Description
Is there asbestos in make-up? If you look through your make-up bag, you might have a blusher, eye shadow or face powder that contains the ingredient talc. But there are questions about its safety. Women diagnosed with cancer have started launching court cases against cosmetics companies claiming some products are contaminated with asbestos.
It turns out, the issue of asbestos contamination in talc is not new. Thanks to recent court cases, once secret company memos now reveal how the talc industry first started to discuss this issue in the 1970s. Why is asbestos showing up in products decades later?
After chronicling the tactics used by big tobacco to delay regulation on smoking and then by big oil to delay regulation on climate change in series 1, Phoebe Keane investigates whether similar tactics have been used again to create the idea that there was a controversy and to cast doubt over the science.
Presenter and producer: Phoebe Keane
Sound mix: James Beard
Series Editor: Matt Willis
When we send off make-up for testing, the lab finds an asbestos fibre in two of the samples. Brunel University’s Experimental Technique’s Centre says they need to find at least 3 fibres to confirm the asbestos fibre came from the make-up sample, despite having strict protocols to ensure their lab...
Published 08/05/24
When talc might be listed as a potential carcinogen, the industry assembles a ‘talc task force’. It’s the year 2000 and the talc industry has heard something big is coming its way. The US government agencies tasked with listing cancer causing substances are set to include talc. The initial...
Published 08/05/24