Can you trust your personal care products?

I’d be willing to bet that when you’re shopping, you assume that most, if not all, of the products you’re buying are safe. You probably believe that anything that is not safe would not be able to pass federal inspections and would not be allowed to be placed on the shelves for sale.

I mean, let’s be real, given the size of government these days; With all the different departments regulating this and that, it’s obvious they review products before they’re allowed to sell them.

Well not so much…

When it comes to cosmetic products, you are pretty much on your own. The primary authority for these products, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), does not have the “authority” to require companies to test their products for safety before releasing them to consumers. The only thing the FDA does prior to market release is check certain color additives and verify the active ingredients in any cosmetic product classified as an OTC drug. Not very reassuring, to be sure!

So what else have you assumed about the cosmetics industry that isn’t true?

Certainly the government prohibits the use of dangerous chemicals in personal care products! Obviously, companies would not expose themselves to liability by including such chemicals in the ingredients of their products.

Wrong again! Cosmetic manufacturers may use any ingredient or raw material they wish, except the color additives listed above, without any intervention from a government consumer protection agency.

Did you know…

• More than 500 products sold in the US contain ingredients that are prohibited in cosmetics sold in Japan, Canada, and the European Union.
• The International Fragrance Association has identified more than 100 products sold in the US that have ingredients that the organization considers unsafe.
• A substantial number of “nanomaterials” whose safety is questionable can be found in personal care products.
• 61% of lipsticks sold in the US contain lead residue.
• 60% of sunscreens include oxybenzone, which is rapidly absorbed through the skin, contaminating nearly 97% of Americans with a potential hormone disruptor.
• A carcinogenic substance, 1,4-dioxane, can be found in 22% of all personal care products, including those intended for children.

But then, if you think about it, is there really that much risk in applying something to our skin? How dangerous could it be, when so little gets through our skin, right?

Did you know that many products contain penetration enhancers, to ensure that the ingredients reach the depths of our skin? More importantly, it is not necessarily what has been rubbed into the skin, but rather the vehicle used to transfer the product. For example, your risk exposure may be due to inhalation of overspray and dust from sprays and powders, ingestion of chemicals applied to the lips or hands, as well as absorption of chemicals through the skin. .

Ingredients like paraben preservatives, the pesticide triclosan, synthetic musks, and phthalate plasticizers remain in our bodies and can be found in men, women, and children. Many of these ingredients disrupt our hormones and can lead to health problems such as increased sperm damage, reduced birth rate in women, and feminization of the male reproductive system.

Common sense says that products made for children or those that are labeled hypoallergenic would offer greater safety.

If you think that, you would be wrong, once again. Marketing claims made by manufacturers of personal care products are not regulated and they rarely have to substantiate their claims. The terms “natural” and “hypoallergenic” are used by manufacturers to enhance their marketability and often have no basis in fact.

A 2007 study of 1,700 children’s personal care products labeled “gentle” or “hypoallergenic” revealed that 81% contained allergens or skin and eye irritants.

The same goes for products labeled organic or natural. Once again, these labels enhance the consumer’s attraction to them and are used to increase sales. They do not necessarily reflect the actual ingredients found in a given product.

Manufacturers often include a dash of natural or organic ingredients simply so they can use those terms in their marketing. However, the amounts used are so insignificant that they have no real effect on product performance.

The other point that is often overlooked is that even if an ingredient is natural or organic, it is not necessarily safe to use. As an example, poison ivy is natural, but now you don’t want to rub it all over your skin, do you?

Some personal care products that have been labeled natural or organic have been found to contain petrochemicals and have absolutely no natural or certified organic ingredients. Zip, nothing, zero! Not only that, but “certified” organic products can have as little as 10% organic ingredients by weight, to be classified as such.

Finally, research has shown that 35% of children’s cosmetic products marketed as “natural” include artificial preservatives.

We all tend to believe that in the event of a product causing injury, the FDA will have that product removed from the market immediately. I’m sorry to burst that safety bubble, but the FDA does not have the authority to do so. Also, manufacturers are not required to report these injuries to the FDA.

Of course, as an informed consumer, you always have the ability to read labels and determine for yourself the safety of ingredients in any given product. However, with a little warning. The federal law not only offers no consumer protection, it actually facilitates the manufacturer’s deception.

Federal law allows the exclusion of some ingredients from their labels! Ingredients considered “trade secrets” and ingredients that make up the fragrance may be excluded from the label. Fragrances may contain some of the most harmful ingredients, but can be excluded from identification.

If you think the safety of personal care products is only a women’s concern, think again. The following statistics are the results of various surveys and reveal that, on average, women use 12 products with 168 ingredients every day, men use 6 products with 85 ingredients, and children are exposed to 61 ingredients every day. That’s a significant amount of exposure to a lot of different chemicals on a daily basis. And remember, the younger you are, the more susceptible you are to the negative impact of those ingredients.

In short, be very, very careful about the personal care products you choose to use. Some of the most popular products endorsed by your favorite TV personalities are not what they seem.