Are Your Personal Care Products Healthy?
Many people don’t think about the eco-friendliness of everyday products such as lotion, lipstick, deodorant, and other personal care products. We generally assume that if they’re safe to put on our bodies, they should be safe for the environment, right? Not necessarily. In fact, are you even sure that those products are safe to put on your body? We assume they are, but that is not always the case.
Many of the unregulated chemicals in cosmetics can lead to serious illnesses and dysfunctions. When these chemicals penetrate the skin, they present a long-term health risk to the consumer. A recent study conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found 16 toxic substances in the blood and urine samples of 20 teenage girls. These included preservatives, fragrances and anti-microbial compounds common in the cosmetics they used. The four main types of chemicals found in the girls’ bodies-phthalates, triclosan, parabens and musks-have been linked to cancer and hormone disruptions. Scientists expressed concern that teenagers are especially vulnerable to hormone disruptions caused by these chemicals because they use more personal care products on average than adults and undergo major hormonal shifts during adolescence (think about the “Axe Body Spray” commercials you see on TV these days – hundreds of thousands of teenage boys use that stuff religiously). When these chemicals accumulate in the waste stream, they can have similar detrimental effects on other animals and contaminate water and soil.
Of course, the simple solution to this issue is to avoid using products that contain harmful chemicals and reduce the number of personal care products that you use. Of course, habits are hard to break and this is much easier said than done. If you must continue to use certain products that some people can do without, you can view a list of “safe” cosmetics online by searching for the “Campaign for Safe Cosmetics” website. Their site also lists the health effects associated with some of the chemicals that are commonly used. However, companies today are not required by the FDA to even list the ingredients that are in personal care products, so it’s not like you can go to the store and shop for products that don’t have [fill in the blank] in them. However, the EWG is slowly building a database that is hosted online that lists thousands of specific products and their known toxic ingredients. Their database includes a rating for the toxicity of each product/chemical – from one (low) to ten (highly toxic). Fair warning – you will surprised to see how many highly toxic products are readily available to unsuspecting consumers.
Beyond being careful of what products you buy and put on your body, we can address the greater environmental destruction that we continue to perpetuate on multiple fronts. The rise in popularity of the reusable shopping bag is a great example of how quickly eco-friendly movements can catch on. Cities are now considering bans or taxes on plastic bags, encouraging citizens to help our environment by bringing their own reusable bags. This shows that when the need to make changes is identified, people are not afraid to make changes. We can hope that this trend carries over in to other areas, such as cosmetics and personal care products. It all begins with education, so do your part and educate some family and friends that might find this information relevant.
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February 15, 2010 8:04 am 
