The Cosmetics Industry and You

This week I will continue with excerpts from the book, "The Green Beauty Guide" by Julie Gabriel. I have noted some "safe" nail and cosmetic brands by company names. Please read on:

The cosmetic industry, one of the largest and most profitable of all industries, spends more on advertising than any other trade.

In the United States, the cosmetic industry-funded Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) evaluates the safety of cosmetic ingredients and products. It is very unlikely that a group of cosmetic manufacturers would voluntarily question the safety of the ingredient they buy in hundreds of tons and use in thousands of products. Neither cosmetic products nor cosmetic ingredients are reviewed or approved by the government health agencies before they are sold in stores.

Pseudoscientific blabber and impressive sales pitches aside, none of these so-called manufacturing tests gives any information that is helpful for your skin and for a good reason: no one tests the skin care product to find out if it is making skin truly healthy - or at least not hurting it. All that matters is instant cosmetic effect. Beauty products are evaluated for safety after they are released to the marketplace.

In June 2008, when California filed a lawsuit against the manufacturers of shampoos, body washes, and dishwashing liquids contaminated with 1,4-Dioxane, only one manufacturer, Beaumont, quickly reformulated its products, removing the ethoxylated compounds from the ingredients. This proves that cosmetic manufacturers are well aware of the potential harm caused by some of their ingredients but will do nothing until they face a lawsuit.

Medical research has already proven that synthetic fragrances trigger asthma (Curtis 2004), that the detergents in shampoos can damage eye tissue (Scaife 1985; Neppelberg 2007), and that hair-dye chemicals can cause bladder cancer and lymphoma (Zhang et al. 2008).

Absorbed into the body, toxic chemicals can be stored in fatty tissue or organs such as the liver, kidneys, breasts, ovaries, and brain. Cosmetic companies accuse the media of alarmism, but scientists are finding plastic components called phthalates in urine (Adibi et al. 2008), parabens and antibacterial agents such as Triclosan in breast-tumor tissue (Darbre 2006), as well as the hormone-disrupting fragrant component xylene in human breast milk (Reiner et al. 2007).

1,4-Dioxane: Silent Killer

This hidden cancer-causing petrochemical has been found at high levels in dozens of babies' and adults' personal care products, including baby baths and hair dyes.

Check product labels for ingredients that contain "eth" in their name, such as sodium laureth sulphate, (PEG) polyethylene glycol, oleth, myreth, ceteareth - basically, any ingredient that has an eth in its name most likely tests positive for 1,4-Dioxane.

Unfortunately, many so-called "natural" and "organic" beauty products contain ethoxylated synthetic ingredients, and many well-known shampoos, baby products, and even dish detergents bearing words "organic" and "eco-friendly" on their labels revealed whopping amounts of toxin during tests carried out by the Organic Consumers Association.

The Solution

It's no secret we are ready to pay more for beauty products that claim to be clean from contaminants. However, a visit to any health food store unfortunately reveals the majority of products in the personal care section with "organic" brand-claims contain only cheap water extracts of organic herbs and maybe a few other token organic ingredients to justify the "organic" claim on the label. The core of such products is composed of conventional synthetic cleansers and conditioning ingredients usually made in part with petrochemicals, often containing toxic contaminants like 1,4-Dioxane.

Phthalates: Hormonal Disharmony

A study by the Women's Environmental Network, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, and Health Care Without Harm found phthalates in almost 80 percent of the popular cosmetic products tested, none of which listed these chemicals on the labels. "All synthetically scented products, such as shampoos [and] deodorants, contain phthalates, but perfumes contain the highest levels of phthalates," says Stacy Malkan, cofounder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. "In Europe, they banned just two types of phthalates, but cosmetic companies continue using the rest of them.

Some cosmetic brands, including Body Shop and Aveda, both segments of the Estée Lauder beauty empire, and Urban Decay, part of Moet-Hennesy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), have already volunteered to remove phthalates from all their products. But the majority of United States-based cosmetic companies are balking at the proposed ban. Today, nail polishes made by Revlon, Procter and Gamble's Max Factor and Cover Girl, and Estée Lauder's Clinique and MAC are phthalate-free.

Resource For This Article: Chapter 2 "Beauty and the Toxic Beast," The Green Beauty Guide by Julie Gabriel.