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With natural products showing the way, even some big-gun companies are detoxing their ingredients labels. Still, it’s smart to play it safe. Here’s how.
There’s been a spate of publicity about the chemical soup in many mainstream moisturizers, hair products, lipsticks, you name it. Although a number of natural products companies now offer excellent alternatives, shelf loads of cosmetics are still far from toxin-free. How widespread is the problem? A survey called Skin Deep, done in June 2004 by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) —a leader in the drive to detox personal care products—found that:
89 percent of the 10,500 ingredients used in face and body products have not been evaluated for safety by either the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or cosmetics manufacturers;
one out of every 120 products contains known or probable carcinogens.
So what’s being done to remove these offenders? The good news is that groups both here and abroad are triggering a major makeover in the cosmetics industry.
Read more about Making Over Makeup:
The Trouble with All-Day Exposure
Changes in the Beauty Industry
Finding Safe Cosmetics
Worst of the Bunch
Keeping Your Skin in Shape
Natural Suncare
Article by Carol Kahn from Vegetarian Times, July/August 2005.
Copyright© Vegetarian Times. Reprinted with permission. |
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