AK test reveals:

“Eternity chemicals” in many cosmetic products

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/pavel siamionov)

The PFAS compounds known as "eternity chemicals" have many beneficial properties - but they are also suspected of causing harm to unborn children and cancer. In random tests of 15 cosmetic products, consumer advocates from the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labour and the organization "Die Umweltberatung" (The Environmental Consultancy) detected these controversial substances in 15 cosmetic products. 

They found them in face creams, face masks and make-up products, including some from well-known brands such as L'Oreal and Biotherm. A total of four different PFAS compounds were found in one mask.

Chemicals are hardly degradable
The cosmetics industry uses the chemicals, which are also found in coatings for rain jackets, pans and tableware as well as in fire extinguishers, for their skin and hair conditioning effect, their ability to bind fat with water and as a stabilizer. PFAS compounds are very resistant to heat, moisture or chemical influences due to their artificial production and are therefore hardly degradable, according to the consumer advocates. This is why they are also referred to as "eternity chemicals".

PFAS chemicals can also accumulate in breast milk via cosmetic products.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

They increase the risk of kidney and testicular cancer and cause low birth weight in babies and developmental damage in unborn children, according to a press release on Thursday. The substances are only excreted very slowly and also accumulate in breast milk, among other things. The European Chemicals Agency ECHA has classified various subgroups of PFAS as probably carcinogenic and toxic to reproduction.

App can help to detect PFAS in products
The AK and the environmental advisory service point out that PFAS substances were detected in the urine of Austrian schoolchildren in 2020, for example, as well as at more than a quarter of all groundwater measuring points examined in Austria. It is recommended to look out for the Austrian Ecolabel or the EU Ecolabel on cosmetic products and to be careful if the word "fluorine" is on the list of ingredients. The "ToxFox" app, which can be used to scan and check products in the store, can provide help.