Toxic Beauty

by WiredBerries Editors — May 13, 2008

My local integrative pharmacy, Pharmaca, sells a great selection of natural beauty products and sends out an informative monthly newsletter. In the May issue, they included some information about the toxicity of many of the items in our makeup bags and medicine cabinets. If you needed a little extra push to invest in quality natural and safe cosmetics, consider these facts:

• The average woman consumes 4 to 9 lbs., or the equivalent of 64 to 144 1-oz. tubes, of lipstick in a lifetime. Many popular brands contain coal tar dyes, aluminum, lead, petroleum products, and potentially carcinogenic preservatives - yuck!
• Which government agency is responsible for ensuring the safety of personal care products? The answer is truly scary: According to the FDA's Office of Cosmetics and Colors, "FDA cannot require companies to do safety testing of their cosmetic products before manufacturing," and "...a cosmetic manufacturer may use almost any raw material as a cosmetic ingredient and market the product without approval from FDA." Makes you feel a bit vulnerable, eh?
• But hope is not lost! Companies such as Iredale Mineral Cosmetics, Zia Natural Skincare, Weleda, Pangea Organics, and Juice Beauty have all signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics. Signing companies have pledged to avoid chemicals that are known or strongly suspected of causing cancer, mutation or birth defects in their products. Several major cosmetics companies, including OPI, Avon, Estee Lauder, L'Oreal, and Revlon have thus far refused to become compact signers.

Natural beauty never looked so appealing!