New Study Finds Potentially Harmful Chemicals in Foundations
The Danish Consumer Council THINK Chemicals recently investigated the presence of potentially harmful chemicals in foundations.
The Danish Consumer Council THINK Chemicals purchased 28 foundations in stores and online from brands such as Rimmel, Maybelline, MAC, L’Oreal, Clinique and Revolution. They scrutinised the products’ ingredient lists and ranked them based on their chemical content.
10 of the products received the best ‘A-rating’ because they did not contain potentially harmful chemicals.
However, 12 of the products received the worst ‘C-rating’ due to the presence of suspected endocrine disruptors, environmentally damaging substances and/or perfumes. Out of these products, 11 contained suspected endocrine disruptors.
17 of the products contained substances that can damage the environment, and 8 contained perfume or plant extracts that can cause allergies. See the full list of products that were scrutinised and their rankings here.
Endocrine disruptors can alter the normal functioning of the hormone system, and have been linked to a variety of health issues. Some endocrine-disrupting chemicals are thought to be absorbed through the skin – the largest organ in our body. It is therefore concerning that products we apply to our skin, like foundations, can contain harmful chemicals.
These products 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 people and nature 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 people from harmful chemicals by introducing robust legislation to phase out the most harmful chemicals from consumer products by 2030. You can find advice on reducing your risk of exposure to harmful chemicals in toiletries, cosmetics and menstrual products on our Reduce Your Risk webpage and in our Instagram post.
