The environmental injustice of beauty: framing chemical exposures from beauty products as a health disparities concern

Abstract

The ObGyn community has issued a call to action to prevent toxic environmental chemical exposures and their threats to healthy human reproduction. Recent committee opinions recognize that vulnerable and underserved women may be disproportionately impacted by environmental chemical exposures and recommend that reproductive health professionals champion policies that secure environmental justice. Beauty product use is an understudied source of environmental chemical exposures. Beauty products can include reproductive and developmental toxicants such as phthalates and heavy metals; however, disclosure requirements are limited and inconsistent. Compared to White women, women of color have higher levels of beauty product-related environmental chemicals in their bodies, independent of socioeconomic status. Even small exposures to toxic chemicals during critical periods of development, such as pregnancy, can trigger adverse health consequences such as impacts on fertility and pregnancy, neurodevelopment, and cancer. In this commentary, we seek to highlight the connections between environmental justice and beauty product-related chemical exposures. We describe racial/ethnic differences in beauty product use such as skin lighteners, hair straighteners, and feminine hygiene products as well as the potential chemical exposures and health risks associated with these products. We also discuss how targeted advertising can take advantage of mainstream beauty norms to influence use of these products. Reproductive health professionals can use this information to advance environmental justice by being prepared to counsel patients who have questions about toxic environmental exposures from beauty care products and other sources. Researchers and health care providers can also promote health-protective policies such as improved ingredient testing and disclosure for the beauty product industry. Future clinical and public health research should consider beauty product use as a factor that may shape health inequities in women’s reproductive health across the life course.

Reply

“…The submitted letters by Berger 1 and Walter et al 2 follow up on important issues of regulatory gaps in cosmetic oversights that were addressed in our commentary. 3 We concur that there is need for increased attention and funding to broaden Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority over cosmetics.…”

New Toxicology Tools and the Emerging Paradigm Shift in Environmental Health Decision-Making

“…The use of new technologies in decision-making must also be protected from perpetuating or amplifying existing health disparities. Extensive literature documents the disproportionate health and environmental hazards faced by many communities of color, low-income communities, and Indigenous communities (Bullard 2000;Burwell-Naney et al 2013;Lee and Mohai 2012;American Lung Association 2001;Davis et al 2016;Seabury et al 2017;Zota and Shamasunder 2017). Disproportionate exposures to toxic chemicals coupled with exposures to social hazards (e.g., poverty) can result in an amplification of harm faced by these communities (Gee and Payne-Sturges 2004).…”

Hayfa el Mansur, Nappily Ever After (2018): Chasing Perfection

“…On the other hand, all this image construction through hair chemicals, such as straightening hair is potentially a dangerous process that may cause hair breakage and loss, skin and scalp burns, and eye injury (Lester 2000). The fact that women of color carry higher levels of beautyproduct related chemicals in their bodies than white women due to the use of more cosmetic products to comply with Western beauty ideals is striking (Zota and Shamasunder 2017). These facts and statistics demonstrate how non-Caucasian women experience social inequality based on their natural appearance and face a physiological threat to their well-being.…”