1,4-dioxane is the name of a chemical byproduct found in many beauty products that has been identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a “probable human carcinogen”, yet it still has not been banned by the Federal Drug Administration. The chemical isn’t officially included in the list of ingredients on the product label because the compound is a byproduct of a chemical reaction called ethoxylation that is produced when manufacturers mix ingredients. Because it isn’t added during the actual production phase, it is omitted from the label.
Self.com recently published an article about this issue when two New York Senators started to pressure the FDA to ban the potential carcinogen. Self.com reached out to Dr. Anton Bilchik regarding the issue, in which he commented,
“It may well be the case that it does translate to human cancers but I don’t know that we have enough human data to establish the same link as we do between, say, smoking and multiple cancers…”
For Dr. Anton Bilchik’s full statement on the matter, please read the full article at:
http://www.self.com/story/personal-care-products-1-4-dioxane