Cosmetic companies must make ingredient labels more accessible by using plain English rather than forcing people with food allergies to decipher Latin names to protect their health, according to an MP calling for a major shift in how allergy sufferers are treated.
Becky Gittins, the newly elected Labour MP for Clwyd East, has long dealt with severe allergic reactions and argues that individuals like her shouldn’t have to memorize Latin terminology to identify potential allergens in face creams, lip balms, and lotions.
Having previously been hospitalized due to a nut allergy, Gittins described the current cosmetic labelling system as “absolutely bonkers” and unnecessarily difficult, especially for the growing number of young people managing food allergies. She emphasized that requiring consumers to decode Latin names before using skincare products is both exhausting and a barrier to safety.
“When I use skin products, hair products and toiletries, those don’t have to have allergy labelling in the same way as food,” she said. “So to not have an allergic reaction to shampoo or moisturiser or lipstick or anything like that, everybody with a nut allergy needs to know the Latin words for all the things they’re allergic to.
“Why is it that a chocolate bar I would eat would have to say whether it contained nuts, but for a lip balm that I put on my mouth in exactly the same way and I probably swallow when it’s in and around my mouth, I would have to know that almond is ‘prunus’ something?” It wouldn’t have to say almond oil. That is a frustration.”
Gittins, who has several allergies and says she still has to ask her husband what he has eaten before she can kiss him, discovered she suffered from severe reactions when she was rushed to hospital after eating a mini Snickers in a box of Celebrations after her school Christmas party. She said she had suffered several allergic reactions.
Latin names are used to ensure that there are standard ways of describing ingredients across different nations and languages as products are exported. However, Gittins said the huge growth in the number of people with food allergies meant that more progress should be made in making life simpler for them.
She also said many companies were now covering themselves with a blanket warning that their product “may contain nuts”, making it impossible for those affected to know when they faced a real risk.
“There are lots of companies who just put ‘may contain traces of nuts’ to cover themselves legally, but there isn’t a scientific threshold which determines whether or not they have to declare that,” she said. “That makes it really hard for people like me with nut allergies, because I’ve then got to try and make some sort of calculated decision about my health on whether that company is being over cautious or under cautious. This is an area where allergy labelling has become worse.”
It comes amid evidence that the number of people diagnosed with food allergies in England has more than doubled in a decade. The recent research by Imperial College London, which analysed GP records for 7 million people, found that the number of new food allergy cases increased from 76 per 100,000 people in 2008 to 160 per 100,000 people in 2018. The highest prevalence was seen in children under the age of five.
