How Dangerous Is It For Me To Use Used Makeup

A new chemical analysis has revealed an ugly truth about beauty products: Many may contain highly persistent, potentially harmful "forever chemicals" called PFAS.

PFAS, brusk for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, include thousands of chemicals that are so sturdy they can linger in the trunk for years and the environment for centuries. The health effects of merely a few PFAS are well known, but those compounds have been linked to high cholesterol, thyroid diseases and other bug.

"There is no known good PFAS," says pharmacist and physicist Graham Peaslee of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

In the beginning large screening of cosmetics for PFAS in the United States and Canada, Peaslee and colleagues found that 52 pct of over 200 tested products had high fluorine concentrations, suggesting the presence of PFAS, the researchers report online June 15 in Environmental Science & Technology Letters.

Cosmetic chemicals

Among over 200 tested beauty products, almost half independent high levels of fluorine — a marker for potentially harmful PFAS compounds. Waterproof mascaras, liquid lipsticks and foundations were especially likely to incorporate lots of fluorine.

Makeup items with high levels of fluorine

Makeup type	Number of products tested	Percent with high fluorine
All lip products (lipsticks, glosses, etc.)	lx	55%
Liquid lipstick	42	62%
Foundations (liquids, creams)	43	63%
Concealers	11	36%
Other face products (blush, bronzers, etc.)	30	40%
All mascara	32	47%
Waterproof mascara	eleven	82%
Other heart products (shadows, liners, etc.)	43	58%
All cosmetics tested	231	52%

The potential wellness risks of PFAS in makeup are not yet clear, Peaslee says. But besides people ingesting or absorbing PFAS when wearing makeup, cosmetics done downward the bleed could get into drinking water (SN: 11/25/18).

Peaslee's team measured the amount of fluorine, a key component of PFAS, in 231 cosmetics. Lx-iii per centum of foundations, 55 percent of lip products and 82 percent of waterproof mascara contained loftier levels of fluorine — at least 0.384 micrograms of fluorine per foursquare centimeter of product spread on a piece of paper. Long-lasting or waterproof products were especially likely to contain lots of fluorine. That makes sense, since PFAS are water-resistant.

20-nine products further tested for specific PFAS all independent at to the lowest degree four of these chemicals, but merely one product listed PFAS among its ingredients. In add-on to posing their own potential health risks, these compounds tin intermission down in the body into other PFAS, such every bit perfluorooctanoic acrid, which has been linked to cancers and low birth weights (SN: 6/4/19).