The Danish Consumer Council THINK Chemicals has reported that almost one in four deodorants examined in their recent test contained unwanted chemicals, but that safer options are available.

The Danish Consumer Council THINK Chemicals examined the ingredients lists of 57 deodorants from different brands including Nivea, Dove, Calvin Klein and L’Oreal. They ranked the products based on their chemical content.

Almost one in four of the products they tested contained unwanted chemicals. 20 of the deodorants contained perfume, which can cause allergies, and 13 contained chemicals that are suspected to alter the normal functioning of the hormone system (known as endocrine disrupting chemicals). The Danish Consumer Council THINK chemicals report that some of these chemicals may contribute to obesity, reduced sperm quality and certain hormone-sensitive cancers.

However, they also found that 24 of the products did not contain unwanted chemicals, suggesting that it is possible to find safer alternatives. The Danish Consumer Council THINK Chemicals provides some tips for how to avoid unwanted chemicals in deodorants in their article.

Products containing suspected hormone disrupting chemicals can contribute to our overall exposure to chemicals. We are constantly exposed to a complex cocktail of known and suspected harmful chemicals from multiple sources, including air, water, food and consumer products. Current regulations fail to sufficiently protect citizens and the environment from this combined exposure effect. Read more about the mixture effect in our report ‘Chemical Cocktails: The neglected threat of toxic mixtures and how to fix it’.

Alongside other NGOs, CHEM Trust is calling on EU authorities and the UK government to protect their citizens from harmful chemicals by introducing robust legislation to phase out the most harmful chemicals from consumer products by 2030.

CHEM Trust recommends avoiding cosmetics that contain triclosan and parabens and to buy products with the EU Ecolabel – products have to meet certain environmental standards to be awarded with this label. Scented or perfumed products may also contain harmful chemicals, but there is no requirement for the chemical components of fragrances to be included on packaging ingredient lists, therefore, CHEM Trust also advises avoiding products containing perfumes.

Read more about how to reduce your risk of exposure to harmful chemicals in cosmetics here.

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