Does your makeup contain 'forever chemicals'?

As the federal government weighs whether to regulate so-called forever chemicals as toxic, CBC's Marketplace tested popular makeup brands for these chemicals and found measurable levels in three of four brands.

Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as forever chemicals, are a group of more than 12,000 chemicals used in a variety of products — from makeup to raincoats to non-stick pans to fast-food packaging — to repel things like water, grease and dirt.

Miriam Diamond, an environmental chemist and professor at the University of Toronto, says while these characteristics make PFAS useful in our products, those same traits make PFAS persistent and hard to break down in our bodies and the environment.

"Ninety-nine per cent of Canadians have some level of PFAS in us. That's an astonishing level," said Diamond.

PFAS that have been studied in detail have been linked to a variety of potential health effects, from higher cholesterol levels to increased risk of certain cancers.

This past summer, the Canadian government released a long-awaited draft report on PFAS and is expected to make a decision about classifying all PFAS as toxic to human health. Health Canada says they will release the final report as "expeditiously" as possible, but didn't specify a date. 

Diamond says PFAS can be found in makeup marketed as smudge-proof, long-lasting or waterproof.

To find out to what extent people are being exposed to PFAS through makeup sold in Canada, Marketplace sent foundations, mascaras and eyeliners from Quo, Marcelle, MAC and Burt's Bees for lab testing to see if PFAS were present, identify the type of PFAS in the products and determine how much of the identified PFAS the products contained.

Products from the four makeup brands were first sent for a pre-screening test run out of Notre Dame University in Indiana by Graham Peaslee, a professor of physics. His machine tests for total fluorine, which is a possible indicator of PFAS.

Based on these results, Marketplace sent makeup products flagged as potentially containing PFAS to Amy Rand, an assistant professor at Carleton University in Ottawa for in-depth testing. 

Rand's lab used two types of tests to determine if any of the 32 most commonly used PFAS in cosmetics were in the products Marketplace sent. For each product tested, Marketplace sent three samples to be analyzed.

The five makeup products that were found to have PFAS in Marketplace's testing are:

Three makeup products Marketplace sent for testing did not have measurable levels of the PFAS Rand tested for:

Diamond says the likely reason Burt's Bees products were flagged in the pre-screen is because they have hectorite and mica — a mineral and clay — which both contain fluorine.