EWG News Roundup (5/24): EWG’s 2019 Guide to Sunscreens, EWG Board Member Michelle Pfeiffer Lobbies for Safe Cosmetics and More

This week EWG released the 2019 installment of our Guide to Sunscreens, which rates the safety and efficiency of more than 1,300 SPF products. EWG researchers once again found that two-thirds of sunscreen products still offer inferior sun protection or contain worrisome ingredients.

EWG’s senior vice president for government affairs Scott Faber appeared before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee this week to call on Congress to take real steps to combat toxic PFAS chemicals in the crisis that has spread nationwide.

“To address the growing PFAS contamination crisis, Congress should address ongoing sources of PFAS contamination, measure the scope of existing PFAS contamination, notify communities impacted by PFAS contamination, and dramatically accelerate efforts to clean up PFAS contamination,” Faber said in his testimony. “More broadly, Congress should reform our federal environmental and public health laws to better address the threats posed by contaminants like PFAS.”

Also happening on Capitol Hill, EWG board member Michelle Pfeiffer met with lawmakers on Thursday to urge them to support bipartisan legislation to reform the law governing the cosmetics industry for the first time in 80 years. 

The Environmental Protection Agency announced this week that it would cut funding to a number of research centers that focus on assessing the risks children face from exposure to toxic chemicals and industrial pollution. These actions are the latest in a line of decisions by EPA head Andrew Wheeler and the Trump administration to downgrade the importance of children’s health.

Memorial Day marks the opening of many public pools throughout the nation – and new EWG research shows that with refreshing pool water comes a plethora of gross biological and chemical contaminants introduced by swimmers. Because of those contaminants, pool operators must overly chlorinate their pools to reduce bacteria, a process with its own adverse health effects. EWG laid out some tips for swimmers to ensure a cleaner pool experience this summer.

Over on our energy site, EWG’s Next Level Energy, we criticized the Trump EPA’s plan to use a bogus method for estimating premature deaths from air pollution in its effort to justify the president’s decision to roll back clean air regulations and prop up the coal industry.

We also urged North Carolina legislators to reject a Duke Energy–backed bill that would give the dirty energy giant the right to jack up rates on its customers in the Tar Heel state.

Here’s some news you can use going into the weekend.

2019 EWG Guide to Sunscreens

USA Today: Is your sunscreen 'safe'? What you need to know about protecting yourself from the sun this summer

In a review of more than 1,300 products with SPF in them, the Environmental Working Group found that about two-thirds did not meet its standard for protection or chemical safety. Reprinted by The Arizona RepublicAsbury Park PressCincinnati EnquirerDetroit Free PressFlorida TodayMilwaukee Journal SentinelTC Palm,  MSN Yahoo! News and 94 other media outlets.

USA Today: Pelosi's meeting with Dems, Trump team in court, suncreen safety: 5 things you need to know Wednesday

Sunscreens on the market today may be providing inferior sun protection or contain potentially harmful chemicals, an environmental advocacy organization says. In a new 2019 review of more than 1,300 products with SPF in them, the Environmental Working Group  found that about two-thirds did not meet its standard for protection or chemical safety. Reprinted by Yahoo! News and USA Today affiliate papers. 

TIME Magazine: Here Are the Safest and Most Effective Sunscreens

Summer means more time in the sun, which can be good for the bones—all that vitamin D—but bad for the skin. In its annual report on the sunscreens with the least toxic ingredients that are also effective, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found more than 250 products that measure up. Reprinted by MSNYahoo! News and Yahoo! Lifestyle

Houston Chronicle: Is your sunscreen safe? Which kinds to use and which to avoid

That ghostly-white mineral-based lotion is the non-toxic formula considered safest to slather on the skin for broad-spectrum protection from UVA and UVB radiation, according to the Environmental Working Group. The group released its 13th annual Guide to Sunscreens on May 22.

National Geographic: What sunscreens are best for you—and the planet?

Check the list: Haereticus Environmental Lab publishes a list each year of what sunscreens are safe for the environment, and the Environmental Working Group rates products with SPF values—including some 650 sunscreens and 250 moisturizers—on their environmental impact.

Fashionista: 33 Top-Rated Sunscreens to Use if You're Concerned About SPF Safety

The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a consumer activist group which has pushed the FDA to do further safety studies on sunscreen, has done extensive investigating of its own into which sunscreen products are "safest," and it's a helpful resource, especially as we await the FDA's verdict on those 12 ingredients (which is expected to come at the end of the year).  Reprinted by Yahoo! NewsYahoo! Lifestyle and Daily Magazine and 

Live Science: Many Sunscreens Sold in US Offer Suboptimal Protection, According to New Report

For the report, scientists with the Environmental Working Group (EWG) reviewed 1,300 sunscreen products, including beach and sports sunscreens as well as daily moisturizers and lip balms, for the group's annual Guide to Sunscreens, released today (May 22).

MarketWatch: Watch out for sunscreens that contain these ingredients this Memorial Day Weekend 

More than half of the sunscreens — 60% — that EWG reviewed either don’t adequately protect against sun exposure or have potentially harmful chemicals in them. But the organization says there are ways to check the ingredients to help make sure sunscreens are safe.

MarketWatch: This is one of the safest sunscreens you can buy right now — and it only costs $9

On Wednesday, nonprofit environmental research organization Environmental Working Group released its list of the safest sunscreens on the market, examining more than 1,300 products with SPF. Their conclusion: “About two-thirds still offer inferior sun protection or contain concerning ingredients.” 

Men’s Health: Two-Thirds of Sunscreens Could Be Hurting You, Report Says

Summer’s hot, and the debate over how to protect yourself from the sun is even hotter. The Environmental Working Group released its 2019 Guide to Sunscreens today—the 13th annual report of its kind—and it finds that two-thirds of sunscreen products on the market “offer inferior protection or contain worrisome ingredients.” Reprinted by Yahoo! NewsYahoo! Lifestyle and Daily Magazine.

MindBodyGreen: Your Summer 2019 Sunscreen Guide: 4 Tips To Find A Safe Option From The EWG

We're about to enter a very exciting time in sunscreens—at least according to the Environmental Working Group, who just released their annual sunscreen guide. For so long the activist group has pushed for stricter regulations, or at the very least more research to be conducted around the active ingredients used in common SPFs. Well, that time might be coming soon.

Prevention: Is Oxybenzone In Sunscreen Dangerous? Here’s How It May Impact Your Health

In particular, people have repeatedly freaked out about oxybenzone, a “widely-used” chemical found in two-thirds of the products analyzed for The Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) 2019 sunscreen guide. Reprinted by Yahoo! News and Yahoo! Lifestyle.

People Magazine: Amazon’s Best-Selling Sunscreen Is Non-Toxic and Just Received a Perfect Safety Score

Fortunately for you, we’ve found a super safe, non-toxic sunscreen that’s one of the best you can buy, according to Amazon shoppers and the Environmental Working Group: the Thinkbaby Safe Sunscreen. Reprinted by Yahoo! NewsYahoo! CanadaYahoo! Entertainment and Yahoo! Lifestyle.

POPSUGAR: 25 of the Top-Rated Sunscreens For Kids and Babies in 2019

Every year, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) puts out a sunscreen guide to help you buy the lotions and sticks that are top rated, safe, and protective. This year, there are quite a few new products on the list of best sunscreen for kids from previous years, including a lotion from Supergoop's new kids and babies line, Sunnyscreen. Reprinted by Yahoo! NewsYahoo! Lifestyle and News Live.  

Romper: The EWG's 2019 Safe Sunscreen Guide Is Here To Keep You & Your Fam Safe All Summer Long

Ensuring that you and your loved ones are safe while having fun in the sun is priority number one. This means plenty of hydration, proper clothing, and of course, using a good sunscreen. The 2019 Safe Sunscreen Guide from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has released this year’s sunscreen guide, complete with everything parents need to know when choosing sunscreen for their family that is safe and effective. 

Michelle Pfeiffer Lobby Day

The Washington Post: Michelle Pfeiffer lobbies Congress for cosmetics-safety laws

Pfeiffer, who moonlights as a board member for the Environmental Working Group, was urging the passage of legislation sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) to boost oversight of the cosmetics industry.

Fast Company: Michelle Pfeiffer is fighting to make your beauty products safer

The actress met with federal lawmakers today and urged them to support the bill, according to a release from the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit organization that campaigns for safer products and has a database that allows you to look up the ingredients in cosmetics.

Michelle Pfeiffer’s Henry Rose Launch

Connecticut Post (Bridgeport): Michelle Pfeiffer's Fragrance Brand Took 20 Years (And Plenty of Rejection) to Build

Pfeiffer eventually discovered an advocacy organization called the Environmental Working Group, which had a website, Skin Deep, that ranks cosmetics products based on the safety of their ingredients.

Entrepreneur: Michelle Pfeiffer's Fragrance Brand Took 20 Years (And Plenty of Rejection) to Build

Pfeiffer eventually discovered an advocacy organization called the Environmental Working Group, which had a website, Skin Deep, that ranks cosmetics products based on the safety of their ingredients. Reprinted byNew Haven Register (CT)UncovaConnecticut Post (Bridgeport)The Hour (Norwalk CT)

Children’s Health Funding Rollbacks

Associated Press: Research on children's health risks in doubt over EPA funds

In a statement Tuesday, Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group said "crippling research to protect children's health, while bowing to the agenda of the chemical industry, is the calling card of the EPA in the Trump administration."

Reprinted by The New York TimesNewsTimes (Danbury CT)WSB-TV AtlantaThe Province (Toronto ON)Stamford Advocate (CT)Boston 25 News (TV)Tribune (San Luis Obispo CA)WFMJ (Youngstown OH)WFTV 9 (Orlando FL)The Seattle TimesWashington Times (DC)Jacksonville Journal Courier (FL)New Haven Register (CT)The London Free Press (Ontario)WBTW News 13 (Myrtle Beach SC)Star Tribune (Minneapolis MN); 338 other media outlets

PFAS Legislation

Inside EPA: Senators Tout Bipartisanship On PFAS But Barrasso Seeks To Narrow Bills

She added she wanted to clear up misinformation about the TRI bill -- asking Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, to back her up against charges that the legislation is onerous, would short circuit the regulatory process, apply to mom and pop gas stations and fuel lawsuits.

Scott Faber PFAS Testimony

Politico: House-Senate divide clear on PFAS

Senators will hear from witnesses today spanning Kim White of the American Chemistry Council to Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group, an organization in favor of aggressive PFAS regulation by handling the thousands of chemicals as a class.

EPA Clean Power Rollback

EcoWatch: Trump’s EPA Is Changing Its Math to Make Clean Power Plan Rollback Seem Less Deadly

"Using fake math to hide the death toll from dirty air at the behest of the coal industry is sadly consistent with the Trump administration's complete disregard for public health," Environmental Working Group (EWG) Senior Science Advisor for Children's Environmental Health Dr. Olga Naidenko said in response to the plan. Reprinted by Nation of ChangeSchwartz Report

Trump Administration 

Wonkette: Trump To Give Farmers Another Twenty Or Fifty Bucks Each, NOW SHUT UP ABOUT IT

We're sure the new bailouts will be every bit as good for the average farmer as the first round was. The Environmental Working Group estimated the top ten percent of bailout recipients received 68 percent of all the money, leaving many farmers affected by the market disruption with little to show for their heroic duty in the Trade War. 

Cumulative Risk Assessment Paper  

Chicago Tribune: From the community: Concoction of Drinking Water Pollutants Poses Cancer Risk to Thousands

A new study, conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), has found that the combined effects of an array of toxic contaminants found in California's drinking water poses an increased cancer risk to more than 15,000 residents.

Cosmetics Regulation

The Guardian: Pretty hurts: are chemicals in beauty products making us ill?

American women use an average of 12 products a day – nearly 200 chemicals – according to a 2004 study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit environment and health advocacy group.  

Skin Deep® Cosmetics Database

The Guardian: Why smelling good could come with a cost to health

The Environmental Working Group keeps databases on safe cleaning products and personal care products, including fragrances.

EWG’s Healthy Living App

The Guardian: Is modern life poisoning me? I took the tests to find out

I collect what I understand to be my riskiest products throughout my home, according to a database and app maintained by the Environmental Working Group, a health advocacy group.

Food Additives 

Forbes: How Natural Are “Natural” Ingredients In Food And Beverages?

An Environmental Working Group study of 80,000 food products revealed that “natural flavors” is the fourth most common listed ingredient after only salt, water, and sugar.

Mercola: Why Calcium Propionate Is Strongly Linked to Diabetes and Autism

In late 2018,47 the FDA announced a list of seven synthetic compounds no longer allowed to be used as food additives in response to a petition brought by Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

Maumee River Basin and Harmful Algal Blooms 

Great Lakes Now: Animal Culprit: Study Points to Animal Farms as Growing Contributors to Lake Erie Algae

The work, conducted by The Environmental Working Group (EWG) in Washington D.C. and the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC)  in Chicago, is based on information retrieved through aerial photos, satellite imagery and state permit data collected from agriculture and environmental officials in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. 

Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change + Health 

Market Watch: Are you ready to move beyond pork, chicken and beef? Try ‘tasty’ locust ice cream and maggot sausages

Meat is the worst food product for producing greenhouse gases due to its production, packaging, transportation and consumption, data from the Environmental Working Group concluded…Reprinted by MorningStar

Monsanto’s Glyphosate

Chemicals News: Major U.S. brands demand EPA take action to stop pre-harvest spraying of toxic glyphosate on food crops

“We joined EWG and the other companies in petitioning the EPA in order to reduce the permissible levels of glyphosate in oats,” reads a statement issued by Ben & Jerry’s

Food Dive: Big Food turning to regenerative agriculture to meet sustainability goals

"Food industry pledges are not unlike a toy surprise. There is one in every box, but they always disappoint," Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, told Food Dive.

PFAS Military Contamination 

The Washington Post: On Japan’s Okinawa, U.S. military blamed for contaminating environment with hazardous chemical

PFOS and PFOA have been replaced in recent years with other PFAS with slightly different chemical compositions. But the Environmental Working Group, a U.S.-based nonprofit, says the effects of the replacement chemicals has never been properly tested.

Reprinted by SF Gate (San Francisco)Laredo Morning Times (TX)The Telegraph (Alton IL)

The Guardian: A trail of toxicity: the US military bases making people sick

A 2007 study estimated that PFAS are in the blood of 98% of Americans, while last year an analysis by the not-for-profit Environmental Working Group found that more than 1,500 drinking water systems nationwide could be contaminated by PFAS, affecting as many as 110 million people. Reprinted by 10z US PoliticsMSNCoyote Gulch

PFAS Standards

Inside EPA: NAS Backs Subclass Review For Flame Retardants, Highlighting PFAS Method

The Environmental Working Group's David Andrews urges the adoption of two classes for PFAS: one including the older, long-chain PFAS which were included in the 2010 phaseout agreement and a second class containing their short-chain replacement chemicals.

Engineering News-Record: Environmental Groups Push for Tighter PFAS Standards

The Environmental Working Group on May 6 proposed a cleanup standard of 1 part per trillion for PFAS after a study discovered that contamination in the U.S. was triple what it was thought to be a year ago.

2019 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ 

The Guardian: Explained: the toxic threat in everyday products, from toys to plastic

Residues are in up to 70% of produce sold in the US, according to the latest annual analysis of US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data by the health advocacy group Environmental Working Group.

Reader’s Digest: 14 Organic Foods Nutritionists Don’t Waste Their Money On

But the nutrition varies greatly between foods and while it’s worth it to buy organic for foods on the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list, there are plenty of foods where conventional is just as good as organic, Kostro Miller says.

Miami Herald: Ditch the doughnuts. When you’re being treated for cancer, eating healthy is critical

Check out the Environmental Working Group’s lists of “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean 15” foods (not organic) with the highest and lowest levels of pesticides to better pick priorities.

PFAS in Drinking Water 

Bloomberg Environment: INSIGHT: The Case for Regulating All PFAS Chemicals as a Class

PFAS chemicals contaminate the drinking water supply of an estimated 110 million Americans according to an Environmental Working Group (EWG) analysis of summary level testing data from over 1,000 public water systems.

The Guardian: Why you need to know about PFAS, the chemicals in pizza boxes and rainwear

The Environmental Working Group health advocates have created a US map of detections of PFAS in water.

Providence Journal (RI): A lurking danger for R.I.’s drinking water

The Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, has estimated that up to 110 million Americans have been exposed to the compounds in their drinking water.

WTAP (Parkersburg WV): UPDATE: Environmentalists hope: zero PFAS water contamination

A member of the Environmental Working Group Thursday commented on a measure introduced Wednesday by two U.S. senators, including West Virginia Republican Shelley Moore Capito.

Water Filters

Epicurious: What’s the Best Way to Filter Your Water?

Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) toxicologist Dr. Alexis Temkin, Ph.D. She thinks there is no reason to get the most serious water filter if you don’t actually need it.

Reprinted by MSNFrom PressYahoo!

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