Poisoned Kisses: Lead in Lipstick
What do L’Oreal Colour Riche “Classic Wine�, Cover Girl Incredifull Lipcolor “Maximum Red� and Christian Dior Addict “Positive Red� lipsticks all have in common? Unfortunately, they contain lead. Yes you read that right, every time you use these products, you are spreading highly toxic lead all over your lips.
According to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ new report, “A Poison Kiss”:
- 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 as an ingredient.
- 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, like candy, is ingested directly. 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.
Just in case you are wondering,
“(T)here is no safe level of lead – no amount of exposure is without harm. Lead is a proven neurotoxin that can cause learning, language and behavioral problems. Lead is also linked to infertility and miscarriage. Pregnant women and young children are particularly vulnerable to exposure because lead easily crosses the placenta and enters the fetal brain, where it interferes with normal development. Lead does not break down in the body, but builds up over a lifetime of exposures.”
And no, The FDA does not limit the amount of lead in lipstick.
Be sure to also check out Heather Gehlert’s interview with Stacy Malkin, author of “Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry.”
Filed under: Uncategorized, Atrocities
While there may be no “safe” level of lead in lipstick the way these calculations were obtained is through using candy bars as measurement, i.e. eating a whole candy bar in one sitting. If you base your measurements on what is an acceptable amount of traces of lead by eating a 40 gram candy bar then most of the companies listed in the report are WELL below the FDA requirements despite not having any FDA requirements to do so.
The whole report is a bit disingenuous in its risk assesment.
No one uses lead as “an Ingredient” so it wouldn’t be listed as one. Some companies due to the urging of the Safe Campaign use natural minerals instead of harmful FD&C coloring and were also targeted by this report although the report makes no attempt to qualitate this. Its a great thing to call for safety of women but do it in a truthful way.
First, kids dying from lead in toys. Now, they find high levels of lead in lipsticks. What’s next - lead in food? Are women going to start dying now too from using lipstick too much?
Freaky!
There’s a detailed report about it at http://www.myproductalert.com/lead-in-lipsticks.html