Canary Cosmetics Reading Room

http://world-wire.com/news/0803240001.html

Comment: Canary Cosmetics Body Powder does not contain talc.

CHICAGO, IL, MARCH 24, 2008 –/WORLD-WIRE/– Up to 20 percent of U.S.
pre-menopausal women regularly dust their genital area, sanitary pads
or contraceptive diaphragms with cosmetic grade talcum powder.

Manufactured by Johnson & Johnson, and widely distributed by Osco and
Walgreens, besides other drug stores, women have been persuaded by
advertisements to dust themselves to mask alleged genital odors. Not
surprisingly, talcum powder has become a symbol of freshness and
cleanliness for over five decades.

On November 17, 1994, the Chicago-based Cancer Prevention Coalition
and the New York Center for Constitutional Rights submitted a Citizen
Petition to the FDA, "Seeking Carcinogenic Labeling on all Cosmetic
Talc Products." The Petition was endorsed by Dr. Quentin Young,
Chairman of The Health and Medicine Policy Research Group, by the
Ovarian Cancer Early Detection and Prevention Foundation, and
subsequently by Senator Edward Kennedy. In a 1997 statement to the
Senate, he requested the FDA to place a cancer warning on the label of
talc products, besides other products containing known carcinogens.
However, over a decade later this warning remains ignored.

Based on 15 publications in leading scientific journals dating back to
the 1960’s, the Petition explicitly warned of "increased rates of
ovarian cancer resulting from frequent exposure to cosmetic grade
talc." After over a year’s delay, the Petition was rejected by Dr.
John Bailey, FDA’s past Director of the Office of Cosmetics and
Colors, and currently Director of the industry’s The Personal Care
Products Council. Since then, the strong relation between the genital
use of talc powder and ovarian cancer has been endorsed by over 40
further scientific publications. These have reported increased risks
ranging from 35% to 90%.

Of particular interest is a 1971 report on the identification of talc
particles in ovarian cancers, a finding contested by Dr. G.Y. Hildick
Smith, Johnson & Johnson’s medical Director. However, a subsequent
publication in the prestigious The Lancet warned that "The potentially
harmful effects of talc . . . in the ovary . . . should not be
ignored." This warning was further supported by a 2004 report on the
major risk of ovarian cancer in talc users. However, there was no such
risk in women whose fallopian tubes had been tied, blocking the access
of talc dust to the ovaries.

Not surprisingly, the mortality of ovarian cancer for women over the
age of 65, a relatively rare cancer at any age, has escalated
dramatically over the last three decades, by 12% for white, and 32%
for black women. It should further be noted that there are about
15,300 deaths from ovarian cancer each year. This makes it the fourth
most common fatal cancer in women, after breast, colon and lung.

Nevertheless, the industry and, worse still the FDA, remain recklessly
unresponsive to these dangers. The FDA has neither banned the genital
use of talcum powder, nor required industry to label it with explicit
warnings. This is all the more inexcusable since cosmetic grade starch
powder is a readily available safe alternative.

Samuel S. Epstein, M.D.
Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition
Professor emeritus Environmental & Occupational Medicine
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health
Chicago, Illinois
epstein@uic.edu

Quentin Young, M.D., MACP
Chairman, Health and Medicine Policy Research Group
Chicago, Illinois info@hmprg.org 24, 2008