The Conversation
By Amy Rand
Cosmetics and personal care products enhance the way we look and feel. During the pandemic, I started a self-care facial routine. It helped me cope with lockdown orders, while simultaneously adjusting to my new identity as a mom. I applied toner, serum and cream to brighten mornings and relax evenings.
But many of these products contain chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as 'forever chemicals.' They are used as ingredients that can make products waterproof, long-lasting and help them spread smoothly across skin.
European data indicates there are about 170 PFAS ingredients for use in cosmetics and personal care products. Each year, upwards of 80,000 kg of PFAS may be released after product use to wastewater and solid waste streams, a significant source of PFAS to the environment.
Persistent contaminants
PFAS are persistent environmental contaminants. The properties that make them commercially useful, particularly their stability, also means that there is no environmental mechanism to degrade them, and so they accumulate. PFAS have been found across the globe, including remote regions like the Arctic.
PFAS also accumulate in the body. The Canadian Health Measures survey sampled blood from thousands of people and found several PFAS in all participants.
Major sources of PFAS exposure to people are through diet, from drinking contaminated water or ingesting food, such as fish or meat. Agricultural fields can contain PFAS from biosolids used as fertilizer, as wastewater treatment plants cannot remove them.
Therefore, PFAS are transported via biosolids to crops and animals. Similarly, PFAS are added to personal care products, applied, then washed off to enter wastewater treatment plants, contributing to a global environmental problem.
PFAS in personal care products
In our study, we measured PFAS in cosmetics and personal care products purchased in Canada. Products included bronzers, concealers, foundations, shaving creams, sunscreens and moisturizers.
PFAS were extracted from each product and measured using mass spectrometry instrumentation. These instruments identify individual PFAS present in the products, at high milligram amounts or down to a trillionth of a gram.
Particularly high levels stemmed from products containing the following ingredients: C6-16 perfluoroalkyl ethyl phosphates, perfluorooctyl triethoxysilane, and perfluorobutyl ethers. The Canadian government has prohibited some PFAS from products, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and any chemical that degrades to produce PFOA.
New proposed Canadian PFAS regulations will set a threshold level at one microgram per gram in products. This means that PFAS at or below this level would be incidental and the prohibition would not apply. Yet we found that some products contained PFAS—including those prohibited from use—at levels a thousand times higher than the incidental level—pointing towards a lack of oversight when it comes to managing PFAS in the personal care product industry.
Read full article here