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Chemical-Ridden Cosmetics

Teenage girls who experiment with cosmetics may be putting more on the line each day than whether they’ve chosen the proper shade of eyeliner.  Every time they apply a new lip gloss, eye shadow or hair product, it’s as if they unknowingly take part in a chemistry experiment sponsored by the American cosmetics industry.

Most consumers may not realize this, but cosmetics and personal care products are not tested for human health effects before being placed on the market. Many contain hormone-disrupting chemicals and cancer-causing agents that consumers absorb into their bodies in small amounts every time they use them.

Studies show as many as 89 percent of the ingredients in personal care products are never tested for safety. But that doesn’t mean we don’t know what happens to people exposed to them. For example, many of these ingredients – such as phthalates, acrylamide, formaldehyde, and ethylene oxide – are listed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as carcinogens or reproductive toxins. Loopholes in federal laws allow them into these products and onto the shelves of pharmacy chains and grocery stores, and ultimately, into our bodies.

The only way to monitor what’s in the products you use and the potential health problems they may cause is to read the ingredients and look them up individually.

For more information on the safety of cosmetics and personal care products, visit www.safecosmetics.org/your_health/ or www.skindeep.org.

To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org