Know Whats In Your Stuff
Taken from: (EWG) Environment Working Group Website
Most consumers would be surprised to learn that the government does not require health studies or pre-market testing for cosmetics and other personal care products before they are sold. According to the government agency that regulates cosmetics, the FDA's Office of Cosmetics and Colors, "...a cosmetic manufacturer may use almost any raw material as a cosmetic ingredient and market the product without an approval from FDA" (FDA 1999).
The toxicity of product ingredients is scrutinized almost exclusively by a self-policing industry safety committee, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) panel. Because testing is voluntary and controlled by the manufacturers, many ingredients in cosmetics products are not safety tested at all.
• Eighty-nine (89) percent of 10,500 ingredients used in personal care products have not been evaluated for safety by the CIR, the FDA, nor any other publicly accountable institution (FDA 2000, CIR 2003).
The absence of government oversight for this $35 billion industry leads to companies routinely marketing products with ingredients that are poorly studied, not studied at all, or worse, known to pose potentially serious health risks.
The Environmental Working Group's (EWG's) six-month computer investigation into the health and safety assessments on more than 10,000 personal care product ingredients found major gaps in the regulatory safety net for these products. To help people use what we learned we developed an online rating system that ranks products on their potential health risks and the absence of basic safety evaluations. The core of the analysis compares ingredients in 7,500 personal care products against government, industry, and academic lists of known and suspected chemical health hazards.
Our analysis shows that ingredients in cosmetics range from essentially harmless components like table salt and oatmeal, to chemicals known to cause cancer in humans. Notably, natural ingredients are no more likely to have been assessed for safety than synthetic chemicals. Individual ingredients vary tremendously in their ability to soak through the skin. Some absorb in only miniscule amounts, while others can quite easily penetrate the skin to the blood vessels below. Few individual ingredients pose excessive risks, but most people use many products in the course of a day, so it well may be that these risks are adding up. A survey of 2,300 people conducted as part of this research effort shows that the average adult uses 9 personal care products each day, with 126 unique chemical ingredients. More than a quarter of all women and one of every 100 men use at least 15 products daily.
Areas of Health Concern:
Bar Soap See detailed breakdown on health effects.
Cancer: 27% of products (39) may pose cancer risks.
27% of products (39) contain(s) ingredients that are(is) possible human carcinogen(s). (Butylated hydroxytoluene, Polyethylene, Titanium dioxide, Triethanolamine)
Harmful Impurities 35% of products (51) may contain harmful impurities linked to cancer or other health problems.
10% of products (14) contain(s) ingredients that may contain impurities linked to breast cancer. (PEG-16 soy sterol, PEG-6, PEG-8, Petrolatum)
Penetration Enhancers: 36% of products (52) contain(s) penetration enhancers that increase exposures to carcinogens and other ingredients of concern. (disodium EDTA, lecithin, menthol, propylene glycol, sodium laureth sulfate, sodium lauroyl sarcosinate, tetrasodium EDTA, trisodium EDTA, trisodium HEDTA)
Unstudied Ingredients: 100% of products (144) contain ingredients contain(s) unstudied ingredient(s) or ingredient(s) with insufficient data.
Do you know how safe the cleansing products you are using are?
Here is information from Skin Deep that suggest these are products with a higher rate of being unsafe to you and your skin.
Neutrogena Transparent Facial Bar, Oily Skin Formula Soap, Scented
Danger Rate 8.1
Neutrogena Transparent Facial Bar Bonus Pack, Dry Skin Formula
Danger Rate 8.0
Neutrogena Transparent Facial Bar
Danger Rate8.1
Neutrogena Transparent Facial Bar Bonus Pack, Original Formula
Danger Rate 8.1
Neutrogena Transparent Facial Bar
Danger Rate 8.1
Oilatum Cleansing Bar, Unscented, 3.5 oz Danger Rate 7.9
Got2B Spa Body, Full of Soap Soy & Oatmeal Loofah Cleansing Bar
Danger Rate7.5
Neova Cleansing Bar, 4.2 oz Bar
Danger Rate 7.3
Lever Deodorant Soap, Pure Rain Moisture Response, Value Pack, 4.5 oz Bars Danger Rate 7.2
Suave Naturals Bar Soap with Aloe Vera & Vitamin E Danger Rate 7.2
Questions many have asked:
What are amino acids: Amino Acids are building blocks for the body.
• Eighty-nine (89) percent of 10,500 ingredients used in personal care products have not been evaluated for safety by the CIR, the FDA, nor any other publicly accountable institution (FDA 2000, CIR 2003).
