Group Wins Lawsuit Against Personal Care Cos. To Remove Cancer Causing Ingredient
June 12, 2014 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) has finalized settlement agreements with 14 personal care companies, including Colgate-Palmolive Co., Avlon Industries Inc., and House of Cheatham Inc., to remove a chemical called cocamide DEA from their products in California. The settlements are expected to have national implications.
Graphic courtesy of ameliebeaute.com.
Cocamide DEA is a synthetic chemical made by a reaction between coconut oils and diethanolamine. The chemical is frequently used in shampoos, soaps, bubble baths, and shower gels as a foaming agent, and as a thickener, says the CEH, which has also found it in shaving creams and some dishwashing detergents.
The concern is that the chemical is a possible human carcinogen and is known to cause cancer in lab animals.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) tested the chemical by applying it to the skins of 100 mice, for five-days-a-week for two years, which resulted in a high incidence of tumors forming on their kidneys and livers.
The IARC said that the increased incidence in mice was “associated with the high level of free diethanolamine that was present in the solutions.”
In addition, the Environmental Working Group said there is strong evidence that the chemical can trigger skin allergies.
cancer, cosmetics, legislation | tagged Breast Cancer Fund, California’s Prop 65, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, Center for Environmental Health (CEH), International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act of 2013, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, cancer-causing chemical in cosmetics