EU company discovers prohibited chemicals in some 6% of cosmetics– DW– 10/30/2024

A pilot enforcement job discovered that around 6% of checked cosmetic items included unsafe compounds prohibited under European policies,the European Chemicals Agency said in a statement on Wednesday

The ECHA claimed that nationwide enforcement companies in the 13 European Economic Area (EEA) participant states– consisting of Germany– inspected practically 4,500 aesthetic items, and discovered prohibited compounds in 285 of them.

The private investigators were seeking a collection of chemicals prohibited or limited under a set of EU policies, the POPs Regulation outlawing relentless natural toxins, and the REACH Regulation on the enrollment, analysis, consent, and limitation of chemicals.

Offending chemicals discovered ‘generally considering the active ingredients checklist’

The ECHA claimed that its pilot job had for many component made use of a really easy method for examinations performed in between November 2023 and April 2024.

“The inspections were mainly done by checking the ingredients list — measures that can be easily used also by consumers,” it claimed.

“Consumers should be aware that the restricted substances were found in different types of cosmetic products, from various sellers and at all price ranges,” it claimed.

Enforcement companies had actually taken some primary steps to get rid of the non-compliant items from the marketplace, the ECHA claimed.

“In most cases, the first step was issuing a written advice guide to suppliers on how to comply with the law. At the time of writing the report, investigations were still ongoing in about half the cases,” the ECHA claimed.

Pencil eye liners and lipliners, conditioners and hair masks amongst the products

The Helsinki- based company was largely looking for indicators of the visibility of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) and associated compounds, and cyclic siloxanes D4 and D5.

It claimed it usually discovered perfluorononyl dimethicone, which weakens right into PFOA and PFCAs, in pencil and pastel eye liners and lipliners– which D4 and D5 were usually existing in conditioners and hair masks.

“PFOA and siloxanes, D4 and D5, break down slowly in the environment and build up in humans and other species. PFOA is not only persistent in the environment but also toxic to reproduction and suspected of causing cancer. D4 is also suspected of damaging fertility ,” the ECHA claimed.

msh/ab (AFP, dpa)