Valisure warns acne treatments can create cancer-causing benzene

Key takeaways:

• Valisure tested 99 acne products containing benzoyl peroxide for potential benzene creation.
• Some products created more than 800 times the restricted FDA concentration of benzene after high temperatures.

Acne products containing benzoyl peroxide developed high levels of benzene, a potentially cancer-causing chemical, when handled or stored at higher temperatures, according to a report from the independent laboratory Valisure.

In the report, Valisure detailed how many benzoyl peroxide (BPO) acne treatments, both over-the-counter and prescription, can form more than 800 times the restricted FDA concentration limit of 2 parts per million for benzene.

This was not found in acne products containing salicylic acid or adapalene, according to the report.

Gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis testing on 175 acne products found that the 99 products containing BPO created high levels of benzene when exposed to higher temperatures.

Additionally, selected-ion flow-tube mass spectrometry analysis found significant amounts of the carcinogen in the air surrounding the BPO-containing products.

“This discovery of benzoyl peroxide’s fundamental instability and formation of benzene is substantially different than Valisure’s previous findings of benzene in sunscreens, hand sanitizers and other consumer products,” David Light, Valisure cofounder and president, said in the release.

“The benzene we found in sunscreens and other consumer products were impurities that came from contaminated ingredients; however, the benzene in benzoyl peroxide products is coming from the benzoyl peroxide itself, sometimes at hundreds of times the conditional FDA limit,” Light continued. “This means the problem broadly affects benzoyl peroxide products, both prescription and over-the-counter, and necessitates urgent action.”

The organization has submitted a citizen petition to the FDA requesting BPO-containing products be recalled and all sales suspended, as well as requesting an investigation into “these products, their manufacturing processes and the manufacturing submissions made for FDA approval.”