Cosmetics & Personal Care | Monthly bulletin | September 2022
Safety of cosmetic products during pregnancy and breastfeeding
Today's consumers are increasingly concerned about the safety of the products they consume or use on a daily basis, including cosmetic products. This is even more pertinent during pregnancy and breastfeeding, when women are often even more vigilant about protecting themselves and their unborn child. The skin and the placenta are the main barriers against various threats to the pregnancy, but they are not infallible.
Throughout pregnancy and breastfeeding, many changes take place in the woman's body. Hormonal changes and the sudden, rapid stretching of tissue means the expectant mother’s skin is often put to the test. Challenges include stretch marks, drier and more sensitive skin, pregnancy masks, and cracks, etc., as well as characteristic changes to hair cycle, pigmentation, and blood vessels. These physical changes to the pregnant woman's skin weaken its barrier function.
As these changes take place, the embryo/foetus is developing. While the risk of toxicity resulting from harmful exposure is greater during the early stage of development, the barrier function of the placenta, which nourishes and protects the unborn child, plays a more crucial role during this period.
Although cosmetic products pose no additional risk to breastfeeding mothers, and the general safety rules for all cosmetic products still apply, it is important to consider the indirect risks. These are related to direct oral absorption by the baby during breastfeeding and the transfer of toxic substances to the baby via breast milk.
Some cosmetic products are therefore specifically intended for pregnant and breastfeeding women, by meeting even stricter safety standards in terms of formulation, presentation, and claims. The safety assessor therefore has a key role in advising, supporting, and evaluating cosmetic products intended for this target population and with high requirements.
The Eurotox Toxicologists team has a strong industrial background and extensive expertise in the complexity of products for pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as products for babies, allowing them to work closely with all relevant departments to ensure optimal coordination on the safety process of your products.
WhatSAM: Dynamising sensory and consumer research
Sensory and Consumer Research (SAM), a Eurofins company and the global leader of sensory and consumer research, has 19 proprietary state-of-the-art sensory facilities and is working in more than 65 countries. SAM is excited to announce the launch of WhatSAM, our new, fully automated, artificial-intelligence-powered approach to sensory and consumer research. A smartphone-based solution, seamlessly integrated into Instant Messenger apps, it allows us to conduct research anywhere and anytime, accompanying consumers across complex research journeys: shopper journeys, real-life usage, product usage and experience tracking, etc. This is a highly engaging multi-media research tool for consumers.
Contact us to learn how you can dive into your consumers’ everyday lives and collect immediate feedback on your product, packaging, or brand.
Eurofins Sustainability Services Launched
Climate change, deforestation, pollution, and waste means that sustainability has become one of the most important global topics. With climate change impact a major topic of concern for authorities and consumers, companies must adopt strategies that enable them to deliver sustainable products and services to the market.
Our goal at Eurofins is to offer sustainability solutions to all areas of the product value chain. This means we support our customers in creating sustainable product offerings backed by verified metrics and measurements to deliver scientifically proven claims and enable our clients to make informed choices.
Eurofins brings together a wide range of our sustainability products and services in one place. This enables our customers to quickly access our market leading offers in microplastics, emissions, chemistry, wastewater, biodegradability, eco toxicity, allergy prevention, supply chain transparency, life cycle analysis, vegan certification, recyclability assessments and social audits.
For our customers that need help starting their sustainability journey we offer expert services to help develop and prioritise sustainability strategies and tasks.
