Using products to look good on the outside could slowly be making you sick on the inside, women at the World Conference on Breast Cancer learned Thursday.
Good deed loses woman hair, job
More than 100 women packed the audience for a presentation about cosmetics, dubbed The Beast of Beauty, and you could've heard a mascara wand drop.
Carol Secter (left) of Breast Cancer Awareness Montreal and Chris Kupka show cosmetics that could contain carcinogens.
They learned toxins, carcinogens and ingredients that act like estrogen, which helps breast cancer tumours to grow, are found in all kinds of makeup, perfume, hair-care, grooming and beauty products.
"The manufacturers of cosmetics are not required to demonstrate safety," said Carol Secter, president of Breast Cancer Action Montreal.
Breast cancer is becoming more prevalent and, once all the risk factors are taken into account, there's no explanation for half the cases, Secter said.
In Canada in the 1950s, one in 22 women was diagnosed with breast cancer. Today, it's one in nine women, and Breast Cancer Awareness Montreal is rallying people across the country to ask why.
For nearly two decades, the charitable organization has been a pioneer in pushing for cancer prevention, asking questions about ingredients and demanding tougher government regulations for the makers of household products and cosmetics.
"We're not the only ones saying this now," said Secter, a former Winnipegger. "Now, there are lots of environmental groups."
In 2006, the Canadian government required that all cosmetics sold had to list their ingredients on the packaging.
The International Nomenclature for Cosmetic Ingredients dictionary that explains what those ingredients are costs $1,100 and is not available at any libraries Secter knows of.
"Without prior knowledge, how can you tell which ones are harmful?"
Phthalates, propyl and methyl parabens, butyl hydroxy anisole (BHA), formaldehyde and alpha-hydroxy acids are just a few common ingredients that pose potential health risks, according to the organization. Most people have no idea what health risks they pose or the long-term effects of using them, Secter said.
"A lack of safety testing does not render a product safe," she said. The Montreal group is trying to get cosmetics makers to prove their products are safe.
If the products are not proven safe, the government should prohibit their sale, said Secter's organization. It circulated a petition at the Winnipeg conference asking federal Health Minister Tony Clement to demand stronger safety standards and regulations for the cosmetics industry.
A breast cancer survivor at the presentation said cosmetics made her feel better about herself when she was at her lowest point .
"I needed that eyeliner to feel normal," she said. "It's not right that we have to be using these poisonous things on our face everyday."
Until Canada has tougher cosmetics regulations, consumers here can go to a U.S. website called Skin Deep (www.cosmeticsdatabase.com), which matches ingredients in more than 25,000 products against 50 toxicity and regulatory databases.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
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