2024-10-30 11:47:00
Eyeliner, lip pencil, hair conditioner: potentially harmful substances can be found in hundreds of cosmetic products. This is what emerges from a report by the <a href="http://www.time.news/the-urgent-need-for-a-total-ban-on-pfas-in-the-eu-a-call-for-action/" title="The Urgent Need for a Total Ban on PFAS in the EU: A Call for Action”>European Chemicals Agency. Thirteen countries were examined, including Germany. What consumers should pay attention to.
Nearly 300 cosmetic products available on the European market contain chemicals that are harmful to health or the environment. This comes from one Message of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
The Helsinki-based EU authority found, among other things, in eyeliner and lip pencils, conditioners and hair masks, ingredients that are banned in such products because they only slowly decompose in the environment or are suspected of harming fertility or to be carcinogenic. .
ECHA examined almost 4,500 cosmetics in 13 European countries between November 2023 and April 2024, including Germany, Austria, Denmark and Italy. The experts mainly looked at the list of ingredients.
According to the report, 285 of the products examined – about 6% – contained hazardous chemicals. These were mainly the substances perfluorononyl dimethicone and decamethylcyclopentesimoloxane, also called D5 or cyclopentesimoloxane. The first substance is one of the PFAS chemicals. These are also called everlasting chemicals because they do not decompose in the natural environment.
According to the ECHA report, national authorities have taken measures to remove products containing dangerous ingredients from the market. At the time of publication, investigations were still ongoing in around half of the cases.
The Chemicals Agency advises consumers to check the list of ingredients in cosmetics for the chemicals mentioned above. The authority stressed that dangerous substances were found in products of all price categories.
Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Romania and Sweden took part in the ECHA project. The report did not reveal how many products in which countries contained dangerous ingredients.
dpa/mali
#Hazardous #chemicals #Cosmetics #damage #fertility #carcinogenic