Cosmetics Design Europe reports today that chemicals in consumer products are partly responsible for deteriorating reproductive health in men.

Professor Richard Sharpe, of the Medical Research Council believes exposure to hormone disrupting chemicals plays a role in the worsening state of men’s reproductive health.

The origins of these reproductive problems – collectively called Testicular Dysgenesis Syndrome – can be traced to development in the womb.

Sharpe said: “Because it is the summation of effect of hormone disrupting chemicals that is critical, and the number of such chemicals that humans are exposed to is considerable, this provides the strongest possible incentive to minimise human exposure to all relevant hormone disruptors, especially women planning pregnancy, as it is obvious that the higher the exposure the greater the risk”.

Original story:

http://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/Formulation-Science/Scientist-links-chemical-cocktail-to-birth-defects-and-infertility/

Cosmetics Design Europe reports on some interesting findings by France’s body for competition and fraud control (DGCCRF). 

"...DGCCRF, in partnership with the French authority on the safety of health products (Affsaps), investigated the chemical makeup of products, and how this compared to their labels, as well as investigating the levels of microbial contamination.

Out of 28 products, 12 advertised themselves as preservative free, and the other 16 as free from parabens and/or phenoxyethanol. The preservatives used in the latter group were the salts of benzoic or sorbic acid, and dehydroacetic acid.

Regarding this practice, the DGCCRF stated that flagging up the absence of certain preservatives when the product contains others is a way of voluntarily giving incomplete information to the consumer.

This could be seen as misleading the consumer about the actual formulation of the product, it claimed.

In addition, chemical analysis of the products flagged up a number of products that contained traces of preserving compounds that were not marked on the label..."

Unfortunately, "paraben-free" sometimes means just that - free from parabens. But you might get benzoic or sorbic acid. Or even diazolidinyl urea and phenoxyethanol. How about some formaldehyde? I was shocked to see products containing the latter on the shelves on many high-street stores.

When you get a MuLondon product, you can be sure that it does not contain ANY man-made preservative mentioned above. Our unique water-free process enables us to naturally keep our products fresh and safe using gentle natural herbal extracts and essential oils - all completely preservative-free! No parabens, no formaldehyde (perish the thought!), no benzoic acid or phenoxyethanol.

Fisher's Contact Dermatitis (Robert L. Rietschel, Joseph F. Fowler, Alexander A. Fisher) claims that:

"...the parabens and sorbic acid are the most common causes of contact dermatitis".

Why would you want to put that on your skin?