Toxicity in Cosmetics

[Tennessee Rose]

I've been looking for a post that included the video I'm about to attach but I did not found it. I know you are very aware of ingredients in your hair products or even the ones on your skin, so am I. So, though you may have seen it, I'll post a clip that can inform those who don't check the stuff in their products and need a good reason to do that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfq000AF1i8&feature=channel_video_title

[Juanita]

Excellent video. We should be forcing companies to provide us with safe products. It's hard to troll through all the products that you think are safe yet find are toxic. I always seek out safe products to use because health is so important.

[Callque]

Have you seen this video though?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxO3bPNyWzo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

It says that the first video is incorrect in a lot of its claims.

[Amber_Maiden]

I'd suggest this website; http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

It lists what toxins are in your makeup.

[ktani]

EWG is better than it used to be but it is still not the best for that kind of information. This one is better, www.cosmeticsinfo.org (http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org)

I agree with the 2nd video that the first used scare tactics and was innacurate about more than a few things.

The Safe Cosmetics Act 2010 has been revised for 2011 and will most likely need further revisions. Why give government more power over safety? That to me is where such safety concerns belong, under legislation that is enforced.

ETA - colour added by me
Society of Toxicology
http://www.toxicology.org/ai/news/news_archive.asp
"... Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) has introduced the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 ... in the House of Representatives. The legislation would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration more authority over personal care products and their ingredients. The bill would also alter how cosmetics are regulated and make their more in line with other U.S. FDA-regulated products. ..."

ETA:2
To me it is overdue,
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=351832&postcount=4
“In March, the Organic Consumers Association released a report …. found almost 50 percent of personal-care products labeled “organic” or “natural” contained 1,4-dioxane, the byproduct of a petrochemical process called ethoxylation. Dioxane …. a known animal carcinogen and a probable human carcinogen, according to the EPA.

Following this report, California Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a lawsuit against manufacturers who failed to provide a warning about 1,4-dioxane in their products, as required by the state’s Proposition 65: The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act.

…. Senate Bill 484, the California Safe Cosmetics Act. With the passage of the legislation in 2005, California became the first state in the nation to regulate toxic ingredients in cosmetics. The state …. established the California Environmental Contaminant Biomonitoring Program to collect information about toxins and require companies to disclose information about any ingredients identified as causing cancer or birth defects.”

[ktani]

A very good Article on the Safe Cosmetics Act 2011 from Forbes Magazine, http://www.forbes.com/sites/amywestervelt/2011/06/27/new-and-improved-safe-cosmetics-act-could-boost-green-chemistry/.

[Kelikea]

I'm all for safe and natural makeup/haircare/skincare. The problem is searching through the data base and finding what will work for me. What is your favorite "safe" makeup, and how do you know which colors will match your skin? I'm assuming that most will be available to me only online. :)

[sugar&nutmeg]

My concern is, how do these megacompanies go about making cosmetics 'safe'?

If they do it by, for instance, testing the ingredients in the eyes of rabbits, who cannot blink...well, then, I think I'll just skip it altogether, thanks.

[ktani]

My concern is, how do these megacompanies go about making cosmetics 'safe'?

If they do it by, for instance, testing the ingredients in the eyes of rabbits, who cannot blink...well, then, I think I'll just skip it altogether, thanks.

See section 624 of the Bill
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h2359/text

ETA:
SEC. 624
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c112:1:./temp/~c112VZCFhg:e59701:

SEC. links
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:h2359:

[sugar&nutmeg]

I appreciate your citing the section, and wish I could say otherwise, but I'm not reassured.

Too much wibbly-wobbly language, like "where practicable..." Whoops! Not practicable. ::lawyers brush their hands together:: There, all better.

I just don't need mascara (for instance) that badly, is all. But everybody makes their own lifestyle/ethics decisions. I know my decisions are the only ones I get to control, so whatever anyone else decides is entirely up to them. It might be worth adding that my dh is a retired phd chemist, so I'm not an alarmist who doesn't realize there are 'chemicals' in everything, insofar as everything is chemicals! :)

[ktani]

I appreciate your citing the section, and wish I could say otherwise, but I'm not reassured.

Too much wibbly-wobbly language, like "where practicable..." Whoops! Not practicable. ::lawyers brush their hands together:: There, all better.

I just don't need mascara (for instance) that badly, is all. But everybody makes their own lifestyle/ethics decisions. I know my decisions are the only ones I get to control, so whatever anyone else decides is entirely up to them. It might be worth adding that my dh is a retired phd chemist, so I'm not an alarmist who doesn't realize there are 'chemicals' in everything, insofar as everything is chemicals! :)

Unfortunately, animal testing is still done and in some cases it is the only way to test certain things from drugs to cosmetics. In my family I have one neice who does addiction research and it is done on rats.

My microbiologist nephews are married to women who work in labs and one is leaving lab work because she no longer wants to test on animals.

ETA: The EU is legislating for alternatives to animal testing with a deadline, http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/docs/annual_reports_animal_testing_13092011_en.pdf

[sugar&nutmeg]

Yep, I understand your reli's decision to leave animal testing. Fortunately, dh didn't have too much to do (except reading assays) with the animals in the pharma co's at which he worked.

To save lives...okay. Still not crazy about it, but...okay.

To make my eyelashes (or my hair, for that matter) longer and thicker? Not so much.

At least we're (as in "they"re) talking about it, now. It's not SOP.

[ktani]

Yep, I understand your reli's decision to leave animal testing. Fortunately, dh didn't have too much to do (except reading assays) with the animals in the pharma co's at which he worked.

To save lives...okay. Still not crazy about it, but...okay.

To make my eyelashes (or my hair, for that matter) longer and thicker? Not so much.

At least we're (as in "they"re) talking about it, now. It's not SOP.

I think legislating for alternatives to animal testing in cosmetics with a deadline is the way to go.

I also think legislation for transparancy and safety is the way to go too, as long as the legislation is enforced.

The natural products scandal I liked to in the past is a perfect example of companies that were not in line with safety and they are now I believe. It took a lawsuit by California though and a lot of publicity to get them there.

[Manny1826]

There is a makeup line I found that I really enjoy-- called RMS beauty. It was created by someone who was having a lot of health problems, and she was appalled at the amount of chemicals in makeup-- the base of her makeup is coconut oil, and it goes on so smoothly. There are only 4 foundation colors, but they blend so beautifully bc such smooth consistency that you can make almost any in between color with them.

[Tennessee Rose]

I understand you all. Its surprising how, after accepting a message you realize how other messages may be more accurate without that fear factor, I agree what most of you said, and Just found the video funny and interesting for those who are not interested because all that stuff of never-ending names.

BUT at least it has brought further research which is quite positive. Thank you for your contributions!