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Hats off to young Emelia for sharing her story and bringing much needed awareness to the issue of #14allergens in cosmetics. They're not emphasised, and might not even be named in familiar 'plain English' terms, sometimes only in Latin. 1/8 https://twitter.com/DailyMirror/status/1354174522841161728
She and her family have launched a petition to require the top 14 to be emphasised in cosmetics ingredients. I appreciate this sounds like a great idea, but unfortunately there are problems. 2/8 https://www.change.org/p/ctpa-org-uk-top-14-allergens-to-be-listed-in-bold-on-all-beauty-products
Foods and cosmetics are very different. There are already 26 designated fragrance allergens in cosmetics which have to be named (not emphasised), and there are many other allergens (eg preservatives) which some with eg allergic contact dermatitis must avoid. 3/8
Emphasising food allergens would distract from these other allergens, and potentially increase likelihood of reactions in other #allergy folk. Cosmetics ingredients can be already tough to navigate for those with no knowledge of cosmetic chemistry. 4/8
What I would support is mandating 'plain English' use of the food allergens. Take a look at the family's post below, third picture: the bath bomb's ingredients. You should see milk is listed in brackets alongside 'lac', its Latin cosmetic designation. 5/8 https://twitter.com/allergysisters/status/1352719547967692805
BUT you should also see 'albumen'. Albumen is egg, but this isn't named. This is the real problem, to my mind, and addressing it is a move I'd support. ( @bombcosmetics, I'm in no way attaching blame to you, but please consider changing this to protect those with #eggallergy). 6/8
In the meantime, we all have to advocate for careful reading of cosmetics ingredients, reiterating the difference with food laws, and allergy folk need to learn the Latin terms for their allergens. Scroll down on this page on my blog to find them. 7/8 https://www.allergy-insight.com/free-from-living/cosmetics/
And here's a two-year-old post on #14allergens in cosmetics: what to look out for, with some examples. 8/8 https://www.allergy-insight.com/14-allergens-in-cosmetics/
