This past week I got an email from Shayna about an ingredient she has been seeing in a lot of skincare products called BHT, which is short for butylated hydroxytoluene. This lipophilic (fat-soluble) phenol is primarily used as an antioxidant food additive as well as in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, jet fuels, rubber, petroleum products, and embalming fluid. Those things all belong in the same category, right? I mean, who doesn’t love using an ingredient that goes into jet fuel or embalming fluid…on their skin!

As for food use, while the United States still allows it to be used as an additive to slow the rate of autoxidation in food, Japan, Australia, Sweden and Romania have banned it’s use in food. Sweet!

In skincare products, it is kind of used in the same way - to preserve the product. But some studies have shown that large doses may cause tumors in lab animals and it can cause allergic contact dermatitis, so why in the world would we want to use it on our skin? Because the FDA says it is safe, that’s why! BHT also contains the chemical Toluene, which has a Material Safety Data Sheet that says:

POISON! DANGER! HARMFUL OR FATAL IF SWALLOWED. HARMFUL IF INHALED OR ABSORBED THROUGH SKIN. VAPOR HARMFUL. FLAMMABLE LIQUID AND VAPOR. MAY AFFECT LIVER, KIDNEYS, BLOOD SYSTEM, OR CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. CAUSES IRRITATION TO SKIN, EYES AND RESPIRATORY TRACT. INHALATION: INHALATION MAY CAUSE IRRITATION OF THE UPPER RESPIRATORY TRACT. SYMPTOMS OF OVEREXPOSURE MAY INCLUDE FATIGUE, CONFUSION, HEADACHE, DIZZINESS AND DROWSINESS. PECULIAR SKIN SENSATIONS (E. G. PINS AND NEEDLES) OR NUMBNESS MAY BE PRODUCED. VERY HIGH CONCENTRATIONS MAY CAUSE UNCONSCIOUSNESS AND DEATH. INGESTION: SWALLOWING MAY CAUSE ABDOMINAL SPASMS AND OTHER SYMPTOMS THAT PARALLEL OVER-EXPOSURE FROM INHALATION. ASPIRATION OF MATERIAL INTO THE LUNGS CAN CAUSE CHEMICAL PNEUMONITIS, WHICH MAY BE FATAL. SKIN CONTACT: CAUSES IRRITATION. MAY BE ABSORBED THROUGH SKIN. EYE CONTACT: CAUSES SEVERE EYE IRRITATION WITH REDNESS AND PAIN. CHRONIC EXPOSURE: REPORTS OF CHRONIC POISONING DESCRIBE ANEMIA, DECREASED BLOOD CELL COUNT AND BONE MARROW HYPOPLASIA. LIVER AND KIDNEY DAMAGE MAY OCCUR. REPEATED OR PROLONGED CONTACT HAS A DEFATTING ACTION, CAUSING DRYING, REDNESS, AND DERMATITIS. EXPOSURE TO TOLUENE MAY AFFECT THE DEVELOPING FOETUS.

Awesome! Personally, I would refuse to use an ingredient found in embalming fluid to make my skin smoother or my lips look better, wouldn’t you?

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