Independent lab reveals popular cosmetic products used by millions contain cancer-causing chemical… including face wash, sunscreen and HAND SANITIZER

People who use popular acne creams were recently warned about the dangers lurking in their favorite products.

A letter from independent laboratory Valisure to the FDA found that levels of the carcinogen benzene were more than 12 times the FDA limit of 2 parts per million.

Benzene is a known carcinogen that has been linked to cancers such as lymphoma and leukemia, according to research from the University of California, Berkeley.

Despite the dangers, the chemical is ubiquitous, and people can be exposed to it in the air from cars burning fuel, secondhand smoke and even cooking over a gas flame, Kelly Dobos, a cosmetic scientist at the University of Cincinnati, said De Knip.

However, it is not only in the air, Valisure discovered, but benzene is also found in cosmetic products used by millions of people.

Below, DailyMail.com highlights four types of products that contain benzene.

Acne products

Some of the products tested by Valisure contained more than 800 times the federally recommended levels for benzene, partly due to the fact that the products contain a chemical called benzoyl peroxide.

Benzoyl peroxide is used in many products acne treatments, Including facial cleansers and creams that are available with a doctor’s prescription or over the counter. Usually it comes in a gel that aims to reduce the amount of bacteria on the skin’s surface that cause acne.

When benzoyl peroxide is exposed to heat, it undergoes a chemical change and turns into benzene.

Some acne products found to contain the ingredient include those from brands such as ProActiv, Clearasil, PanOxyl, Walgreens, Cera Ve, Clinique, Clearasil, Target’s Up & Up and Walmart’s Equate Beauty acne treatment.

Reckitt, owner of Clearasil, said in a statement to DailyMail.com: ‘Reckitt is confident that all Clearasil products, when used and stored as directed on their labels, are safe.’

Some of these acne products, like Proactiv Emergency Blemish Relief, should be stored in the refrigerator out of an abundance of caution to keep them safe, according to the American Acne and Rosacea Society recommended.

While others may not need to be kept cold, they should still be kept in a cool, dry place because high temperatures can cause the chemical reaction that produces benzene.

“Unless someone keeps their acne treatment in a car during the hottest days of summer, it’s incredibly unlikely that your product will end up in that condition,” Dobos said.

Sunshade

Some sunscreens contain benzene to which they were likely exposed during production

A 2022 study in Valisure’s Environmental Health Perspectives magazine, which sampled 661 sunscreens from 108 brands, benzene was found in 192 – or 29 percent – ​​of the products at concentrations above 2 ppm.

“One brand may have very high benzene content in one lot, and the same brand may have no detectable benzene in another lot,” Kaury Kucera, Valisure’s chief scientific officer who co-authored the study, wrote in an article . follow-up paper.

Unlike the acne products, which leach benzene due to their other ingredients, the levels in the sunscreens came from impurities in the supply chain, Valisure co-founder David Light previously told the Daily Mail.

The FDA has not identified the origin of the benzene in these products, but said it could have something to do with the chemicals involved in the manufacturing process.

“This contamination may be related to inactive ingredients such as carbomers (thickeners), isobutane (a spray propellant), or other drug components made from hydrocarbons,” the FDA told us. Consumer Reports in December.

“This underlines the enormous complexity of the supply chain and the need to add independent quality assurance at the batch level to the existing production system,” Kucera wrote.

The biggest culprits were spray sunscreens, after-sun lotions and gels from brands such as Garnier, Bioderma, LaRoche-Posay, L’Oréal, Coppertone, Banana Leaf and Neutrogena.

Dry shampoos

After it became known that many dry shampoos contained benzene, many brands removed products from their shelves

70 percent of the dry shampoos Valisure tested in 2022 were positive for benzene.

Nine of the bottles contained more than ten times the legal limit of benzene. Like the sunscreen, regulators believe the chemical entered the products during the manufacturing process.

Benzene was found in both cheap and expensive brands – from Batitse and Not Your Mother’s to Pureology and Kerastase. These range from $6 to $40.

The review led to recalls from Dove, Bed Head, Nexxus, Suave and Tresemmé.

But other brands such as Church & Dwight, which makes Batiste, told DailyMail.COM that the results were inaccurate and left their products on the market.

“If you used the dry shampoos listed in the FDA recall before they were pulled from shelves, I would report that to your doctor,” Britton Trabert, an epidemiologist at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, said in an institutional press release.

Hand sanitizers

If you get benzene on your skin, it can still increase your risk of cancer

In July 2022 researchers from New York University found benzene in 31 percent of the 200 hand sanitizers they tested.

Scientists conducted the tests after the FDA has issued a warning for 2021 warning FOR benzene in hand sanitizers, mainly those manufactured in Mexico and China.

Valisure also issued an independent alert in 2021, detecting benzene in 17 percent of 260 bottles tested, AND 21 bottles contained benzene levels above the FDA limit.

“As a scientist, consumer, and father of five who all use hand sanitizers, I was shocked to see benzene present in so many products at all, let alone many times above the FDA’s interim limit during the COVID-19 public health emergency. ,’ Light, with Valisure, told Health.com.

As for how benzene got into the products: University of Utah epidemiologists said it likely had to do with the way manufacturers purify the disinfectant. They often use benzene and benzene-derived products in the process, which must be gone when the product is bottled.

Some of the brands Valisure discovered benzene in included Artnaturals, Scentsational Soaps & Candles, TrueWash, Born Basics and Puretize.

Four companies – Artnaturals, Scentsational Soaps & Candles, Star Wars Mandalorian and Born Basic – have recalled their products.