Cancer-causing chemical benzene found in popular acne products: U.S. lab
Global News
A independent U.S. lab reported it detected a cancer-causing chemical in common over-the-counter acne treatments. The lab said it found benzene at 800 times the FDA limit.
A U.S. lab says it has detected benzene, a chemical that causes cancer, in several popular, over-the-counter acne products including those from brands like Clearasil, ProActive, Walmart and Clinique, among others.
Valisure, an independent lab whose discovery of benzene in dry shampoo in 2022 prompted the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada to issue recalls, reported that its “extensive testing” revealed the same carcinogen can form at high levels in benzoyl peroxide products used to treat acne, and that it found it in products from the brands it tested.
Health Canada, the World Health Organization and FDA all state benzene can cause cancer.
“High levels of benzene were not only detected inside BPO (benzoyl peroxide) products, but also in the air around incubated BPO products,” Valisure’s report stated, “showing that benzene can leak out of some product packages and pose a potential inhalation risk.”
The report also stated that benzene can form “over 800 times” the FDA conditionally restricted concentration limit in products and that “the current evidence suggests that this problem applies broadly to BPO products currently on the market.”
The lab detected the benzene levels it says raise concerns in 66 benzoyl peroxide-containing acne treatment products incubated at 50 C for 18 days. Some of those brands include Reckitt Benckiser’s Clearasil, ProActiv, Estee Lauder’s Clinique and Walmart’s Equate Beauty acne cream, among others. The companies did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The FDA has also not yet responded.
David Light, the lab’s president, said the benzene detection in acne treatments is substantially different from the discovery (and subsequent recalls) in other products like hand sanitizers and sunscreens because those were impurities that came from contaminated ingredients.
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