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Nontoxic Personal Care Products
By Stephanie Surles of Greening Families
That title seems like it should be a given, right? It never even occurred to me that personal care products made in this day and age could be toxic. I had read that Elizabethan women used make-up containing mercury to make their skin pale but thought that kind of thing went out with the turn of the 16th century. And then I learned that it had not. In fact, some of the make-up I was using, and my young daughters were playing with, was toxic. My lipstick even contained lead, exposure to which has been proven to cause brain damage. Yikes! A couple of pieces of information are helpful here. First, it is important to know that regulations for personal care products sold in the United States are fairly relaxed. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not require pre-market safety tests of any personal care products or ingredients, with the exception of color additives. This is different from every other product regulated by the FDA.
Second, you probably use more personal care products than you realize. With shampoo, deodorant, and lotion falling into this category, the average American uses between 15 and 25 personal care products each day. Women typically use a few more products than men since perfume, cosmetics, and nail polish are also included in this category. This is an issue since pregnant women transmit the chemicals they absorb to their developing babies. Third, the chemicals these products contain are absorbed by your skin. Since 89% of the 10,500 ingredients used in personal care products have not been screened for safety by the FDA or any other publicly accountable institution, according to the Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition, when you lather up or powder your baby’s bottom the odds are that you’re creating exposure to untested chemicals. And since 1/3 of these products contain at least one chemical linked to cancer, during the typical day Americans use 3-8 products that have the potential to trigger serious problems. Take a look at the personal care products your family uses. If money is tight, focus first on products used by any pregnant women or for the babies and small children in your family. Growing children are more vulnerable since their bodies and brains are still developing. Two helpful resources to help research the safety of the products your family uses, and find nontoxic products if you need replacements, are the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the Environmental Working Group’s Cosmetic Safety Database named Skin Deep. Update your family’s safety level to (what should be) modern standards by making over your make-up and personal care products. Healthy is always a beautiful look!
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Contributor's Note
I've now gone through all the personal care products we use and made replacements. In several cases the replacement was cheaper than the toxic product we were using!
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Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
| Environmental Working Group’s Cosmetic Safety Database Skin Deep
| Going Green Hints
| Family Profits
| Lead Exposure In Children Affects Brain And Behavior
| Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition
| US Food and Drug Administration Guidance, Compliance & Regulatory Information
PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE
Greening Families
Info to help your family become more green
www.greeningfamilies.com
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The copyright for this content entitled "Nontoxic Personal Care Products" has been specified by the contributor as:
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http://ssurles.qondio.com/
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