You would’t knowingly paint your kids’ faces with questionable chemicals and heavy metals, right? Yet, that might be what you end up doing if you buy standard Halloween face paint and other kid-oriented cosmetics, says a new report.

The report on toxic Halloween face paint is called Pretty Scary 2: Unmasking Toxic Chemicals in Kids’ Makeup.  It reveals that more than 50 percent of face paints and cosmetics marketed to kids contains at least one ingredient or contaminant linked to hormone disruption, developmental delays, learning difficulties, or cancer.

The report, issued by the Breast Cancer Fund and its Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, is based on research and lab testing done on 187 cosmetic products marketed to kids. Among the harmful ingredients found in these products are lead, cadmium, styrene, formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like benzene and toluene.

“The presence of both lead and cadmium in kids’ products is dangerously concerning,” report the researchers. “The strong association of lead with neurological and intellectual impairments has led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to declare there is no safe blood level of lead.”

“Cadmium is of particular concern due to its capacity to mimic estrogen and research linking cadmium to breast cancer,” they also reported.

Among the products that were contaminated with VOCs were Disney Frog Lip Gloss, Disney Frozen stick-on nails, Disney Princess Lip Gloss, Hershey’s Reese’s lip balm, Hershey’s Bubble Gum lip balm, Minions Nail Polish Pink, the Batman Party Makeup Set, and the Killer Clown Makeup Kit.

Most of these products are commonly sold at big-box stores along with Halloween costumes and candy. Some of the VOCs researchers detected in them are associated with serious long-term health concerns, such as breast cancer and hormonal irregularities. In all cases, the concentrations of VOCs in kids’ products were significantly higher than the limits EPA has set for drinking water.

That’s particularly significant because “children are highly vulnerable to the effects of toxic chemicals during critical windows of development,” say the researchers. Plus, kids might use face paint and other make-up all year round—they could have multiple exposures over time.

Most people assume the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates cosmetics and personal care products in the same way it does food and drugs to assure safety.

In fact, cosmetics are one of the least regulated consumer products on the market today, the researchers report. In addition, existing cosmetic safety law is over 75 years old and provides the FDA “with virtually no statutory power to perform even the most rudimentary functions to ensure the safety of an estimated $71 billion cosmetic industry.”

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The ingredients in cosmetic products sold via the Internet—a primary source of shopping for tweens, teenagers and their busy parents—don’t actually have to be labeled, say the report’s authors. Neither do the ingredients in fragrance, even though 40% of the cosmetics and personal care products on the market today contain fragrance, a catch-all term for compounds that might consist of hundreds of chemicals—including known carcinogens, hormone-disruptors and other toxic offenders.

Breast Cancer Action Fund is working to get the federal government to update its regulations on cosmetics to protect kids. It’s also encouraging manufacturers to eliminate chemicals in their products that are linked to cancer, birth defects, developmental harm and other health concerns.

How to Keep Kids Safe From Toxic Halloween Face Paint

In addition to encouraging lawmakers to protect kids legislatively, here’s how you can keep your kids safe.

• Practice the Precautionary Principle, which advocates that it’s better to be safe than sorry. Skipping face paint and cosmetics aimed at kids is the best way to make sure they won’t be exposed to the chemicals identified in the Pretty Scary report.

• 

  Get your kids Halloween masks rather than paint their faces. Just be sure the masks only cover the eyes or the chin, not the nose or mouth. Kids can still have fun creating a great costume, but they won’t be breathing in any chemicals from paints that might be applied to the mask.

• Use stick-on tattoos that are easy to remove. Again, don’t apply them around the nose or mouth.
• Favor organic, plant-based cosmetics like powdered eye shadow, eyebrow pencil, bronzer, and blush. Have your child cover her mouth and nose if you’re brushing on any powders that could be easily inhaled.
• Avoid gluing on false eyelashes. Instead draw them on with an organic-based eyebrow pencil.
• Use plant-based, organic lipstick and unflavored lip balm. Avoid lip balms that supposedly taste like candy, since all the kids will do is lick them off!
• Skip perfume or other fragrances. Kids will be running around outside and no one will care what they smell like, anyway!
• Avoid products that boast that they soak into the skin. That’s not what kids need!
• Wash off the make-up as soon as the kids get home. Make sure they don’t fall asleep wearing it.

Don’t Miss This Popular Post: 6 Non-Toxic Ways to Paint Your Face for Halloween

By the way, if you already have face paint at home for your kids, you could try reading the label to see what it contains. Toss or return the product if the ingredients include benzophenones, BHT, ethoxylated ingredients, formaldehyde, fragrance, mineral oil, parabens, petrolatum, silica, styrene compounds, and talc.

Keep in mind that dangerous heavy metals like lead and cadmium won’t show up in the ingredients list, since they can only be detected in a lab.

The post Toxic Halloween Face Paint is Bad News For Kids appeared first on Big Green Purse.

 But your eyes? That’s another story, at least according to the United Nations Minamata Convention, so named because thousands of people in Minamata, Japan suffered mercury poisoning from contaminated industrial wastewater.

The UN convention last week decided that companies can use mercury in mascara and other make-up until safer alternatives can be found. B why use mercury in the first place? Evidently it’s an effective preservative and germ-killer. However, it’s also a powerful neurotoxicant that can cause kidney damage and serious neurological effects. If you’re pregnant and exposed to mercury, your baby’s brain could be affected.

To date, no scientific studies have researched the impact that the levels of mercury found in eye make-up could have on human health. Still, Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the consumer watch-dog group Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, says (quoted here in Scientific American) there’s no reason “a known neurotoxin should be allowed in any of these products” because alternatives exist. Most manufacturers just aren’t using them.

Fortunately, several cosmetics companies committed to public health and safety as well as beauty do exist, and they’re producing mercury-free mascara as well as other non-toxic make-up options. Here are the ones I know about. If you have other recommendations, please leave them in the comments below.

Suncoat Sugar Based Natural Mascara

Afterglow Pure Soul Mascara

100% Pure  Fruit Pigmented Mascara

Tarte

By the way, for added safety:

* Store mascara in a cool, dry place.

* Toss it after about three months, whether the tube is used up or not. Bacteria can multiply in older tubes and cause eye infections.

* Don’t apply when you’re driving (duh!). Many optometrists report treating women who scratched their corneas while trying to apply mascara in a moving car!

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The post Is There Mercury in Your Mascara? Probably. appeared first on Big Green Purse.

We’ve gotten it out of paint and gasoline because of its links to birth defects and mental retardation. Says Health Canada, “Exposure to lead may have subtle effects on the intellectual development of infants and children. Infants and toddlers are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of lead because they are undergoing a period of rapid development; furthermore, their growing bodies absorb lead more easily and excrete lead less efficiently than adults. In addition, infants and young children are more likely to ingest lead because of their natural habit of putting objects into their mouths.

“Once in the body, lead circulates in the blood and either builds up in bone or is eliminated from the body, mostly in urine. Lead can stay in the body for over 30 years following exposure.”

So the message should be: don’t use lead, and especially don’t eat it.

Yet updated research from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has found noticeable amounts of lead in over 400 brands of lipstick, including Revlon, Clinique, L’Oreal, Maybelline, Cover Girl, and Estee Lauder.  FDA says that it is not concerned because lipstick is a “topical” product that is not intended to be “ingested.” In other words, the agency is acting as if lipstick stays on lips.

But if you wear lipstick, you know that’s not true. We lick our lips all day long, which means that we’re eating lipstick all day long, and applying it all day long, too.

Besides, says Mark Mitchell, M.D., MPH, the policy advisor of the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice and co-chair of the Environmental Health Task Force for the National Medical Association, lead “builds up in the body over time and lead-containing lipstick applied several times a day, every day, can add up to significant exposure levels.”

In January, reports Forbes, an advisory committee to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared there is no safe level of lead for children and stressed the importance of preventing lead exposure for kids and pregnant women. While lipstick is not sold to children, if you’re a mother, aunt, grandmother, or babysitter, you know how hard it can be to keep kids away from make-up, especially lipstick.

To be clear, the cosmetics companies are not intentionally adding lead to their product forumulations. But because lead is so prevalent in air, water, and minerals, it can appear as a trace contaminant in the raw ingredients companies use in manufacturing.

If you want to buy lipstick, here are 11 brands that tested lead-free in 2007. Note that many are made by companies you’ll recognize, like Avon, and are very affordable.

The post Lead-Free Lipstick? Well…duh! appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Two years ago, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics reported that J&J’s baby shampoo contained quarternium-15, which releases formaldhyde, as well as the chemical product 1,4-dioxane. Both formaldehye and dioxane are known carcinogens – which is why so many citizens rose up to pressure the company to produce a healthier, safer shampoo. This was a product for babies, after all!

In a coordinated effort, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, the American Nurses Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, and 40 other groups, sent a letter to J&J outlining their concerns. Groups like our own Green Moms Carnival also raised awareness through blogs that reached hundreds of thousands of people.

Earlier this month, Johnson & Johnson announced that they are no longer introducing baby products that contain formaldehyde. They also announced that they have reformulated “approximately 70%” of their products with new formulas that keep trace levels of 1,4-dioxane below detectable levels.

“Clearly there is no need for Johnson & Johnson to expose babies to a known carcinogen when the company is already making safer alternatives. All babies deserve safer products,” said Lisa Archer, director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics at the Breast Cancer Fund.

Archer commented, “We’re glad to see that the Johnson & Johnson is taking this seriously. This commitment is a big step in the right direction. We look forward to the day when we can tell consumers the company’s entire product line is free of carcinogens and other chemicals of concern.”

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The post Your Big Green Muscle is Getting J&J to Make Its Baby Shampoo Safer appeared first on Big Green Purse.

With your participation and some determined work on Capitol Hill, it will be. Several members of Congress recently introduced the Safe Cosmetics Act, legislation that would phase out toxic ingredients in our make-up and other personal care products that have been linked to cancer, birth defects and developmental harm. The act would also create a health-based safety standard to protect not only us adults, but kids, the elderly, and people who work in salons and the cosmetics industries.

Plus, the legislation would require companies to fully disclose all the ingredients their products contain so we consumers can read the labels and decide what we want to be exposed to. Finally, the new law would boost funding for the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Cosmetics and Colors so it can effectively oversee the cosmetics industry and better protect consumers.

The Safe Cosmetics Act is long overdue. Laws governing the ingredients in cosmetics haven’t been updated since 1938 – we know a lot more about toxic chemicals and safe levels of exposure these days than we did then.

“The growing number of reports of serious health problems arising from the use of dangerous chemicals in personal care products shows a need to update our laws and protect men, women, and children from harmful exposure,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D, IL), one of the bill’s co-sponsors. “Currently, manufacturers are not required to disclose all their ingredients on labels, and the FDA has no power to supervise the use of toxic chemicals in cosmetics. Americans are left in the dark about harmful mystery ingredients in personal care products; consumers deserve confidence that the products that they use will not hurt them.”

“When there are cancer-causing chemicals in popular hair-straighteners and baby shampoos and neurotoxins like lead in makeup, you know the regulatory system is broken,” said Lisa Archer, director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. “Industry self-regulation just isn’t working. This bill recognizes that consumers have a right to safe personal care products and that companies have a responsibility to ensure their products are safe.”

Please – take a minute right now to urge your Member of Congress to support the Safe Cosmetics Act.

For more background, here’s why we need phthalate-free cosmetics, safer shampoos, and lead-free lipstick.

Don’t miss this related post, “Beauty…or the Beast? Depends on the Safe Chemicals Act.”

You can buy safer cosmetics in our online store here along with non-toxic shampoos, soap, and face and body lotion.

The post Putting on Lipstick Shouldn’t be so Risky. It Won’t Be – if You Support the Safe Cosmetics Act appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Safer products for women have been around for years, primarily in response to their strong consumer demand. Guys can have a similar impact on manufacturers, by choosing the safest products available. These deodorant options, all of which are highly rated for health and safety by Environmental Working Group, are a good place to start:

Crystal deodorant:   This clear, rock-like product uses mineral salts to reduce the bacteria that cause body odor.   Just moisten the crystal and rub it under your arm; it dries immediately.  The line has a product specifically for men. Added  Benefit: the Crystal company is the top rated natural or conventional deodorant according to the analysis of Environmental Working Group. The company also supports “The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics” and pledges that any products it makes will “meet the standards and deadlines set by the European Union Directive 76/768/eeC to be free of chemicals that are known or strongly suspected of causing cancer, mutation or birth defects.” Here’s some additional useful background on crystal deodorants.

Tom’s of Maine Unscented Deodorant stick: makes four different deodorants from ingredients like hops, chamomile, and lemongrass.  You can purchase the deodorant fragrance-free, or scented with calendula, woodspice, or honeysuckle rose.  Tom’s is  available at most grocery and drug stores, including  Rite Aid and Walgreens, but can also be purchased online.

Aubrey Organics uses herbal extracts and vitamin E in their Men’s Stock Natural Dry Herbal Pine deodorant.   The deodorant comes in spray form (but not an aerosol can) and can be purchased directly from the company’s website as well as in natural foods and Whole Foods stores.

Want more information on safe personal care products? Here you go.

(Research by Katie Kelleher)

The post Stinky or Sweet? Dealing With the Pits appeared first on Big Green Purse.

More than half of 33 brand-name lipsticks tested (61 percent) contained detectable levels of lead, with levels ranging from 0.03 to 0.65 parts per million (ppm). None of these lipsticks listed lead, a dangerous neurotoxin that can cause learning disabilities, as an ingredient.

“Lead builds up in the body over time and lead-containing lipstick applied several times a day, every day, can add up to significant exposure levels. The latest studies show there is no safe level of lead exposure,” said Mark Mitchell, M.D., MPH, president, Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice.

According to the tests, which were conducted by an independent laboratory during the month of September, one-third of the tested lipsticks exceeded the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 0.1 ppm limit for lead in candy – a standard established to protect children from directly ingesting lead. Lipstick products, like candy, are directly ingested into the body. Nevertheless, the FDA has not set a limit for lead in lipstick, “which fits with the disturbing absence of FDA regulatory oversight and enforcement capacity for the $50 billion personal care products industry,” said the Campaign.

Fortunately, the tests also identified lead-free lipstick brands: 39 percent of lipsticks tested had no detectable levels of lead. In fact, some less expensive brands such as Revlon Superlustrous Bed of Roses ($7.49) had no detectable lead levels.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to tell from product labeling which brands contain lead and which do not. Review complete test results in the full report, “A Poison Kiss: The Problem of Lead in Lipstick,” posted at www.SafeCosmetics.org. Then Use Your Purse to buy the safest possible brand.

The following lipstick brands had higher lead levels than others tested:

-L’Oreal Colour Riche “True Red” – 0.65 ppm
-L’Oreal Colour Riche “Classic Wine” – 0.58 ppm
-Cover Girl Incredifull Lipcolor “Maximum Red” – 0.56 ppm
-Dior Addict “Positive Red” – 0.21 ppm

The post Get the Lead Out … of Your Lipstick! appeared first on Big Green Purse.