Toxic Beauty Products

It's All About Exposure

What exactly are toxic beauty products? In the past several years we have been made more aware of the dangers of certain personal care products. You’ve read about them in magazines and heard about them on television. Many people stopped using antiperspirant when it became associated with breast cancer. What we really should be looking at here is which ingredients in our personal care products are harmful, not simply that the product itself may cause breast cancer.

Research shows that parabens, synthetic preservatives used in a wide variety of personal care products (including many antiperspirants) and some foods, have shown up in their intact state in the tumors of breast cancer patients. This leads researchers to believe that, although parabens themselves may not cause the cancer, they could cause the tumor to grow more rapidly.

If a product is water-based a preservative is needed to limit bacterial and microbial growth. Though parabens are effective as preservatives, there are safer alternatives. Many cosmetics manufacturers use a combination of herbs and plant extracts as preservatives, as well as stringent guidelines for the manufacture of products such as sterile work places, glass and metal packaging and making the products in small batches. It is also best to keep personal care products in a cool, dry place away from sun and humidity.

Looking at the bigger picture we cannot afford to fixate on one ingredient, such as parabens, and stop there. We are talking exposure here. A survey conducted in part by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in June 2004 shows that most of us use approximately 9 personal care products each day. That is 126 unique chemical ingredients we are putting on and into our bodies each and every day.

The EWG also states that when the personal care product industry’s self-policing safety panel, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review, assesses an ingredient for safety they are considering consumers are exposed to one ingredient at a time. They also consider personal care products as the only source of exposure. This is, of course, incorrect.

In other words, if you use hair conditioner with parabens each morning, hand soap with sodium lauryl sulphate several times daily and body lotion with petrolatum ( a known human carcinogen) just once per day, that is at least 10 exposures each day to harmful ingredients in toxic beauty products. And that is being conservative.

If you, like many others, have become aware of parabens and have started using products with safer preservation methods then good for you! But don’t stop there. Take a further look at which ingredients to avoid in cosmetics. You will be taking steps toward a healthier future for you and our world.

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