On Monday February 23, 1998, CBS television and radio aired a report on DEA (diethanolamine) and lauramide DEA as possible agents responsible for liver and kidney tumors in mice. Since almost all shampoos, bubble baths, bath gels or personal care products that produce lather contain either lauramide DEA or cocoamide DEA, the reporters inferred that all such consumer products are potentially hazardous.
The hard science behind the CBS feature was found in the following two reports published by the National Toxicology Institute:
1) Report TR-478 on DEA (diethanolamine) applied topically to rats and mice. Evidence was found that DEA applied to mice over a 2 year span (possible lifetime doses for mice) was a possible cause for tumors found in these animals. When the same tests were done on rats, no tumors were found.
2) Report TR-480 on Lauramide DEA applied topically to rats and mice. The same 2 year study as above was done on rats and mice using Lauramide DEA as the test material. In this experiment, no tumors were detected when rats were the test animals. Nor were tumors found in male mice. It was only in female mice that there were some possible abnormalities. This uncertainty was specifically addressed by the authors. However, the important conclusion drawn by the researchers was that it was not the lauramide DEA that was responsible for the possible female mice results, but rather the presence of "free" DEA found as a contaminant of the lauramide DEA production process.
To the best of my knowledge, nobody in the health food industry uses this"free" form of DEA as an ingredient. And I have personally always made sure that DEA is never a contaminant in any of our raw materials. We use the highest purity lauramide DEA available specifically to avoid DEA contaminants. It is more expensive and harder to work with, but I have always believed that the purer the starting materials, the cleaner and safer the final product.
Almost all sudsing-type products use lauramide DEA or cocoamide DEA to some degree. Lauramide DEA and cocoamide DEA are entirely different compounds from DEA. They differ not only in their chemical structure, but even in their physical characteristics. For example, DEA is a clear watery liquid, while lauramide DEA is a rock hard solid. In essence, these ingredients are as different from each other as are apples and Ford automobiles.
There is no evidence that lauramide DEA or cocoamide DEA are carcinogenic. Furthermore, these products have been used for well over 40 years with a huge population exposure, yet no evidence of increased liver and kidney tumors has been detected as a result of their use.
The consumer has been alarmed by the three letters "DEA" and they assume that lauramide DEA, cocoamide DEA and DEA are all the same thing. It is important to know that these ingredients are different and that the DEA that they are frightened of appears in none of our shampoos, bubble baths or bath gels.