{"id":192219,"date":"2021-03-05T06:56:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T11:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=192219"},"modified":"2021-11-04T12:13:50","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T16:13:50","slug":"heather-mckenney-sph17","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2021\/heather-mckenney-sph17\/","title":{"rendered":"Heather McKenney (SPH&#8217;17) Is Lead Toxicologist at The Honest Company"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin sphnews-block-editorial-leadin is-style-default has-media has-media-focus-center-middle\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"600\" height=\"362\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2021\/03\/heather-mckenney-600x362-2.png\" class=\"\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\">Heather McKenney<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">environmental safety<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHeather McKenney (SPH&#8217;17) Is Lead Toxicologist at The Honest Company\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">As the head of the toxicology and product safety team, the SPH alum evaluates the company\u2019s process for ingredient selection and clinical testing.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar sphnews-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">March 5, 2021<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/authors\/jillian-mckoy\/\">Jillian McKoy<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p>Ethical consumption of products has risen over the last few decades, with recent research showing that consumers have become <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesswire.com\/news\/home\/20200503005029\/en\/COVID-19-Increasing-Consumers\u2019-Focus-on-\u201cEthical-Consumption\u201d-Accenture-Survey-Finds\">even more committed<\/a> to making health-conscious and sustainable purchases in the era of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This consumer consciousness and desire to choose products that are safe for themselves and their communities help drive the mission and values of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honest.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Honest Company<\/a>, a Los Angeles-based consumer goods company where School of Public Health alum <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/heather-mckenney-530a1264\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Heather McKenney<\/a> (SPH\u201917), works as the manager of toxicology and product safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Honest Company is a purpose-driven company with a mission to inspire everyone to love living consciously that was launched in 2012 by globally recognized business leader, actor, advocate and author, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honest.com\/about-us\/our-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jessica Alba<\/a>. Today, the company provides a variety of safe and effective <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honest.com\/baby-products\">baby<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honest.com\/beauty-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">beauty<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honest.com\/baby-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">personal care<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honest.com\/home-care-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cleaning products<\/a>, and has built a loyal customer base through its commitment to safety, efficacy, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honest.com\/baby-products\/baby-personal-care\/honest-standard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">full transparency<\/a> about the ingredients in its products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe company has a guiding standard that is not only about ingredient selection for its products, but also continued improvement around sustainability and giving back to the community,\u201d says McKenney, who joined Honest as a research toxicologist in 2017 after completing the MPH program in environmental health at SPH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now she leads the toxicology and product safety team within the Research and Development division, where she evaluates and maintains the company\u2019s stringent process for ingredient selection and clinical testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI focus on understanding what information we need to ensure we are confident about the ingredients we&#8217;re putting into our products,&#8221; she says. &#8220;I evaluate formulas from an acute standpoint of potentially irritating ingredients as well as the chronic, low-dose effects of certain chemicals of potential concern.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McKenney says her SPH courses in introductory and advanced toxicology, as well as risk assessment methods provided the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to conduct human health risk assessments of the ingredients the company considers for its products. While the US Food and Drug Administration has only banned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/cosmetics\/cosmetics-laws-regulations\/prohibited-restricted-ingredients-cosmetics#prohibited\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">11 chemicals<\/a> from consumer products (compared to more than 1,300 banned by the European Union) The Honest Company maintains its own list of restricted ingredients that is almost twice as long as the US and EU lists combined. Referred to as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honest.com\/baby-products\/baby-personal-care\/honest-standard\/page-one\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NO List&#x2122;<\/a>, it identifies more than 2,500 ingredients that are deemed potentially harmful to health and omitted from all Honest products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese are the fundamental ingredients that we don\u2019t feel comfortable using because of their inherent characteristics,\u201d says McKenney. \u201cFor example, we have enough data to say that parabens could potentially have an effect on human health, so we avoid this chemical class altogether.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McKenney says Honest conducts a full toxicological risk assessment of all of the ingredients in its products. That assessment (another requirement in the EU, but not the US) utilizes a tool that can account for the intended consumer and exposure scenario, and then determine the quantifiable risk of the ingredient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes balancing science and evidence with consumer perception of certain ingredients can be challenging, McKenney says\u2014but it\u2019s a challenge she enjoys. She has engaged directly with consumers on social media to answer questions or explain why Honest does or doesn\u2019t use certain ingredients. In an Instagram chat, she clarified to a consumer the difference between carbon black and black iron oxide, and why the company chooses to add the latter ingredient in its mascara. She has also explained how the safe level of certain ingredients depends on the type of product and the manner in which the product is consumed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;While an ingredient may be widely recognized as safe by the scientific community for certain uses, exposure type, frequency, duration, and product user matters,\u201d says McKenney. For example, she says, \u201cregarding retinol, while there is no elevated risk of systemic effects for use by the average adult, a pregnant woman should not use this ingredient due to the risk of potential teratogenic effects. It&#8217;s important to take care in identifying potential risk factors, including your most susceptible user when completing a comprehensive human health risk assessment.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCommunicating with consumers is really rewarding to me because that&#8217;s how you actually make a difference,\u201d she says. \u201cWe can make products that we know are good, but it matters more that we make this information available to consumers so they can make their own decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs practitioners of public health, we owe it to our consumers and general public to help educate them on ingredients and products,\u201d says McKenney, to \u201cguide them to make the best choices for themselves and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Hear more from McKenney and other alums during the virtual Alumni Conversation: Environmental Health event on Thursday, March 25. To register, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/public-health-conversations\/alumni-friends\/alumni-conversation-environmental-health-now-is-the-time\/\">click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ethical consumption of products has risen over the last few decades, with recent research showing that consumers have become even more committed to making health-conscious and sustainable purchases in the era of COVID-19. This consumer consciousness and desire to choose products that are safe for themselves and their communities help drive the mission and values [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15205,"featured_media":192469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"environmental safety","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[1750,2013,1086,2261,3162],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3520,3529,3541,3770,3563],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[3769],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/192219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192219"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/192219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193491,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/192219\/revisions\/193491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192219"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=192219"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=192219"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=192219"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=192219"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=192219"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=192219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}