A study released last week found potentially harmful chemicals in a number of common products, from cosmetics to household cleaners—and what’s worse, in many cases, the chemicals weren’t even listed on the products’ labels.
The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives, was conducted by researchers at the Silent Spring Institute, a Newton-based nonprofit named after Rachel Carson’s seminal 1962 book calling for environmental protections.
The researchers tested 213 everyday consumer products for the presence of chemicals including parabens, phthalates, bisphenol A, triclosan and fragrances. In particular, they were looking for endocrine disruptors, which have been linked to breast cancer and reproductive problems, and for chemicals that have been linked to asthma.
The scientists found 55 of the target chemicals in the products they tested, “indicating a wide range of exposures from common products,” the report noted. Among the most problematic products: items made of vinyl, such as shower curtains; products made with fragrances, such as dryer sheets and air fresheners; and sunscreens.
And shoppers who favor products labeled as “green” or “natural,” beware: the researchers tested 43 items marketed as safer alternatives to conventional products and found that 32 of them contained at least one of the chemicals. (The report’s authors note that the product testing took place in 2008, and that the ingredients in some of the products may have subsequently been changed.)
One of the more dismaying results of the study: the researchers found that many of the chemicals they identified were not listed on the product labels, meaning that concerned consumers can’t simply avoid the chemicals by careful shopping.
Instead, the Institute urges consumers to limit their exposure by being especially cautious about what products they apply directly to their skin or use indoors; to avoid products made with vinyl or containing fragrances or the anti-bacterial chemicals triclosan and triclocarban; and to simply use fewer products. In addition, the group urges consumers to become “involved in local and national efforts to modernize chemical safety testing to keep harmful chemicals out of products in the first place.”
Those efforts include Massachusetts’ “Safer Alternatives” bill, now pending at the Statehouse. The proposal would require manufacturers to replace toxins like those found in the Silent Spring Institute study with safer alternatives when feasible, and would offer financial and technical support to help companies make the switch.
The bill, which is currently before the Senate Ways and Means Committee, has been fiercely opposed by industry groups, who contend it would create undue expenses and red tape for manufacturers and drive businesses away from Massachusetts. When an earlier draft of the bill was filed in 2009, Robert Rio, senior vice president at the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, told the Advocate that AIM’s 6,500 member companies were already working on finding substitutions for potentially harmful components in their products. He also argued that while the bill would affect Massachusetts companies, it would not apply to competitors from other states, who could continue to use the chemicals. That would put the Massachusetts companies at a disadvantage if they were required to use alternatives that were more expensive or that made products of lesser quality, Rio said.
In November, the Safer Alternatives bill received a favorable report from the legislative Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture. In a recent press release, state senator Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton), chairman of that committee, called the bill “common sense legislation to protect consumers and workers from toxic hazards and to support businesses to innovate.” The Silent Spring Institute report, Pacheco said, “reinforces the need for a comprehensive program that addresses the unnecessary use of toxic chemicals in a systematic way.”
Those sentiments were seconded by Elizabeth Saunders of Massachusetts’ Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow. “With hidden toxic chemicals, that are not on product labels, found in both conventional and ‘green’ products, consumers have no way of avoiding them,” she said. “Better labeling is needed, but labeling alone will not solve the problem. With this complex soup of chemicals, consumers would have to be toxicologists to interpret the labels. It’s time that the government stepped in and required that consumer products be made safely.”
Legislative sponsors of the Safer Alternatives bill include, from the Valley, Sen. Stanley Rosenberg (D-Amherst) and Reps. Brian Ashe (D-Longmeadow), Cheryl Coakley-Rivera (D-Springfield), Peter Kocot (D-Northampton) and Ellen Story (D-Amherst).
