Toxic beauty products contribute to health inequity
E&E News
By Ariel Wittenberg
Toxic chemicals in beauty products commonly used by and marketed to Black people and other people of color could be contributing to racial health inequities.
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“There is such a gap between what medical doctors think is safe and what is available for purchase, and that gap is an important one,” she said. “I want to know why we can even buy certain products.”
Alexandra Scranton, director of science and research at Women’s Voices for the Earth, agreed.
“We see health disparities between women of color and white women, and some of it is lack of access to health care or health insurance, and some of it is stress and pollution in the neighborhood, and all of these things are compounding,” she said. “It’s hard to tease out what one thing might be causing these disparities, but we can control toxic exposures, and manufacturers and regulators should be doing their part to reduce that.”
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