Color Run Concerns: Chemicals In The Powder - KWCH

Head in the clouds? Try entire bodies running through an orange fog.

"I feel like it's all up in my nose and my eyes," said runner Farrah Agha. "I can't even see anything right now."

It's a rainbow of colored powder, coating every inch of runners, walkers, and even young riders. The pictures show the think layer of powder on the outside. Imagine how much is on the inside. "We just try not to breathe it in," said runner Joy Clere.

Even a bandana cannot keep the tiny particles out. "It's corn starch," said Agha. "So I'm not really worried about anything."

That's the same response we heard from every runner we spoke to. But should they be worried?

We bought colored samples from three different brands: Color Run, Color Blaze, and Color Marathon. We packed them up and sent them to a lab at Middle Tennessee State University for testing to find out exactly what is in the powder.

We asked runner Curtis McCausland if he thinks anybody is worried about breathing it in. He said he didn't know, and that he did not have "a clue" what was in the powder.

"I assume it wouldn't be like THAT harmful," said runner Ericka Ware.

Our results reveled anywhere from 50 to 150 chemicals in each of the samples. That includes: carcinogens, solvents, endocrine disruptors, and heavy metals like chromium, copper, and lead. Most brands claim to have no heavy metals.

We asked toxicology specialist and ER physical Dr. Tom Higgins, who refused to let his own son do a color race, what concerns he has. "Putting anything in your lungs besides air is potentially dangerous and damaging," he said.

How damaging? Higgins say that depends on how much gets in. "Lead in high dose can cause a variety of problems," he said. "It can cause abdominal pain, it can cause anemias. It can affect intelligence."

You may not be familiar with endocrine disruptors. We weren't either. The chemist who tested our powder, Dr. Sing Chong, says the research is a little hazy and that concerns him the most. Chong says alligators in Florida exposed to endocrine disruptors had tumors, birth defects, and major hormonal issues, changing the sex in some from male to female.

"What concerns me the most is, you know the younger you are the more potential problem you have for being exposed to certain types of things," said Higgins.

So which brands are the worst? Our test shows Color Run packets, picked up at the Tulsa Color Run, contain more chemicals than any other. Sulfur was the number one compound in both the orange and blue samples.

Dr. Higgins says those who run through the cloud quickly, and without much exposure, should be fine. But sliding through the powder, dishing it up, and standing in the middle of the all-color toss at the end of the race, might be a problem. Dr. Higgins says it's not just because of the chemicals from the dye, but because of the consistency of the corn starch alone. "I would be concerned about long-term lung disease," he said. "Potentially something that would look like a COPD."

The young girls we interviewed said it was worth it. But will it be worth it down the road? It could be years before we know the true long-term effects of covering yourself and coating your lungs with colored powder for fun.

We sent the test results to all three companies and asked for a response, but have not heard back. If we do, we will post their comments here.

Links

Color Run Concerns: Up in Flames

Documents

Color Run Test Results.pdfKWCH color powder analysis_XRF data.pdf