A tiny lab in New Haven, Connecticut, is shaking up the safety assumptions of common household products, revealing potential health risks that regulators have missed.
Jamie Ducharme reports for Time.
In short:
- Valisure, a small lab, has found potentially cancer-causing chemicals in various consumer products, leading to recalls and lawsuits.
- The U.S. FDA does not test most cosmetics before they hit the market, leaving gaps that labs like Valisure aim to fill.
- Valisure's work has drawn both praise for public health contributions and criticism over its testing methods and motivations.
Key quote:
"Most consumers assume that because it’s for sale, it must be safe. Oftentimes, that’s very much not true."
— Teresa Murray, director of U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG)
Why this matters:
Valisure’s findings highlight the need for stricter regulatory oversight to ensure safety and prevent long-term health risks.The safety of everyday products is often taken for granted. Read more: Toxic exposures accumulate in more than 100 categories of consumer products.
