A pilot control project revealed that around 6% of cosmetic products inspected contained dangerous substances banned by European regulations, the European Chemicals Agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

ECHA said national control agencies in the 13 European Economic Area (EEA) member states, including Germany, checked almost 4,500 cosmetic products and found banned substances in 285 of them.

Investigators were looking for a series of chemicals banned or restricted under two EU regulations, the POPs regulation banning persistent organic pollutants and the REACH regulation on registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of products chemicals.

Offending chemicals found ‘mainly by looking at ingredient list’

ECHA said its pilot project had essentially used a very simple methodology for testing carried out between November 2023 and April 2024.

“The inspections were mainly carried out by checking the list of ingredients – measures which can also be easily used by consumers,” it said.

“Consumers should be aware that controlled substances have been found in different types of cosmetic products, from different sellers and at all price ranges,” the statement said.

Law enforcement agencies have taken some initial steps to remove non-compliant products from the market, ECHA said.

“In most cases, the first step was to publish a written guidance guide to providers on how to comply with the law. At the time of writing, investigations were still ongoing in around half of the cases “, ECHA said.

Eye and lip pencils, conditioners and hair masks among items

The Helsinki-based organization was mainly looking for indications of the presence of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCA) and related substances, as well as cyclic siloxanes D4 and D5.

He said he often found perfluorononyl dimethicone, which degrades to PFOA and PFCA, in eyeliners and lip liners — and that D4 and D5 were often found in hair conditioners and masks.

“PFOA and the siloxanes, D4 and D5, break down slowly in the environment and accumulate in humans and other species. PFOA is not only persistent in the environment, but also reproductively toxic and suspected to cause cancer. D4 is also suspected of harming fertility,” ECHA said.

msh/ab (AFP, AFP)