personal care products: well I'm not eating them!

All quotes personally transcribed from the video at http://storyofstuff.org/cosmetics unless cited otherwise.

But you are smearing them all over your skin, hair, and armpits. Rubbing them on your face, eyes, cheeks, and lips. Washing your hands, dishes, clothes, and floors with them.

"The average woman in the U.S. uses about 12 personal care products daily, the average man about 6, each product containing a dozen or more chemicals." Are these chemicals safe? Can they be absorbed through the skin?

Short Answer:
No, many of these chemicals are not safe, and yes, they can be absorbed. "Laboratory tests reveal adolescent girls across America are contaminated with chemicals commonly used in cosmetics and body care products. Environmental Working Group (EWG) detected 16 chemicals from 4 chemical families - phthalates, triclosan, parabens, and musks - in blood and urine samples from 20 teen girls aged 14-19. Studies link these chemicals to potential health effects including cancer and hormone disruption" (http://ewg.org/reports/teens). Many of these chemicals are also persistent in the environment, which means they don't break down, so even if they don't get inside our bodies because we use them, they can get inside us just because they exist in our living environment. So what's the long answer? Well, keep reading.

Skin Deep is an online database that compiles information about the ingredients in personal care products, making it fairly simple to look up a brand, a product, or even an ingredient to see how safe it is. "Our staff scientists compare the ingredients on personal care product labels and websites to information in nearly 60 toxicity and regulatory databases. Now in its eighth year, EWG's Skin Deep database provides you with easy-to-navigate safety ratings for a wide range of products and ingredients on the market" (http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/site/about.php).

So for example, let's go to Skin Deep and type in ChapStick. I use ChapStick all the time. It's cheap, and it keeps my lips from cracking, especially in winter. Skin Deep carries data on 23 different ChapStick products. The tube I'm looking at right now comes closest to this particular item: ChapStick Lip Moisturizer Skin Protectant Lip Balm, SPF 15 (http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/product/381110/ChapStick_Lip_Moisturizer_Skin_Protectant_Lip_Balm%2C_SPF_15/).

Overall, my ChapStick gets a hazard rating of 6 (out of 10, lower is safer). Hmm... that seems a little high for something I use multiple times per day. Well, what's in it?

The most dangerous ingredient in the list is 'fragrance.' Why? That sounds pretty simple. Well it's not. 'Fragrance' is basically code for 'a bunch of stuff we aren't going to list because we don't have to.' That's right! "They [the FDA] don't even require that all of the ingredients be listed on the label."

So then what does fragrance mean? Absolutely nothing. "The word �fragrance� [sic] or �parfum� [sic] on the product label represents an undisclosed mixture of various scent chemicals and ingredients used as fragrance dispersants" (cited below). And guess what? Fragrance gets an 8 out of 10 on the hazard scale, citing "Ingredient not fully labeled - identity unknown," "Moderate evidence of human neurotoxicity," "Not assessed for safety in cosmetics by industry panel," and "Allergies/immunotoxicity" concerns (http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/702512/FRAGRANCE/). This is one of 13 total ingredients in my ChapStick. 8 of these 13 ingredients (or about 62%) are ranked at a moderate level of toxicity or higher (out of low, moderate, and high rankings).

Okay, well what about Burt's Bees? They're all natural right? I've used them before and like them too! Skin Deep lists 169 Burt's Bees products and 28 lip balms. We'll assess the Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm (Tube) (http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/product/319900/Burt%27s_Bees_Beeswax_Lip_Balm_%28Tube%29/).

Overall, this product gets a 2 out of 10. Not bad right? But the worst ingredient, lanolin, is still ranked 4 out of 10, which is a moderate hazard rating. What is lanolin? "Lanolin is a refined derivative of the fat-like sebaceous secretion of sheep," and the following notes are listed: "Known human immune system toxicant," "Uncertain environmental toxin and uncertain persistent or bioaccumulative," "...implicit safe concentration limit in product," "Classified as not expected to be potentially toxic or harmful [non-reproductive organ system toxicity]," "Not suspected to be persistent [persistence and bioaccumulation]," "Designated as safe for general or specific, limited use in food" (http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/703386/LANOLIN/).

Obviously, this is far better than 'fragrance,' but do I really want to be putting a known immune system toxicant on my lips? And if it's a known immune system toxicant, then why is it "Designated as safe for general or specific, limited use in food"?

So what do we need to be concerned about? Is it just chapstick? Nope. "...lots of other products in my bathroom, from sunscreen to lipstick and even baby shampoo, also contain chemicals linked to cancer or other problems, like learning disabilities, asthma, and even damaged sperm."

Is everything dangerous? No. "Of course not all of these chemicals are dangerous, but we know that many are. Some are carcinogens-- that means that they can cause cancer-- others are neurotoxins and reproductive toxins, proven to mess up brain development and reproduction in animals."

Then what do you do? Here are some general principles to keep in mind:
(1) "On cosmetics labels, words like 'Herbal,' 'Natural,' even 'Organic' have no legal definition."
(2) "The FDA doesn't even assess the safety of personal care products or their ingredients...They don't even require that all of the ingredients be listed on the label."
(3) "They [the cosmetics companies] set-up their own committee to self-police their products, and compliance with their recommendations is voluntary."
So, you can't just assume it's safe because it says "Natural," and you can't rely on the FDA or the cosmetics companies to make sure it's safe either. Best rule of thumb: shop with caution.

For a very thorough and informative 8-minute-long extension of what I'm talking about, check out this video from The Story of Stuff Project:
http://storyofstuff.org/cosmetics/.
If you want to look up your own products or ingredients, or if you want to search for new ones try:
http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/
http://www.goodguide.com/

For a starter guide on how to get the toxins out of your home, and especially your bathroom, look for my next post: Castile Soap: What Is It and Why Should I Care?

The Choice Illusion

How many choices do we make in a day?

Standing in the cereal aisle, you decide on a box of raisin bran. You realize you need laundry detergent as you walk toward the register, so you peer at the choices, looking for something cheap. You grab the value brand and proceed to the check-out.

Is the grocery store the best place to buy laundry detergent? You have no idea what's in that stuff. The ingredients list takes up half of the back label and most of it you've never heard of. Will this stuff even clean your clothes? And even if it does, will it clog-up your washer? And if not, where does it go after you use it? Does it break down? Can animals eat it? Will it get in our water supply? Is it safe to breathe and touch?

You don't have time to think about all of that. Especially not when you buy at least 5 products every time you shop here. After all, you came here to get cereal, and you're walking away with raisin bran, laundry detergent (you needed that too), chips and salsa (it looked yummy), a bottle of water (you were thirsty), and some dish rags (your old ones are falling apart). Who knows what's in all of that stuff? You sure don't, and you definitely don't have time to read all those labels and look all that stuff up.

And look at all the choices! The cereal alone takes up an entire aisle. It took you one full minute to decide on the raisin bran and that wasn't even trying very hard. Can you imagine if you really looked at every choice on the shelf? No way do you have time for that. Not to mention the other items you're buying. Not to mention the other items you buy at other places of business, like clothes, or a car.

So what then? How do you make your choices? That looks good. That's pretty cheap. That's on sale. My friend said this works. I saw an ad for this.

Are you really making a choice if you're just buying what you see? There may be 100 kinds of cereal, but there are only dozens of brands. Those brands don't care what choice you make as long as it's one of the 15 varieties they produce. And your grocery store doesn't care what brand you buy as long as you buy it at their location. Or one of their 5 other locations in your city. And even if you go to another grocery store, you will only see a shelf full of the same brands as the store you're standing in. The huge farms supplying the ingredients (corn, for example) to the companies that make this cereal don't care where you buy it, as long as it's got their corn in it. And the corporations supplying the genetically modified seeds that the farmers are planting don't really have to care what cereal you buy or where you buy it from, at all, because their seeds are used to grow the ingredients that are in practically every cereal you could buy and in all the other products at your grocery store (or the other big name grocery store down the street).

So what choice do you have really? Raisin bran or that other brand of raisin bran? Or, raisin brand or that other cereal made by the same company? You'll just buy whatever looks best or cheapest here at the store you're currently in, rather than take the time to do literally hours of research for every product you purchase so that you can what, be healthier? Help the environment? Get educated? You seriously don't have time for that.

But I do. I plan to make time. I will try to examine everything from food and grocery stores to education and cultural values. You, as a fellow human, have the right to know what I find. So here it is:

The Choice Illusion: Looking Past the Shelf in Front of You

It's time to make some real choices.