Chemical in sun creams and moisturisers 'carries risk of allergic reaction'

A chemical common in toiletries and cosmetics can cause rashes, swelling and painful itching and should be removed from certain products, the European Commission advised yesterday.

Tests on methyldibromo glutaronitrile revealed that it was responsible for a range of allergic reactions, especially among eczema sufferers. A committee of European Commission scientists has recommended that the preservative should not be used in sun creams and moisturisers.

In 1991, only 0.7 per cent of patients showed a reaction to the preservative when it was dabbed on their skin. But by 2000 the figure had risen to 3.5 per cent, a jump which the scientists were unable to explain.

The Scientific Committee on Cosmetic Products and Non-Food Products recommended that the preservative should only be used at the maximum permitted level in products which were washed off the body, such as shampoo.

It said that the chemical should not be used in "leave-on" products such as sun cream and moisturisers "until appropriate and adequate information is available".

Dr Ian White, chairman of the committee and a consultant dermatologist at St John's Institute of Dermatology at St Thomas' Hospital, London, said: "The chemical can cause redness and irritation, especially on the head, neck and hands where cosmetics are used the most. The exposure is going to be greater in a leave-on product."

He said the chemical may also be present in household cleaning products.

The recommendations were given to EU member states, but it was a decision for individual states whether to act on them, Dr White added.