If you are newly suspicious about the safety of the products in your medicine cabinet, there’s a good chance you have Valisure, a tiny laboratory in New Haven, Conn., to thank. Or blame.
Over the past five years, Valisure’s team of about a dozen scientists has detected potentially cancer-causing chemicals in widely used medications, hand sanitizers, sunscreens, antiperspirant body sprays, dry shampoos, and—most recently—acne treatments. When Valisure sounds the alarm about a new scary-sounding finding, a flood of headlines, lawsuits, and product recalls often follows. The company is shattering the illusion that some 80% of Americans still believe: that the products they buy have been through enough safety testing to be proved not harmful.
“Most consumers assume that because it’s for sale, it must be safe,” says Teresa Murray, who…
