Survey of Chemical Substances in Consumer Products, No. 86 2007 – Survey and risk assessment of chemical substances in deodorants

Survey and risk assessment of chemical substances in deodorants

1 Introduction

A majority of the population uses deodorants on a daily basis. The active ingredients in the deodorants are fragrances, preservatives/antimicrobials and substances used for the reduction/inhibition of sweating. Fragrances and preservatives are among the most common causes of skin allergy from cosmetic products (1). The content as well as the use pattern of deodorants are responsible for the increased risk of fragrance allergy associated to this product category (2). Moreover, excessive use of certain antimicrobials in deodorants, for example triclosan may lead to development of bacterial resistance against antibiotics.

Contact allergy developes when low molecular weight substances, such as fragrance chemicals in deodorants, penetrate the skin and activate the immune system in such a way that the immune system recognises and reacts to the allergenic substance. The cells that participate in the allergic reaction are T-lymphocytes, which circulate in the whole body. The process of allergy development is called induction and occurs without symptoms. On subsequent exposure to sufficient amounts of the allergenic substance, the immune system will react to the susbstance and eczema will develop.

The symptoms of eczema are itchy redness, papules, swelling and some time blisters on the exposed skin area. Allergy to ingredients of deodorants will appear in the armpits, but can spread to other parts of the body, if the use of the product is continued. The process of developing allergic symptoms is called provocation or elicitation. Once a person has developed allergy it is a livelong condition, where exposure to sufficient amounts of allergen will result in eczema and therefore exposure should be avoided. Otherwise the person may experience recurring or chronic eczema.

A fragrance formula is typically composed of 10-300 fragrance substances among approximately 2500 fragrance chemicals in use. In EU, 26 fragrance substances, reported to cause allergy in humans, have been identified to help the fragrance allergic persons to avoid exposure to the fragrance substance they cannot tolerate. Since March 2005, it is required that these 26 substances should be labelled on cosmetic products, when their content in leave-on cosmetics is =10 ppm, or =100 ppm in rinse-off cosmetics, according to the EU Cosmetic Directive (4). The same regulation has also been introduced for detergent and cleaning products, both for household and industrial use, since October 2005. This regulation is also useful for doctors in the case of suspected fragrance allergy as it provides the tool to test patients with relevant fragrance ingredients, establish the correct diagnosis and advise patients to avoid exposure to specific substances in future in order not to develop eczema.

According to the EU Cosmetic Directive, 55 different chemical substances can be used as preservatives in cosmetic products under the conditions described in the Directive.

In a survey of the ingredient labelling on 31 deodorants, the Information Centre for Environment & Health found that these products contained potential skin allergens including one or more of the 26 fragrance substances, which should now be declared in the ingredient list (3). The news paper Morgenavisen Jyllandsposten has also found allergenic substances in 10 expensive (prestige products of high price category) deodorants. On this background, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (DEPA) requested an investigation of fragrance substances and preservatives/antimicrobials used in deodorants as well as their concentration levels in these products. In addition an evaluation of health risks of selected substances present in these products was required.

The project was divided in 3 phases: i) survey of deodorants on the Danish market, collection of the most sold products and control of labelling to check the compliance with the Cosmetic Directive (4); ii) in cooperation with DEPA regarding selection of a number of products for the determination of the contents of the 26 fragrance substances and some selected preservatives, which are regulated according to Annex 3 and Annex VI of the Cosmetic Directive, and finally conformity testing with the regulation according to the Cosmetic Directive; and iii) risk assessment of deodorants on the basis of the analytically determined concentrations of the selected fragrance substances and preservatives with regard to skin allergy.