A Serious Warning about Nano-Technology in Cosmeceuticals

Dr. Epstein has serious concerns about cosmetic products containing nano-particles, and that the facts about these technologies are being hidden and ignored.

These ingredients are used in many different brands of cosmetics and cosmeceuticals, so I encourage you to use this information to evaluate ANY type of cosmetic you’re considering buying.


Some of these nano-particles are so dangerous, in fact, they’re slowly but surely becoming known as “universal asbestos.”

“There is no labeling of the warning at all of the dangers of these nanoparticles, instead they are touted as reducing wrinkling and firming up the skin surface,” he says.


"However, the use of nanoparticles in cosmeceuticals, whether they are sham cosmeceuticals or whether they’re bonafide cosmeceuticals, poses an extraordinarily dangerous and unrecognized public health hazards.

Nanoparticles, because of their ultramicroscopic size, readily penetrate the skin, can invade underlying blood vessels, get into the general blood stream, and produce distant toxic effects.

We already have evidence of this, including toxic effects in the brain, degenerative disorders in the brain, and nerve damage. So we’re dealing here with one of the most dangerous types of products in the whole cosmetic industry.

In May 2006, the Friends of the Earth – a global network of grassroots groups in nearly 80 countries -- published a report on nanoparticles titled “Nanoparticles, sunscreens and cosmetics: Small ingredients, big risks.”
They warned that these high risk products must be banned and removed from the market to protect public health.

“About two years later, in mid-2008, the British Royal Commission report warned that products that contain nanoparticles pose very, very high toxic risks,” Epstein says.

Many products can also contain other toxic ingredients, such as allergens, toxic hormonal ingredients, and known carcinogens such as:

• Ethylene oxide
• Dioxane
• Nitrosamines
• Formaldehyde
• Acrylamide

These are known carcinogens, and should not be present in anything you slather on your skin. Epstein says:

“… the evidence which we’ve accumulated so far, is largely restricted to the fact that they [nano particles] get into your bloodstream and reach organs throughout your body.

And as far as the brain is concerned, we have actual evidence of entry into the brain and producing toxic effects -- lesions, small lesions, toxic effects in the brain.”

Dr. Samuel Epstein is a well respected professional in cancer prevention. He is a professor emeritus of occupational and environment medicine at the University of Illinois in Chicago, and is an expert on toxins. He is also the chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition.

Dr. Epstein has authored 270 scientific articles, and 15 books on the causes and prevention of cancer. These include the groundbreaking Politics of Cancer (1979), and most recently Toxic Beauty (2009) about carcinogens and other toxic ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products.


 Source:  Dr. Mercola