From lipstick to shampoo, many personal care products contain dangerous toxins

Face Value

Giant, international corporations have been discovered dumping dangerous chemicals. It would be deplorable if they dumped them in the ocean, and criminal if they dumped them in a river. But it’s far worse than that: Every day, with your approval, they’re dumping chemicals directly onto your body in the form of cosmetics.

Wait, men – don’t tune out when you see the word “cosmetics.” I’m not talking about lipstick and mascara. Well I am actually, but only because they’re included in the broad definition of cosmetics, which also includes deodorant, shaving cream, soap, shampoo, etc.

Millions of people (myself included) use these products every day without realizing that most of them contain chemicals that increase our toxic load. And some may be quite dangerous.

Hormonal shift

“Toxmetics” is how William Campbell Douglass II, M.D., categorizes most cosmetics.

In a Daily Dose e-letter, Dr. Douglass shared eye-opening details from a consumer advocacy group known as Chemical Safe Skincare. The CSS web site states that, “the average woman uses 12 toiletries every day and applies more than 175 chemical compounds to her body in the process.”

CSS has put two widely used cosmetic chemicals high on the “Must Avoid” list: parabens and phthalates. Studies have linked both chemicals to disruption of normal hormone function and increased breast cancer risk.

Parabens are antimicrobial preservatives used in deodorants, creams, body sprays, and many other cosmetics. Phthalates are found in deodorant, perfume, nail polish, and hair spray. Their use has been linked to lung, liver, and kidney damage.

Choose safely

Even products for infants are part of the toxmetic mix.

Last year, a group called Campaign for Safe Cosmetics launched a program to warn consumers that several popular children’s bath products contain a cancer-causing petrochemical with the cumbersome name of 1,4-Dioxane. This chemical is considered a probable human carcinogen and a proven animal carcinogen.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics warns that ingredients such as sodium myreth sulfate, PEG compounds and chemicals that include the clauses “xynol,” “ceteareth” and “oleth” may be contaminated with 1,4-dioxane.

You can check cosmetic labels to see if they contain any of these ingredients and other worrisome chemicals (including formaldehyde and sodium laureth sulfate), but here’s the kicker: Neither the FDA nor any other agency requires cosmetic companies to fully list the contents of their products.

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (safecosmetics.org), Chemical Safe Skincare, and other consumer groups are currently waging campaigns that call for the ban of certain ingredients and a requirement that all cosmetic products carry accurate ingredients labels.

Meanwhile, there are a couple of things you can d 1) Share this e-Alert with friends and family to let them know that toxic chemicals might be hiding in many of the personal care products we use every day, and 2) Choose safe cosmetics.

Here are three companies I know of that offer cosmetic products free of harmful chemicals:

• Raintree Nutrition (rain-tree.com)
• Lluvia Skin Renewal System
• Elave

Sources:
“A Cornucopia of Craziness” William Campbell Douglass II, M.D., Daily Dose, 3/2/07, douglassreport.com
“Cancer-Causing Chemical Found in Children’s Bath Products” Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, 2/8/07, safecosmetics.org