Dangers of phthalates chemical in cosmetics

Cosmetics are a part of modern life. It is indispensable and is no longer a luxury. Easily available, one hardly thinks of checking the label to see what ingredients are contained in them. One just assumes that they are safe and splurges on them. However, studies show that most cosmetics contain chemicals from the phthalates family. Though this chemical is deemed to be safe by most companies, its health hazards are now coming out in the open. As a result, major cosmetics companies are waking up to the dangers posed by this chemical and most of them are reformulating their products to ensure that it is not used by them.

Associated Risks
a. It is used in almost all personal care products including lotions, hair sprays, perfumes, nail paints and deodorants.
b. They're also used in detergents, food packaging, some pharmaceutical products and plastic toys.
c. This chemical is responsible, among other things, for helping fragrances linger and taking the stiffness out of hair spray.
d. This chemical is usually not mentioned in the label of the product.
e. Trials conducted on rodents have shown that this chemical causes testicular injury, liver injury and liver cancer.
f. It is suspected to be the cause of developmental and reproductive health problems.
g. Avon, Cover Girl, Estée Lauder, L'Oréal, Max Factor, Orly, Revlon Essie, OPI, and Sally Hansen have removed this from their products.
h. There is very little scientific evidence to prove that repeated use of phthalates in cosmetics may affect a person's health.
i. According to a 2003 report, men with high concentration of this chemical in their bodies have a low sperm count.
j. According to a 2005 study, women run the risk of giving birth to boys with small scrotum if they have high levels of four phthalate compounds in their urine during pregnancy.
k. According to a 2006 report, male babies showed low testosterone levels if their mothers had high phthalates levels in breast milk.