Mad Cow Disease and Conventional Cosmetics--Consumers Beware

Chicago Tribune
March 31, 2004 Wednesday

Considering Cows and Cosmetics

By: Kathleen Louden

The next time you apply makeup, you might ask, "Where's the beef?" That's
because some cosmetic ingredients come from cows. For instance, lipsticks
and lotions may contain tallow--beef fat--and bovine (cow) collagen is in
some anti-wrinkle creams and facial masks.

That left us wondering if it's possible for beauty products to be
contaminated with mad cow disease, called bovine spongiform encephalopathy,
or BSE. Before you throw out that expensive collagen cream or steer clear of
cosmetics, here's what the experts said.

Gerald McEwen, vice president for science with the Cosmetic, Toiletry and
Fragrance Association, said cosmetics are safe. "No cosmetics use BSE
high-risk materials, such as [cow] brain," he said.

The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates cosmetic products once
they are on the market, asked cosmetic manufacturers in 1994 to not use
high-risk bovine materials, an FDA spokeswoman said in an e-mail interview.
"The chance that a cosmetic contains an ingredient contaminated by the BSE
agent is very remote," she said.

The FDA knows of no case of BSE transmission via cosmetics.

Dr. Michael Greger, mad cow disease consultant for the Organic Consumers
Association, does not find the FDA's statement reassuring. It would be
difficult to tie a case of the human form of mad cow disease to cosmetic
use, he said, unless that person had never eaten beef.

Greger said he is concerned about applying makeup with cow ingredients to
broken skin, such as chapped lips or facial cuts. Transmission of BSE
requires the infectious agent to enter the body. Although he considers
cosmetics to pose a low risk for BSE transmission, Greger said, "Why not err
on the side of caution by using cosmetics that say they have no animal
products?"