News Coverage
Safe and unsafe cosmetics
Published May 31, 2007
What is all the fuss about organic cosmetics? Is this a gimmick or are the manufacturers of these products recognizing real health hazards in the ingredients that go into everything from shampoos to lip gloss?
And just what are these risky ingredients?
* Parabens, which are in many familiar products, are believed by many, especially in the European Union, to alter hormone function, increasing the risk of certain cancers and infertility.
* Propylene glycol, a common moisturizing agent, is also used in antifreeze and brake fluid.
* Phthalates are fixatives, plasticizers, and solvents that help fragrance last longer and nail polish transform from liquid to hard enamel. It's believed that exposure to this chemical can affect the development of reproductive organs in male fetuses in utero. We spray it on in the form of perfume, with an alcohol base that helps it penetrate the skin, and from there it enters the bloodstream. In other products, it's usually just listed as "fragrance."
* Petrolatum--and almost all the creamy waxes used in makeup--are petroleum byproducts. The average shower gel, once it's used and washed down the drain, takes 300 years to biodegrade.
A toxicologist from the Environmental Working Group took an established list of potentially harmful ingredients and cross-referenced it with a sampling of products. He found parabens, phthalates, and n-nitro-samines (a suspected carcinogen) present in nearly 7,500 products.
Recently California passed a state law requiring cosmetics manufacturers to disclose any product ingredient that is on state or federal lists of chemicals that cause cancer of birth defects. More than 200 companies have signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics, agreeing to meet the standard set by the E.U. and have pledged not to include chemicals that are known or strongly suspected of causing cancer, mutations, or birth defects.
The companies that signed Compact for Safe Cosmetics include Pevonia, Burt's Bees, Weleda, Pharmocopia, Naturopathica, and Pangea Organics.
How to Find Organic Products:
Nothing is 100 percent organic, unless you make it at home. But many companies are producing cosmetics that come close. Aveda has been on the forefront of sustainable, plant-based beauty since the late 1970s but makes no organic claims and uses some synthetics.
Check out the products of the companies that signed the compact as well as Jurlique, Collective Wellbeing (sold at Whole Foods), Sacred Locks, Patyka, Galvin's (at Bergdorf Goodman and Saks), and Saffronrouge.com.
And read all labels carefully!
Click here to read this post.