Transcript of Most Replayed Moment: Are Your Household And Beauty Products Secretly Toxic? Dr Yvonne Burkart

Knowing what you know. Surely it's built up a bit of... I don't know, a bit of a... If I knew all that you knew, I think, about toxins in our environment, I would be, A, a really annoying person at every dinner party, and B, there'd be a certain sense of, I guess, emergency and urgency to me because I'd be looking around at all my friends and I'd be, if I understood the consequences of drinking from that plastic container or putting that product on their face, I feel like I'm trying to be shouted the world to tell them to stop. Do you feel a sense of that? You directly witnessed the impact that making these changes and detoxifying your environment had on you? Do you feel a sense of like...

Absolutely. I can't even tell you how much passion it has ignited in me to be able to share this information and spread it as far and wide as possible because it's literally It's affecting every single person on this planet. And I do find it sometimes challenging not to call someone out and say, Hey, be careful with that. But I think it comes from being a living example, and I found that that is much more effective at being a living example instead of telling people, Don't do this, don't do that, showing them what's possible. Look at what happened to me. Look at my journey. Look at the benefit that I feel. And then once you start removing these things and making these simple swaps, it's about simple, small, incremental shifts that anyone can do over the long term because it's really about it's a marathon, not a race. It's not about you've got to throw everything away and you've got to hide under a rock because I tried that and it didn't work, and it caused more stress, and stress is harmful. So being a living example, empowering people with information, educating about the problem, but coming with the solution.

You mentioned cancer is one of the downstream consequences of living in a toxic environment. We talked about how sperm quality has reduced over the last couple of decades. When we look at the stats around cancer, are there any stats in particular that you think are most clearly associated with us living in such a toxic environment? One of them that always brings to mind is breast cancer, because I think I read or heard that breast cancer is on the rise or has been rising for the last couple of decades. When you look at the Western world versus something like a tribe in Africa, they don't see the same levels of breast cancer.

Yeah, that is definitely a concern because cancer, historically, was a disease of age, aging. It wasn't so common that you see cancer in your 30s, 40s, and even 50s. Now we're seeing a shift. The window is moving earlier and earlier. Cancer incidents, like you said, breast cancer incidents is definitely on the rise. I myself never knew anyone that suffered from breast cancer or survived it until I hit my 30s. Then I knew five people that had it, including two people that I worked with in the toxicology lab.

What are your suspicions about the root causes of this rising cancer?

I definitely think there is a huge environmental component to it because a lot of what was believed decades ago was that disease and cancer incidents had to do with your genes. You were just genetically predisposed. You were unlucky. But in actuality, what we're seeing now is that the environment plays such a massive role in whether or not you actually have cancer. Just because you have the predisposition to developing breast cancer, such as the BRCA gene, doesn't mean you'll get it. It really depends on your lifestyle and how you lived, but also how your ancestors lived. We talked about the multigenerational effect of these chemicals, depending on How your ancestors lived, how your grandmother and how your mother lived, could predispose you to this.

Have there been any studies that show the impact of these everyday chemicals on cancer risk?

Yes, and that's That's something that is, I don't want to say that it's exciting, but I'm glad that we finally have proof. I don't want to see these studies. I hate seeing this, actually. I'm really angry that people have to suffer with cancer because it's so preventable. There was a study recently that looked at removing certain ingredients from beauty and personal care products. So women without any history of breast cancer were asked to remove these ingredients from their products for 28 days. So that's very short. Four weeks, right? They took cells from the breast tissue. They were all normal. They measured the amount of breast cancer gene expression. After 28 days, they took another sample. So after 28 days of removing these ingredients, they took another sample, and they saw that the breast cancer gene expression dropped. And the only thing that they were asked to change about their lifestyle was to remove these ingredients from their beauty and personal care products.

Which products were they told to remove and what ingredients were those?

It was skincare, deodorant, shampoo, things that most people are using. The ingredients were phalates, which can often be found in fragrance. The seemingly innocuous little term on the ingredients list, fragrance or parfum, can contain a huge number of chemicals It's hidden behind this umbrella term because by law in Europe and in the US, manufacturers do not have to disclose this. It is considered trade secret. Within that chemical mixture are known carcinogens, endocrine disruptors like phthalates, and the most potent allergens known to man. With phthalates, the reason that they're in fragrances and that manufacturers love them so much is they're what are known as film formers. It helps the fragrance to stick to surfaces like your skin, your clothing, and it helps to make it last longer and linger. If you've ever sprayed something on yourself and are still able to smell it hours later, That's a telltale sign that you've been exposed to phthalates, that you have phthalates in that fragrance, in that product.

How many deodorants on the shelf have phthalates in them?

If it's got a fragrance in it, almost all of them. It's code for endocrine disrupting phthalates, essentially. You can assume that. In fact, it's safe to assume that they contain phthalates.

This is one of the deodorants that I often use. For anyone that's just listening, it's just one of the deodorants you'd find on a shelf in any store that comes in a little... Is this an aluminum can? It is an aluminum can. Does this have phthalates in it? How do I know?

You just turn the container around and check the ingredients list. Do you see a word, fragrance/parfum?

Yeah. Fragrance, brackets, parfum.

That's what you're looking for.

Okay, so I shouldn't be spraying this all over my body?

Right. Sometimes you'll see on there, it'll say phthalate-free. Okay. Right. That's helpful. But that still doesn't take away the fact that there are known carcinogens and allergens in there. If you've got any respiratory problems, any skin problems, and you just don't want to expose yourself to unnecessary carcinogens, then it would be beneficial to avoid fragrance.

What about a little spray? Just a...

I mean, it depends. Is that really going to benefit you? Are you going to get any effect from that little spray?

I don't want to smell. This is why I spray this because this top is It's quite tight. If it's tight and it's hot in here, I'll end up smelling. So I just spray it. It's public service for other people, really. I'm fine to smell myself. I can't even smell it, but it's for Jack and the team.

Well, the question would be, can you find a safer alternative? And the answer is yes.

How do I find a safer alternative? What am I looking for?

So you don't want fragrances at all. Yes. So avoid the word fragrance unless it says that the fragrance comes from essential oils.

Okay, but if it comes from essential oils, will it still make me smell nice?

Yes.

Okay.

Yes, because that's where aromatic compounds come from. They come from plants. But just to give you more context on this aerosol spray, this is one of the worst products that you can use.

I've been using it every day. Yeah.

So I'll tell you why. Aerosols use propellants. Propellants are derived from petroleum. And there was a recall on thousands of products within the last couple of years that the propellants were source of benzine contamination. And benzine is a known human carcinogen that you do not want to be inhaling. Because what you inhale goes to your brain. It goes quickly all over your body through the bloodstream. You don't want to be delivering a known human carcinogen into your bloodstream. You're just not helping you at all. Because benzine is known to cause leukemia in people. So it's a no-brainer if you want to avoid that, to avoid aerosols. But not only that, if you think about how you're actually applying the product, you're spraying it like this, in a stream, and it heads towards your face. Then that's also an inhalation risk because there's particles in there. There's solids in there. You don't want to be inhaling unnecessary things. The best option for deodorant is to look for something that has essential oils and is a roll on or a stick solid.

Is there anything on the label that I can trust when it comes to deodorants? Is there a certain term that I'm looking for? You said phthalate-free. Is there anything else that?

Yes. So phthalate-free and paraben-free are definitely helpful.

Okay.

Because then we know at least two of the known endocrine disruptors that we have evidence on are not found in that product. But that doesn't exonerate everything else. We still need to be diligent about the ingredients because they are sources of contamination, of byproducts, of carcinogens, and hidden toxins. It is essentially.

It is pretty crazy that I could get a lighter and go, and it would be flammable. And then I spray that on my body like I'm lathering myself in petrol or something. It is pretty crazy.

That's essentially what that is.

Petrol?

Yeah, because it's coming from petroleum, all the propellants and some of the other base ingredients. I'm sure I haven't looked at it, but I'm almost certain because that is the source of the majority of ingredients that go into these products.

This is my last day ever using I sold deodorants. Let's pull up a bin. Okay. Goodbye. Okay, that's gone. Okay, is this a better alternative? What I've got here is I've got this roll-on deodorant, which I think is one of the refillable ones. Is this a better alternative?

At least from this level of what I know of the fact that it's a solid, yes, but I have to see the ingredients list. We have to look at the ingredients list to really know what's actually in the deodorant.

Okay.

At least from a sustainability standpoint, that's definitely great to see that it's not in a plastic container that is refillable, but we really need to check the ingredients.

Okay, so I've got the ingredients list here. I've just pulled it up on my iPad. It says tapioca starch, baking soda, sunflower seed wax, coca seed butter, tocaphenol Xstate, No idea what that is. Sterile alcohol parfum.

Do you recognize the ingredients? Are they easily recognizable or do they sound highly synthetic, very chemical-like?

It says parfum.

Is there any indication on what's in the parfum?

All our deodorants are scented with a blend of fragrances to give you the sense you love.

Is there any indication that it's phthalate-free and paraben-free? No. That's what should give us pause, is when we don't know what's in that fragrance term. That's really the issue.

Okay. I mean, there's just so many bloody words. Phthalate-free C, deodorant.

I've got a better way that I can help you search. If you just type in the word organic and then whatever product you're looking for. Organic deodorant. That is going to whittle down the choices significantly for you.

You're So you're saying that if it's organic, that means that it won't contain the phthalates and the parabens?

Not necessarily. This is where it gets a little bit nuanced, but at least it whittles down the results that you'll get in search, and then you can check the ingredients one by one and look for the one that has essential oils instead of the word fragrance, because it's really the lack of transparency that should make us pause. We have no idea what's in there. We don't know what we're exposing ourselves to. If you're someone who is concerned about the chemicals in the products you're using, the toxins you're being exposed to, if you are someone who is thinking about getting pregnant, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or just health conscious, and you don't want these toxins in your products, then this is the work that needs to be done.

Interesting. So just because it's a roll on doesn't necessarily mean it's safe?

Right. Okay. That's interesting. You just demonstrated. And just because it's sustainable also doesn't mean it's safe. So There's a lot of marketing that goes on with products, and manufacturers know that consumers are becoming savvy, they're becoming aware, and they're demanding safer products. So they will hit all of the buttons and hope that somebody isn't diligent and doesn't see through that.

Is fragrance so important because fragrance is an indicator that it contains these phalates and parabens? Is that why I should be thinking fragrance is one indicator for whether the cosmetic product is toxic or not?

Yeah, definitely. That would be probably Probably the easiest and most obvious way that you can weed products out is just look for the word fragrance or perfume. If there's no indication that it comes from plants, that it's from essential oils, then that's not something that you want to use.

I read a stat There's a report that said 91% of antiperspirants, 95% of shaving products, 83% of moisturizers, and 63% of sunscreens contain fragrance, and 96% of shampoos, 98% of conditioners, 97% of hair styling products contain fragrance as well. Why are they putting fragrance in everything? Would the products not sell if there weren't fragrance in there?

Yeah, I think there's many reasons that they put fragrances in. First of all, we are sensory beings, and people respond to fragrance Fragrances. Fragrances changes your mood. It uplifts your mood. It helps you feel more confident. Fragrances affect us on a very primal level. The earlier and earlier that you can get hooked on fragrances, the better for these manufacturers, right? That's why they're putting fragrances in even children's products and scented everything. If you notice, I've got kids, we go out and they look for slime. I said, Let's look for unscented slime. It's nearly impossible to find it. You'd have to make your own slime at home. That's what we've started doing. The kids love it because they get to be like little chemists or whatever. But you cannot find even... Even they have markers, pens, crayons. They've got scented stickers. I mean, scented everything. Scent is everywhere now. The The fragrance industry has absolutely exploded in the last 10 or 15 years. Fragrances are one of the most pervasive sources of toxins in our homes, in our daily lives. It's almost like the new second-hand smoke. That's how prevalent it is. Because the chemicals, once you spray them, the reason you smell them is because they have volatilized, means that they have become gasses and they reach your nose, you smell them.

What that also means is that they are in the air. Studies have shown that these fragrance chemicals, phthalates, carcinogens, allergens, they bind to the dust in your home. So it's not like, I smell this fragrance, I sprayed it three hours ago, and I'm totally fine. Well, it's still in the air. It's always going to be in the air unless you physically remove the dust. If you're not regularly dusting, mopping, sweeping, and vacuuming, you're becoming re-exposed. This is absolutely the worst for a child, a baby who is crawling on the floor. Their faces and noses and airways are close to the ground, so they're inhaling the dust that have settled on the floor. I don't know many people that are sweeping and dusting every single day, but if you have a child, then I really want you to listen to this because the child is putting stuff in their mouth, so they're ingesting these dust particles. They're ingesting the chemicals that are attached to the dust particles. They're inhaling them, and they can't detox them. They can't detoxify them from their bodies. And so then what happens? They grow up, they start having allergies, they start having cognitive delays, they start having behavioral issues, they start storing more fat, they can't lose weight, they have low energy, depression, and a host of conditions that we think are common, but doesn't mean they're normal and they're avoidable.

That's the part that is so important is that these conditions are avoidable.

Before Before we start these podcasts, what we always do is we light some candles, and this is one of the candles that we light. I think you mentioned candles earlier on at the start of the conversation, but what's your opinion on candles? Are they safe?

It depends on what type of candle you have. There's basically a safer alternative for pretty much any product that you can think of. I'm not one that says across the board, candles are toxic. It's very specific, conventional candles. Parafen wax, scented candles, which is what you'll see in stores. The majority of candles out there are the ones that we shouldn't be burning. This is a scented candle. It doesn't say what type of wax it is. We can be pretty certain that this is a paraffin wax candle, at least. Using the precautionary principle, we should assume that something is guilty before it's proven innocent. Unless we know for sure that this is not a paraffin wax candle, I wouldn't light it.

Because if I light it, then I'm pushing toxic chemicals into the air.

Exactly. Conventional candles. There are five main reasons why I would not burn a conventional candle. Number one is that when you light those candles, they liberate carcinogens like benzene, toluine, and formaldehyde. But not only Look at ultra-fine particles. Ultra-fine particles are some of the most hazardous substances that you can create in your home. So ultra-fine particles are tiny particles, less than 100 microns in diameter. Excuse me, less than 0. 1 microns in diameter, 100 nanometres, invisible to the human eye. Tiny. These particles have the ability to, as soon as you inhale them, they'll go into your brain. They have They also have the ability to do that. They also have the ability to go as far down into the lung as one can go, all the way down to the alveoli and down in those microscopic structures of the lung. That's where gas exchange happens. There's only one cell layer separating the outside from the inside, your bloodstream. One cell, that's pretty much nothing. That's pretty much no separation, no protection. If an ultra-fine particle can get that down, far down into your lungs, it's guaranteed into your bloodstream. It's It's getting all over your body.

It's causing inflammation and oxidative stress, which are the basis of many chronic diseases. So ultra-fine particles, we need to avoid them as much as possible. One way is to not light a conventional candle. Number two is that they're also releasing volatile organic compounds, as I mentioned. Number three, they contain undisclosed fragrance. And within fragrance, there can be endocrine disruptors cancers, carcinogens, and allergens. When you light these candles, you're getting all of these toxins into your air. Number four, some of the dyes that are used to color candles are carcinogenic. Nobody has any idea is if you burn them, what are the health effects of burning these carcinogenic dyes? Number five, candles are largely unregulated, which means that if you were to look at that candle and it says soy blend, there can be paraffin wax in there, even though it says soy blend. A lot of people think, Soy blend? Oh, it comes from soy. It must be healthier for me. So they'll go for that. But if it says soy blend, one should assume that it's a majority of petroleum-derived paraffin wax with a little bit of soy wax in there. Because the consumer product safety commission, which regulates candles, doesn't look at the ingredients in the candle.

They're concerned with the vessel, the container of the candle, whether or not it's fireproof, and whether or not the wet contains lead. They're not looking at what's in the wax. But studies have shown that when you light these candles, you are liberating a significant number of hazardous chemicals.

So we shall use incense instead.

Incense is even worse. I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but incense is It has been used for thousands of years. But instance, as we know it now, is not the same as instance that was used a thousand years ago. They now contain, again, phthalates, the endocrine disruptors, but also the ultra-fine particles. Studies have shown that Insense creates more ultra-fine particles in pollutants than cigarette smoke. There's an increased risk of cancer because these ultra-fine particles are damaging DNA. Damaged DNA leads to mutations. Mutations can lead to cancer. There's an increased incidence of cancer in temple workers. So people who are around insense for hours upon hours at a time, there's an increased risk of cancer. Not only that, there's an increased risk of cancer, almost threefold In children whose parents burned incense in the home.

Okay, so no incense. My house is going to stink.

Well, you can use... There's different candles that you can use. Based on my research, I looked, I was really I'm not hell-bent on finding what is the type of candle that has the lowest emissions, the least emissions. Because I want to make it really clear. Anytime you burn something, that's not necessarily healthy. But does it mean that you can't do whatever? No. If you find a candle that is low-emission, like beeswax, essential oils, wooden or cotton wicks, then that's a much better alternative than your conventional paraffin wax scented candle, brightly-coloured.

What you just listened to was a most replayed moment from a previous episode. If you want to listen to that full episode, I've linked it down below. Check the description. Thank you.