Use of Personal Care Products During Pregnancy Linked to Adverse Effects in Newborns

Personal care products used during pregnancy may be linked to adverse reproductive effects in newborns, report researchers from SUNY Downstate Medical Center’s School of Public Health.

The long-term consequences of this are not clear and the findings must be reproduced in larger studies, the study authors note.The findings are available online and will be published in a Special Issue “Emerging Contaminants” in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.

“The study found a link between women with higher levels of butyl paraben, which is commonly used as a preservative in cosmetics, and the following birth outcomes: shorter gestational age at birth, decreased birth weight, and increased odds of preterm birth,” says Laura Geer, PhD, MHS, associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at SUNY Downstate, in a news release.

The antimicrobial compound, triclocarban, mainly added to soaps, was associated with shorter gestational age at birth. And propyl paraben, another common chemical added to lotions and creams, was associated with decreased body length at birth, the study showed.

 “Our latest study adds to the growing body of evidence showing that endocrine-disrupting compounds can lead to developmental and reproductive problems in animals and in humans. Effects observed in previous studies mainly came from animal models only,” Dr Geer says. “Based on this new evidence, the safety of use of these chemicals in our consumer products should be reassessed.”

Regulations requiring removal of triclosan from various consumer care products have been in place since 2015 in the European Union, but broader regulatory action by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not ensued. Various U.S. manufacturers have pledged to voluntarily remove triclosan from some hygiene-related products, while the state of Minnesota has passed a ban on use of triclosan in sanitizing or hand and body cleaning products beginning in 2017.