. In a research paper titled 'Induction of liver tumors in rats by NDELA at low doses," the two scientists conclude: "NDELA was at one time thought to be a 'weak' carcinogen, but recent studies have shown that it is reasonably potent. ... Not only does NDELA induce tumors over a wide range of doses, but it is a multipotent carcinogen, inducing [cancers in rats] in a number of different organs."

The FDA intermittently tests personal-care products for NDELA. In 1992, the agency found one product that contained NDELA at a concentration of 2,960 parts per billion. (The FDA keeps brand names confidential.) The European Union strictly regulates nitrosamine-producing chemicals and bans cosmetic products containing NDELA at a

The following year, in the course of investigating sunscreens for nitrosamines, FDA chemists discovered the car- cinogen NMPABAO. This nitrosamine is created when the sunscreen known as "padimate 0" interacts with the nitrites in cosmetic preservatives such as BNPD.

As the FDA's Donald Havery and Hardy Chou observed in a 1992 paper presented to an American Chemical Society symposium on nitrosamines, 'The FDA has conducted surveys of sunscreens and other personal-care products for NMPABAO since 1986. Analysis showed that many of the products containing padimate 0 also contained NMPABAO, some at elevated levels, especially when the product contained the [preservative] BNPD."

Indeed, between 1986 and 1992, the FDA tested 88 cosmetic products containing padimate 0 and found that 57 of those products were contaminated with the nitrosamine NMPABAO. In 1991, one product was found to contain the nitrosamine in the incredible concentration of 20,520 parts per billion. And in 1992, all 14 products tested contained the carcinogens.

Though the FDA has refused to officially address this danger, individual agency scientists are not reticent about speaking out. In their 1992 presentation to the American Chemical Society, Havery and Chou pointed out that cosmetic corporations continue to introduce new products that contain the chemical precursors of nitrosamines.

The Cancer Prevention Coalition, for example, is concerned about No-Rinse Shampoo and No-Rinse Body Bath, which were recently introduced by N/R Laboratories of Centerville, Ohio. The target market is outdoor enthusiasts who want to keep clean while camping. But such cleanliness may come at a price. The top two ingredients of these no-rinse products are TEA and Cocamide DEA, which, since they don't get rinsed off with water, are largely absorbed into the body.

The continued use of such ingredients, say Havery and Chou, contradicts what should be a social goal: keeping "human exposure to N-nitrosamines to the lowest level technologically feasible by reducing levels in all personal- care products." They add: "With the information and technology currently available to cosmetic manufacturers, N- nitrosamine levels can and should be further reduced in consumer products."

Women—and men—should demand that the FDA regulate cosmetics as it does food. And while waiting for the FDA to act, they should carefully check the ingredients on the label before they buy cosmetic chemical concoctions.

Research assistance was provided by Jennifer Patterson.

Next Issue: Talc, otber cosmetic toxins and FDA inaction.

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