The High Price of Beauty (Page 2)

But this lack of data allows the industry to dismiss health issues out of hand. "There are no risks to these products if you use them safely," says Doug Schoon, vice president of science and technology for Creative Nail Design, a leading manufacturer of professional nail products. "It's a misconception to say these products haven't been studied. They've been looked at by the leading experts in the world and found to be safe."

By "leading experts in the world," Schoon means the Cosmetic Ingredient Review, which he describes as "famous for being fair and honest." The CIR is a panel of scientists funded by the industry's Cosmetic, Fragrance and Toiletry Association (CFTA) who assess the safety of ingredients used in cosmetics. They're quick to distance themselves from the manufacturers: "The industry gets the privilege of paying to support us, but that's pretty much it," says Alan Andersen, PhD, the board's director and scientific coordinator. "I think it's actually quite an unfair leap to suggest that there is any influence. Our situation closely parallels the situation at the FDA, where companies pay user fees for safety assessments of medical devices. Would you say the industry is controlling the FDA?"

Well, you might. "The CIR has this weird semi-deputized status with the FDA," explains Mark Schapiro, author of Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power. "The FDA doesn't have the manpower to do their own safety assessments, so they rely on the CIR for all their data." Indeed, an FDA spokesman who preferred not to be named is quick to give the CIR his blessing: "They're really good about being objective; I've never seen any bias. The system does work, though it might feel a little bit weak to consumers."

"A little bit weak" is putting it mildly. Even if the CIR "doesn't hesitate to tell a company if an ingredient is unsafe," as the FDA spokesman claims, that company is on the honor system to heed its advice--the panel has no authority to restrict the use of a product. It's clear the industry has a seat at the table. After all, it's their table; CFTA and CIR share office space and support staff in Washington. "When I attended the CIR's assessment of dibutyl phthalate, the room was full of PR folks and a CFTA lobbyist dominated the meeting," says Bryony Schwan, a founding member of Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. "He was sitting there doing calculations on the back of a napkin, dismissing any data that conflicted with his point of view."

The numbers tell the rest of the story. While the European Union's Cosmetics Directive has banned some 1,200 chemicals, the FDA has restricted only nine for use in cosmetics. "The EU appears to have more authority," admits the FDA spokesman. "The burden of the FDA is that we must demonstrate an ingredient is harmful as used before we can ban it." The CIR has concluded that it has insufficient data on the safety of an additional 119 chemicals but balks at the idea of regulating them per the precautionary principle. "Ours is a risk assessment approach, and it requires data," says the CIR's Andersen.

When it comes to nail salons, the FDA is quick to point out that any health risks presented by a hazardous working environment are out of its jurisdiction--even if the hazards are posed by cosmetics. This responsibility is shared between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which regulates indoor air quality, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which sets permissible exposure limits for all the chemicals nail salon workers use.

The EPA first took an interest in nail salons when Asian community groups around Houston approached its regional office with concerns. The Region 6 office published A Guide to Protect the Health of Nail Salon Workers and Their Working Environment in May 2004, which outraged the industry. "It's a ridiculous piece of garbage," Schoon said of the brochure. "The EPA was very embarrassed and pulled it off their website." Region 6's Nail Salon Project was transferred to the DC office, and in March a revised manual, Protecting the Health of Nail Salon Workers, appeared. This time, "we involved all the stakeholders," says Clive Davies, coordinator of the project, including Schoon and the Nail Manufacturers' Council, another industry association.

Their influence is palpable. The 2004 manual stated, "Nail salon products may contain many potentially harmful chemicals that can be a major cause of occupational asthma as well as other health and environmental concerns." The updated version takes a different stance: "Products that nail salon workers use are critical to performing high-quality services, and indeed, without them, these services would not be possible." It later adds a caveat: "If proper care is not taken, overexposure may occur and could result in adverse health effects, such as skin irritation, allergic reaction, or serious eye injury."

Perhaps the biggest drawback of the updated manual is that the EPA evaluates a chemical's health risks based on whether it exceeds OSHA's permissible exposure limits, developed for industrial settings. As Dr. Meyer notes, "These standards are designed to prevent acute problems like neurological intoxication or respiratory difficulty that develop soon after a large dose. They aren't set up to assess cancer and chronic disease which develop from long-term, low-dose exposure." Many of the standards also haven't changed since OSHA first set limits in 1968, when the populations it studied were mostly male. "They don't take into account female reproductive health issues," says Meyer.

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