2024-10-07 11:09:31
Altroconsumo conducted a test on 9 different lip balmswhich I am safe health results. Good news – the Association says – if you consider that in the latest tests dozens of brands were not. Indeed, The ingredients do not include mineral oils which may contain substances dangerous to health, but oils of vegetable origin. With one exception, Neutrogena, which was excluded from the test as a precaution, despite being compliant. In recent years there has been a positive revolution if we consider that in 2017, 13 products on the market contained substances dangerous to health, in 2019 the same thing happened for ten lip balms intended for children, which reported disappointing results in terms of chemical safety.
Considering the results of previous tests – reports a note – this year Altroconsumo has preliminarily checked the presence of mineral oils on the label before taking the lip balms to the laboratory. Only 1 product among those selected for the test contained mineral oils, Neutrogena, and for this reason it was subjected to chemical analyzes to verify the presence of Moah (aromatic hydrocarbons of mineral oil) potentially carcinogenic and toxic and of Mosh (saturated hydrocarbons of mineral oil) which can accumulate in the tissues and cause microgranulomas (in the spleen, liver and lymph nodes). And it is precisely because of the presence of Mosh in quantities higher than the recommendation of Cosmetics Europe (the European association of the cosmetics industry), which emerged from the laboratory analyses, that Altroconsumo excluded Neutrogena from the test because, despite being compliant according to the European regulation, does not guarantee safety.
European cosmetics legislation (EC regulation 1223/2009) allows the use of mineral oils in cosmetics if, before use, they are treated in such a way as to make them free of dangerous residues and carcinogenic substances. The legislation, however, does not specify which ones. For this reason, legislative intervention at European level would be desirable to regulate the use of mineral oils in lip products.
But the evaluation carried out by Altroconsumo in the test it is not based on the law which – we read in the note – does not give precise indications on the composition of these dangerous substances, but on other criteria: for example, as regards Moah, being potentially carcinogenic, Altroconsumo believes they should not be present in a product that can be considered safe. While, on the presence of Mosh, the Organization has established quantitative limits in collaboration with other European consumer associations (German, Belgian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Finnish and Czech) taking into consideration the scientific literature and data available on the subject.
Manufacturers are working hard to make lip balms safer for health by avoiding the inclusion of mineral oils as emollients among the ingredients and by resorting to more expensive oils of vegetable origin. However, there is a lack of legislative intervention at a European level – as reported by Altroconsumo – to regulate the use of mineral oils in lip products, not only lip balms, but also, for example, lipsticks. The hope is that this gap will be filled as soon as possible.
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