As of: February 29, 2024, 4:45 a.m
By: Amy Walker
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The Federal Environment Agency has been concerned about an explosive discovery for several weeks.
A harmful substance banned in the EU has been found in sunscreens.
Berlin – The Federal Environment Agency has been concerned about a worrying discovery for weeks.
A harmful substance that is actually banned in the EU was found in numerous urine samples, including those from children.
At the beginning of February, the authority announced that the pollutant probably reached the population through sunscreen.
And as Der
Spiegel
and the
Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ)
report, this trail now leads to the BASF company.
Particularly spicy: BASF is said to have known about it for years.
Plasticizers discovered in cosmetics
Specifically, it is about the substance MnHexP (mono-n-hexyl phthalate), which is a plasticizer.
“In our first exploratory analyses, we see a connection between exposure to MnHexP and cosmetics, including sunscreen in particular,” said toxicologist Marike Kolossa-Gehring from the Federal Environment Agency (Uba) at the beginning of February.
Many creams, including night creams, also contain sunscreen.
“You shouldn’t do without sunscreen under any circumstances,” she warned at the same time.
The risk of cancer from sun rays is too high.
“Our findings are not sufficient to recommend measures at this point,” she said.
According to the latest data, Uba discovered the metabolite MnHexP in around 37 percent of the samples in an ongoing environmental health study, said Kolossa-Gehring.
According to Uba, it is a degradation product of the unauthorized plasticizer DnHexP (di-n-hexyl phthalate).
The reproductively harmful substance MnHexP was first discovered in 2023.
The Uba had detected it in the urine of adults, an authority in North Rhine-Westphalia in that of kindergarten children.
According to Uba, the substance DnHexP may no longer be used in the EU without approval since 2023.
Applications for approval have not been submitted.
It cannot be ruled out that it is contained in contaminated sites or imported products containing DnHexP.
DnHexP has been severely restricted or banned in the EU for many years.
BASF filed a patent in 2021
As Der
Spiegel
now reports, there are indications that BASF knew about the harmful substances in some of its products - or at least accepted it with approval.
The company filed a patent in 2021 that mentions the pollutant as a “by-product”.
The
WAZ
also reports that BASF mentioned the harmful plasticizers that arise during production when registering the patent.
This is “unavoidable,” BASF documents say, but the company acknowledges that exposure needs to be kept low because the substance can harm fertility and children in the womb.
Sunscreen should still always be used, warns the Federal Environment Agency.
© Sina Schuldt/dpa
BASF rejects the allegations and writes: “Based on the currently available data, no connection can be derived between sun protection and urine values.”
And further: “We take our responsibility as a manufacturer very seriously and, in addition to the legal requirements, we also take our own additional safety assessments into account.
We only market products that meet the strict criteria for quality, safety and health.”
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According to Uba, MnHexP is a substance that is harmful to reproduction.
It primarily affects the reproductive organs of male fetuses in the womb.
Substances in this group could also be harmful to adults and increase the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity, which is shown by further animal experiments.
Concentrations have now been discovered in individual people “that are so high that a health risk cannot be ruled out,” says toxicologist Marike Kolossa-Gehring.