FDA cosmetic-safety survey should put consumers on alert

Dear Reader,

In 1938, Superman made his first appearance in comic books… gas cost 10 cents a gallon… and the average yearly wage was $1,730!

It was also the year that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law what’s known as the “Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.” And it was probably the last time that regulators gave a thought to doing anything about ensuring that cosmetics (including all personal-care products) are actually safe to use.

That little matter has since been left to the industry itself to police, falling under the authority of the Personal Care Products Council.

But you know how these things go when the proverbial fox is sent out to guard the henhouse. One expert calls cosmetics even less regulated than pesticides — and that’s saying a lot!

Now, it appears that the FDA is planning to at least dip its toe into the water by taking a “survey of safety practices” at close to 1,000 companies. What officials intend to do with any information that they turn up, however, is about as clear as a mud-pack facial!

And considering that health complaints sent into the FDA for cosmetic products are at record highs, you shouldn’t wait another day before taking a good, hard look at exactly what chemical ingredients may be lurking in that collection of products in your bathroom.

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The hair scare
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What do they know in Europe that U.S. regulators don’t?

Well, considering that the EU has already gotten rid of over 1,300 unsafe chemicals used in cosmetics, it must be something!

One is propylparaben, which you’ll find in loads of shampoos, conditioners, creams, lotions, and shower soaps. In fact, there are a whole slew of these chemicals that are used as preservatives — anything ending in -paraben would be one. And not only can they be absorbed through the skin, but they are linked to cancer, reproductive harm, and disruption of every hormone-producing gland in your body.

Another is quaternium-15, which is known to release the potent carcinogen formaldehyde. That mostly turns up in hair products, lotions, and shaving creams.

Obviously, allowing the industry to look over its own shoulder isn’t working out very well! As Scott Faber, vice president at the Environmental Watch Group, describes it, this policy has given us a “fake police force” with no authority.

And things probably would have gone humming along right as they have been for over a century if not for the WEN scandal, which included a lineup of products heavily advertised in infomercials as having created a “hair revolution.”

But it really was more on the order of a consumer rebellion!

After the FDA received 127 complaints and discovered the company had been sent another 21,000, the agency launched an investigation. Women were outraged, complaining that using WEN resulted in their hair falling out. The company responded by offering up a whopping $26 million settlement to users of the products.

And guess what? WEN is still for sale, with no findings being announced as to which ingredients may have been to blame.

When it comes to potentially risky cosmetics, however, this hair scare turns out to be just the tip of the iceberg! And all of this shows why you’ve got to be just as cautious with cosmetics as you are with foods – perhaps even more so.

As I mentioned, many chemicals are easily absorbed through the skin, and just because something is “only” going on your face or body, that doesn’t mean it can’t cause a laundry list of health problems, ranging from skin irritation to thyroid disfunction and even cancer.

Adding to the confusion is that more and more personal-care products are now coming in from China, which has a particularly bad record when it comes to the use of toxic ingredients.

That’s why whatever issues the FDA’s survey turns up, it will almost certainly be a perfect example of too little, too late.

So, when shopping for shampoos, hair conditioners, shaving creams, skin lotions, and anything else used on your body, look for products with plant-based colors and moisturizers that utilize coconut, shea butter, and other natural ingredients – and steer clear of ones that sound more like they belong in a high-school chemistry lab than your bathroom!

Another good way to find out what’s really in a product is to look it up at the Environmental Working Group’s ingredient database at ewg.org/skindeep.

To Saving More Than Your Skin,

Melissa Young