Expert warns of toxic cosmetics

REPORTER: Glenn Connley

BROADCAST DATE: September 21, 2005

A toxicologist has warned consumers to avoid certain additives in cosmetics, saying they could do long term damage or even be deadly.

From moisturiser to shampoo, hair dye to toothpaste, [we] are using lotions and potions daily, trying to look better, younger, smoother and softer.

But what exactly are we asking our bodies to absorb? Toxicologist Dr Peter Dingle said many of the cosmetics that are meant to make us look good and defy age, were actually doing significant, long-term damage.

He said chemical additives, often used in creams as a preservative, could trigger dangerous - even deadly - allergic reactions.

"Over the long term, these are not improving the quality of your skin, they're damaging the quality of your skin," Dr Dingle said.

"So you're going to end up looking older and more wrinkled, the more of these chemicals you put on the skin. That's the incredibly ridiculous thing about it."

Eve Diamante had a bad reaction to a sorbolene cream, usually renowned as a simple, safe product. After a burning sensation, Eve frantically washed her face in cold water to ease the pain.

"The water was drying out my face and it even started to bleed along here, if you look in the photos there's quite deep cracks and it started to bleed," Eve said.

"My eyes were swollen, I had a red face, but the funny thing was I had a red line to where I didn't put cream."

Eve consulted a dermatologist, who discovered she'd reacted to a chemical preservative known as chlorocresol. It took two weeks and a layer of skin to get Eve back to normal.

"All my skin peeled off and that took the heat off my face," Eve said. "I still looked quite wrinkly and red."

Melanie Brown's cleansing mousse freebie didn't feel quite such a bargain when her skin reacted violently after just two applications.

"It looked swollen," Melanie said. "It was very red, scaly, it had little white pimples forming on top of the redness and it felt awful, it was burning and itching and it just felt terrible."

Leanne Black, 30, reacted to a foaming gel which she said turned her clear complexion into a spotty, inflamed nightmare.

"I just thought it was something I'd eaten or drank, but it wasn't and it continued to get worse and worse," Leanne said. "And I got some peeling on my nose and cheek areas, and when I put moisturiser on, it would sting quite a lot."

Neither Leanne nor Melanie were sure which ingredient caused the reaction.

Cosmetics manufacturer L'Oreal insisted its products met all Australian safety standards, but Melanie claimed she was not the only one to have a problem with the cleansing mousse.

"I'm a member of an online forum for women, Vogue Australia, and there's a whole thread dedicated to just this product and the reaction that a lot of women are getting is identical to what I had: the redness, the inflaming, there was one woman that woke up with her eye fused shut," Melanie said.

While chemical preservatives were found in many foodstuffs and cosmetics these days, doctors said people were now also more susceptible to allergies. Either way, Dr Dingle said many of the chemicals were unnecessary.

"There is no need for all these chemicals," Dr Dingle said. "One, you can make simpler products. Two, you can make safer products and just by reducing the number of chemicals that go in people are going to be exposed to a lot less chemicals."

No matter what the label promises, consumers were advised to test a small amount of creams or cosmetics on their hand or wrist before smearing it elsewhere.

Sydney beautician Sharon McGinchey says she saw so many clients experience bad reactions to the chemicals in cosmetics, she started her own chemical-free line of products.

"The world hypo allergenic is a marketing term, it really has very little substance," Sharon said. "Natural can mean as little as one natural ingredient in it, and organic can mean as little as 1 per cent organic content."

She had some simple advice for all consumers.

"Start reading ingredient listings and questioning what you're putting on your body," Sharon said.

"If you're already questioning what you're putting in your mouth, you should be questioning what you're putting on your skin because it will absorb and over a period of time have toxic effects."

Doctor Dingle named a danger list of ingredients to avoid.

1. Formaldehyde, an industrial chemical linked to burning eyes, nose and throat, rashes, coughing and nausea.

2. SLS, or sodium lauryl sulphate, which can reportedly affect the brain, eyes, heart and liver.

3 and 4. DEA and TEA, di- and tri-thanolamine, used as wetting agents in creams and shampoos, linked in research with stomach, oesophagus, liver and bladder cancers.

5. Propylene glycol, used as a humidifier in cosmetics, which has been connected with liver abnormalities and kidney damage.

"Sometimes its just the combination of chemicals," Dr Dingle said. "And there are so many combinations that it’s just impossible to actually pick out a chemical that could be causing the problem."

In Anna Bragaglia's case, the chemical was PPD, or paraphenylenediamine, used in hair dyes.

"My son came into my room early in the morning and he just looked at me and he started crying, and he said 'Mummy, what's wrong with your face?'," Anna said.

Anna had put a burgundy tint through her hair at her hairdresser. Within a day, the swelling and pain was unbelievable, she said.

"I think people need to be more aware of the dangers because it has become a society where everyone's high on looks and everything like that," Anna said.

"So I really think that people need to look into that, read more about it before they start using products which are available from the supermarket shelf and chemists."