Beauty products that kills: What to avoid…

Beauty products that kills: “Start reading cosmetics labels like food labels”

What to avoid…

PHTHALATES

Used mainly in plastic products to make them more flexible, phthalates are also added to cosmetics to help stabilise fragrance compounds. Even though three phthalates have been banned from cosmetics in the EU, the phthalate DEP (diethyl phthalate) is still widely used in deodorants, hair care, aftershave lotions, skincare, make-up and perfumes. Women aged 20-40 have been found to have the highest levels of phthalates in their bodies, which may have implications for their own fertility, as well as the reproductive ability of their offspring. Teenage boys using antiperspirants and grooming products are also putting themselves at risk. 

WHAT DO THEY DO? Various studies about phthalates have raised concerns about their links with increased incidences of asthma and allergies, as well as their impact on the body’s hormone system. 

The EU’s Scientific Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP) considers DEP safe despite epidemiological evidence (although it is claimed to be inconsistent) that DEP can impair reproductive function, according to the Women’s Environmental Network. In individual products phthalates may represent a trace amount, but the cumulative effect  –  using numerous products a day  –  can amount to a substantial internal dose. 

FORMALDEHYDE 

A preservative that mixes easily with water and so is often found in water-based cosmetics, such as shampoo, shower gel and hand wash. It also has germicide, fungicide and disinfectant properties. 

WHAT DOES IT DO? It can trigger allergies and some people have reported suffering from asthma and headaches after exposure to the chemical but, more worryingly, it is also classified as a carcinogen and is banned from cosmetics in other countries, such as Sweden. 

PARABENS

Synthetic chemicals that are used as preservatives to inhibit the growth of bacteria, moulds and yeasts. You’ll find them in one incarnation or another (methylparaben, ethylparaben, butylparaben, propylparaben, isobutylparaben, benzyl paraben) in many beauty products from deodorants and moisturisers to sunscreens and they are also used as a preservative in food. 

WHAT DO THEY DO? They are known to disrupt hormone function. More than 12 studies have shown them to mimic the effect of oestrogen in animals and in tissue culture when applied topically rather than ingested. The link between oestrogen and breast cancer is already well proven, but a 2004 study by Dr Phillipa Darbre at the University of Reading found evidence of parabens in breast tumours. 

PESTICIDES

The same sort of chemicals that you’ll find in your garden shed, just in far greater concentrations. They may be used to grow and cultivate the raw ingredients used in skincare or cosmetics. 

WHAT DO THEY DO? It’s not entirely clear how much of the original pesticide is likely to be transferred to the body via a cosmetic product, but given the potentially serious effects of pesticides generally, they are still a cause for concern. Pesticides have been linked with cancer, foetal abnormalities, decreasing male fertility and Parkinson’s disease.

For more information visit www.thefactsabout.co.uk

The articles found on these pages are for informational purposes only and are not intended to take the place of professional medical care.

Finding products without these questionable ingredients is virtually impossible

In her book “Confessions Of An Eco-Shopper” Kate Lock makes an interesting point:

It’s not just the chemicals that we should be so concerned about in a beauty product…

“Multiple exposure to potentially harmful chemicals in everything from perfume to body lotion is enveloping us in a toxic cloud that’s further concentrated by the chemicals in the washing powders, and household cleaning products most of us use daily”.

Meaning, you can test one ingredient itself but it’s far more complex to evaluate how they combine with each other, and the long lasting effects, in time.

A good friend of mine that works in the Luxury/Beauty industry mentioned that The European Union has a quite strict regulation on cosmetic ingredients. However “Laws & regulations” can be easily interpreted or bent; as usual industries can decide which rules to follow and which other to disregard, there aren’t real accurate controls in place to keep them to do so. The chemical and pharmaceutical industry run a huge business with powerful lobbies ready to protect their interests if at stake.
There are people working for huge brands that are conscious of the effects their product have on their customer, as much as the Tobacco industry does; nevertheless, this does not prevent them to use ingredients such as Parabens or propylene glycol (PG). I was told that these are the ingredients used for creating “luxurious textures” and are an absolute “must” for prestige brands. Their claim is simple: “women adore to be pampered, to feel sumptuously soft and supple. “Parabens” can do that, and, as women love that effect and do not care of the implication, why should prestige brand worry?” Live the dream and keep on cashing in!

Moreover, some of these brands are blatantly taking the piss!

Kate Lock explains that one of the ingredient commonly used in stick deodorant branded as “organic” is propylene glycol (PG). You might think that by buying ‘ natural’ products but, in fact, a product can bill itself as ‘natural’  even if only 1 per cent of it contains natural ingredients. 

Did you get it right? 1% natural ingredients + 99% total shit = Organic/natural branded product. Awesome!!

So what is this propylene glycol? Once again Kate Lock shed some light for us: “While PG is considered safe by the cosmetics industry, its ability to penetrate the skin quickly, carrying other chemicals with it into the bloodstream, and the impurities that can be generated by its manufacture (including 1,4-Dioxane, a probable carcinogen) give it a less wholesome pedigree”

Again, Methylparaben and propylparaben  –  two of a group of preservatives thought to effect hormone levels in the body  –  seem to be included in just about all moisturisers, even those with a ‘green’ brand image. 

In fact, finding products that don’t contain any of these questionable ingredients is virtually impossible. You might embark in a long research prior buying and find some 100% natural products, but, frankly, these products are the exception rather than the rule.
Here’s some hope! Be more aware of what you buy. Leave the poison on the shelves and companies will have to adjust. If you really want to know what you’re slapping on your body go to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ product guide, Skin Deep (www.safecosmetics.org). 

It allows you to check out ingredients and products, though bear in mind that as this is an American website so product formulations may differ as EU restrictions are tighter. 
I know people that went through a selection of the products in their bathroom, cross referencing with Ethical Consumer magazine resources, and in just one shampoo found no fewer than seven ingredients known to have all sorts of horrible effects, from clogging-pores and irritating skin with chemicals thought to be carcinogenic. 

Kate’s conclusion is a eye opener: “Once you start reading cosmetics labels like food labels, it opens up a whole new and, frankly, terrifying world”. 

Dying to be beautiful. Are your beauty products killing you?

By KATE LOCK

Last updated at 4:12 PM on 05th August 2008

Beauty products are my passion. Always have been, since my mother introduced me to Quickies Cleansing Pads at 13. 

I’ve cleansed, toned and moisturised ever since, though it has come at a massive cost financially. I hate to think how much I’ve spent on beauty products since I began my twice-daily regime, but it would run into thousands. Suffice to say, they know me by name at the Clarins counter. 

I’m not alone. A 2006 survey commissioned by New Woman magazine revealed that British women spend £3,000 a year on beauty products and treatments, with 81 per cent of women wearing make-up every day. According to analysts Mintel, British women are the largest users of make-up in Europe, capping even the French. (And Clarins is cheaper there, n’est-ce pas?)

All well and good, but there’s a lie in these ointments, and it is this: the very products that are promoted as making us look younger, sexier, healthier and more attractive may ultimately be doing the opposite. 

Getting Lippy, a groundbreaking report by the Women’s Environmental Network published in 2003, claimed that cosmetics and beauty products may contain ingredients that impair fertility, increase the effects of ageing and are linked to cancer, allergies and other health problems. 

The love of lipstick: But what does it contain?

‘There is increasing evidence that we are all victims of a great big con,’ the report concluded. 

I’ll say. You expect the food you buy to be safe, and there are huge public outcries when it isn’t, yet the same stringent standards are not universally applied to cosmetics companies. 

This is especially true in the U.S., which is less regulated. However, since the implementation of the European Union’s cosmetics directive in 2006, consumers in the UK have been better protected from chemicals that are considered mutagenic (meaning they will change the genetic information of organisms), carcinogenic (cancer causing), or reproductive toxins. 

All UK cosmetics and their ingredients must be safety-tested, and there is a list of chemicals that are not permitted for use in cosmetics and maximum concentration restrictions on others. 

That’s still not enough for campaign groups, such as the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace. They say that chemicals such as parabens and phthalates, which can have an effect on the hormones in our bodies, cannot be ‘adequately controlled’. They are putting pressure on Brussels to introduce laws recognising this and to substitute them with safer alternatives.