May, 12 2010, 11:30am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Stacy Malkan, 202-321-6963, stacy@safecosmetics.org;
Stephenie Hendricks, 415-258-9151, stephdh@earthlink.net;
Alex Formuzis, 202-667-6982, alex@ewg.org
Secret Chemicals Revealed in Celebrity Perfumes, Teen Body Sprays
President’s Cancer Panel Report Highlights Threat from Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals – Many Found in New Fragrance Study
SAN FRANCISCO
A new analysis reveals that top-selling fragrance products--from Britney Spears' Curious and Hannah Montana Secret Celebrity to Calvin Klein Eternity and Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce
--contain a dozen or more secret chemicals not listed on labels,
multiple chemicals that can trigger allergic reactions or disrupt
hormones, and many substances that have not been assessed for safety by
the beauty industry's self-policing review panels.
The study of hidden toxic chemicals in perfumes comes on the heels
of last week's report by the President's Cancer Panel, which sounded
the alarm over the understudied and largely unregulated toxic chemicals
used by millions of Americans in their daily lives. The Cancer Panel
report recommends that pregnant women and couples planning to become
pregnant avoid exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals due to cancer
concerns. Hormone disruptors that may play a role in cancer were found
in many of the fragrances analyzed for this study.
"This monumental study reveals the hidden hazards of fragrances,"
said Anne C. Steinemann, Ph.D, Professor of Civil and Environmental
Engineering, Professor of Public Affairs, University of Washington.
"Secondhand scents are also a big concern. One person using a
fragranced product can cause health problems for many others."
For this study, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a national
coalition of health and environmental groups, commissioned tests of 17
fragranced products at an independent laboratory. Campaign partner
Environmental Working Group assessed data from the tests and the
product labels. The analysis reveals that the 17 products contained, on
average:
- Fourteen secret chemicals not listed on labels due to a loophole in
federal law that allows companies to claim fragrances as trade secrets.
American Eagle Seventy Seven contained 24 hidden chemicals, the highest number of any product in the study. - Ten sensitizing chemicals associated with allergic reactions such as asthma, wheezing, headaches and contact dermatitis. Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gio contained 19 different sensitizing chemicals, more than any other product in the study
- Four hormone-disrupting chemicals linked to a range of health effects including sperm damage, thyroid disruption and cancer. Halle by Halle Berry, Quicksilver and Jennifer Lopez J. Lo Glow each contained seven different chemicals with the potential to disrupt the hormone system.
The majority of chemicals found in this report have never been
assessed for safety by any publically accountable agency, or by the
cosmetics industry's self-policing review panels. Of the 91 ingredients
identified in this study, only 19 have been reviewed by the Cosmetic
Ingredient Review (CIR), and 27 have been assessed by International
Fragrance Association (IFRA) and the Research Institute for Fragrance
Materials (RIFM), which develop voluntary standards for chemicals used
in fragrance.
"Something doesn't smell right--clearly the system is broken," said
Lisa Archer, national coordinator of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics at
the Breast Cancer Fund. "We urgently need updated laws that require
full disclosure of cosmetic ingredients so consumers can make informed
choices about what they are being exposed to."
"Fragrance chemicals are inhaled or absorbed through the skin, and
many of them end up inside people's bodies, including pregnant women
and newborn babies," said Jane Houlihan, senior vice president for
research at Environmental Working Group.
A recent EWG study found synthetic musk chemicals Galaxolide and
Tonalide in the umbilical cord blood of newborn infants. The musk
chemicals were found in nearly every fragrance analyzed for this study.
Twelve of the 17 products also contained diethyl phthalate (DEP), a
chemical linked to sperm damage and behavioral problems that has been
found in the bodies of nearly all Americans tested.
###
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is a national coalition of nonprofit
women's, environmental, public health, faith and worker safety
organizations. Our mission is to protect the health of consumers and
workers by securing the corporate, regulatory and legislative reforms
necessary to eliminate dangerous chemicals from cosmetics and personal
care products.
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is working with endorsing
organizations, responsible businesses and thousands of citizen
activists to shift the cosmetics market toward safer products and to
advocate for smarter laws that protect our health from toxic chemicals
and encourage innovation of safer alternatives.
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics coalition members include the
Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow (represented by Clean Water Action and
Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition), the Breast Cancer Fund,
Commonweal, Environmental Working Group, Friends of the Earth and
Women's Voices for the Earth. The Breast Cancer Fund, a national
501(c)(3) organization focused on preventing breast cancer by
identifying and eliminating the environmental links to the disease,
serves as the national coordinator for the Campaign.
The Environmental Working Group is a community 30 million strong, working to protect our environmental health by changing industry standards.
(202) 667-6982LATEST NEWS
20 Years Later, Abu Ghraib Torture Victims Get Their Day in Court
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Two decades after they were tortured by U.S. military contractors at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, three Iraqi victims are finally getting their day in court Monday as a federal court in Virginia takes up a case they brought during the George W. Bush administration.
The case being heard in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Al Shimari v. CACI, was first filed in 2008 under the Alien Tort Statute—which allows non-U.S. citizens to sue for human rights abuses committed abroad—by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of three Iraqis. The men suffered torture directed and perpetrated by employees of CACI, a Virginia-based professional services and information technology firm hired in 2003 by the Bush administration as translators and interrogators in Iraq during the illegal U.S.-led invasion and occupation.
"This lawsuit is a critical step towards justice for these three men who will finally have their day in court."
Plaintiffs Suhail Al Shimari, Asa'ad Zuba'e, and Salah Al-Ejaili accuse CACI of conspiring to commit war crimes including torture at Abu Ghraib, where the men suffered broken bones, electric shocks, sexual abuse, extreme temperatures, and death threats at the hands of their U.S. interrogators.
"This lawsuit is a critical step towards justice for these three men who will finally have their day in court. But they are the lucky few," Sarah Sanbar, an Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch, wrote on Monday. "For the hundreds of other survivors still suffering from past abuses, their chances of justice remain slim."
"The U.S. government should do the right thing: Take responsibility for their abuses, offer an apology, and open an avenue to redress that has been denied them for too many years," Sanbar added.
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Eleven low-ranking U.S. soldiers were convicted and jailed for their roles in the Abu Ghraib torture scandal. Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the prison's commanding officer, was demoted. No other high-ranking military officer faced accountability for the abuse. Senior Bush administration officials—who had authorized many of the "enhanced interrogation techniques" used at prisons including Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay—lied about their knowledge of the torture. None of them were ever held accountable.
Bush's successor, former President Barack Obama, promised to investigate—and if warranted, to prosecute—the Bush-era officials responsible for the torture that had become synonymous with the War on Terror. Instead, the Obama administration protected them from prosecution.
In 2013, L3 Technologies agreed to pay $5.28 million to 71 former Abu Ghraib detainees who were subjected to sexual assault and humiliation, rape threats, electrical shocks, mock executions, brutal beatings, and other abuse.
The following year, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling prohibiting Abu Ghraib torture victims from suing U.S. companies implicated in their abuse. But the court later reversed itself, finding the case had sufficient ties to the United States to be heard in an American court. The suit was later dismissed under the political question doctrine, which prevents courts from ruling on issues determined to be essentially political.
However, in 2016, a 4th Circuit panel ruled that "the political question doctrine does not shield from judicial review intentional acts by a government contractor that were unlawful at the time they were committed," allowing the Iraqis' case to proceed.
"This is a historic trial that we hope will deliver some measure of justice and healing for what President Bush rightly deemed disgraceful conduct that dishonored the United States and its values," CCR senior attorney Katherine Gallagher toldThe Guardian on Monday.
"In many ways, this case may be seen as setting a precedent for holding contractors accountable for human rights violations should they happen in other contexts, too," she added.
CACI—which denies any wrongdoing—has tried to get the case dismissed 20 times. The company still lands millions of dollars worth of U.S. government contracts. In February, Fortuneincluded the firm on its "World's Most Admired Companies" list for the seventh straight year.
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After a few weeks of "soft launch" mode, journalist Mehdi Hasan on Monday officially debuted his new media platform, Zeteo, and declared that "this is not a one-man band."
The former MSNBC and Peacock host—whose show was canceled in November and wrapped up in January, after his incisive criticism of Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip—revealed nine of the contributors he has lined up so far, calling them "some of the biggest, boldest, and best names from media, activism, entertainment, and beyond."
They are Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Spencer Ackerman, comedian and podcaster W. Kamau Bell, Palestinian Canadian lawyer Diana Buttu, former CNBC and CNN correspondent John Harwood, foreign policy analyst Rula Jebreal, author Naomi Klein, novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen, actor and activist Cynthia Nixon, and Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.
"The tough interviews and knowledgeable analysis are all coming back, along with a global cast of contributors," Klein said on social media Monday. "I was honored when Mehdi asked me to be one of them, along with Rula Jebreal and Greta Thunberg and many others yet announced."
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Hasan—who has also produced content for Al Jazeera, The Guardian, and The Intercept—has saidZeteo will feature "hard-hitting interviews and unsparing analysis" in a variety of forms, from op-eds and podcasts to streaming shows, beginning with "Mehdi Unfiltered."
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The agency's Maritime Administration said last week that Enterprise Product Partners, a Houston-based pipeline company, had been granted a deepwater port license to build the Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) near Freeport, Texas following a five-year federal review process.
The federal government determined the $1.8 billion terminal project had undergone sufficient environmental impact reviews and would overall benefit the country—even as it was projected by the Sierra Club, which has fought SPOT for several years, to emit greenhouse gases equivalent to those of nearly 90 coal-fired power plants.
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Allie Rosenbluth, U.S. manager at Oil Change International, noted that the project has been approved despite the International Energy Agency's clear assessment in 2021 that "all new investments in oil and gas projects must stop if the world is going to reach its climate goals," including limiting planetary heating to 1.5°C.
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Local organizers in Texas condemned the Biden administration's decision to ignore campaigners who have warned of the danger SPOT poses to marine habitats as well as people who live in the area where two crude oil pipelines have now been given final approval to run.
"We continue to struggle to see why Biden and [Transportation Secretary Pete] Buttigieg prefer to protect the corporate profits of billion-dollar oil giants like Enbridge and Enterprise over the hardcore objections of the people who would have to live with the consequences of pipelines criss-crossing our beaches," said Trevor Carroll, Brazoria County lead organizer with Texas Campaign for the Environment. "If you care about environmental justice and the climate, you just can't support a monstrosity like SPOT. The local community and the global climate justice movement are continuing to fight... This is not over."
Melanie Oldham, director of Better Brazoria, said SPOT will be "an oil spill waiting to happen that would not only lower property value, but harm our local ecosystems, ecotourism, beaches, recreation, and kill marine life like the endangered Rice's whale and Kemp's Ridley sea turtles."
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The administration's approval came three months after the White House announced it was delaying consideration of new gas export terminals, and the same day the federal government said fossil fuel companies will have to pay higher royalties in order to drill on federal lands.
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