If you look in your bathroom cupboard, you may be surprised at the amount of products you use on you skin but never think about.  Everything from body lotion, deodorant, body scrubs and even cellulite cream. We assume all of these products are safe for use on our skin but what we often forget is skin is our biggest organ and what put on our skin is absorbed into our body and in turn processed through our liver.  The scary reality is the products that we see everyday on tv and in our drugstores, are often the products that contain the most chemicals that are harmful and cancer causing. You’re thinking whoa hold the truck here, Health Canada/FDA regulates what companies can be put into products we use.  The reality is, is that Health Canada follows the FDA guidelines closely and even though the FDA likes to say that it regulates the beauty industry,  the industry is almost entirely self regulated.  This is because the cosmetics laws haven’t really changed since 1938.  In the book “No More Dirty Looks”, they reveal some other must know points about the FDA including:

  • The FDA does not test everyday personal-care products for safety before they hit the market.
  • The FDA does not require companies to provide safety data about its products.
  • If a product is found to be unsafe, the FDA cannot easily force a company to recall it
  • Most of the safety testing, being done is focused on short term reactions such as rashes and it conducted by the corporations that sell the products.
  • No one knows the long-term effects of many of the chemcals used.
  • Cosmetic companies can use almost any ingredient under the son, without any oversight.
  • Europe has banned more than one thousand ingredients for use in personal care products. The United States has banned nine.
  • Leading public health experts say there is no such thing as a safe dosage of a carcinogen, yet several are still used in very common personal care products.
  • Many toxic chemicals make it into your beauty products as byproducts and are therefore not listed on labels.
  • The fragrance industry is protected under trade secret lawas which means the ingredients are not listed on labels at all.

Now this is not to say that the FDA is intentionally harmful,  instead you need to look at why the FDA was originally created.  In 1906, consumable products were popping up so the Food and Drug Act was passed which included mostly labelling restrictions and food additives. In 1938 the act was changed to included cosmetics and basically it said that decaying, harmful and poisonous substances can’t be used in them but did not include any specifics. Flash forward to now and not much has changed since 1938 and hence companies are using all kinds of products which unless cause a rash or some major illness right away, then the product can be used.  And in North America, we are still using over 1000 products that have been banned in Europe so clearly our guidelines are scarily out of date.

The closest reliable  source that we have is EWG or Environmental Working Group which is a consumer advocate group that tests products and rates them on toxicity levels, contaminants and toxicity levels of body products.  Check them out at www.ewg.org and put in your favorite body products. I think you will be surprised and highly motivated to look for products that are safer for you.

Some major no-no’s that you need to be aware of when you are looking for products are:

  1. 1-4 Dioxane:
  2. Coal Tar
  3. DEA, TEA, MEA or ETA
  4. Formaldehyde
  5. Fragrance
  6. Hydroquinone
  7. Parabens
  8. Petroleum Disillates
  9. Phthalates
  10. Propylene Glycol
  11. Sodium Laureth Sulfate and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
  12. Toluene
  13. Triclosan
  14. Talc

Seems overwhelming but with some practice you will get the hang of spotting  these ingredients and eliminating them from your products. Also there there are a lot of great companies who are committed to making safe products that work . It just takes a little time and effort to find the products that you like, but in the long run it’s worth the effort to ensure you are putting on safe ingredients not only on your body but in your body!