Major loopholes in federal law allow the $50 billion cosmetics industry to put unlimited amounts of chemicals into personal care products with no required testing, no monitoring of health effects, and inadequate labeling requirements.

 

Shockingly, to this day, the cosmetic industry has managed to escape any regulation and in fact "polices itself" through a group called the Cosmetic Ingredient Review Board, which sadly, is funded by its trade association - the Cosmetics, Toiletries, Fragrance Association - CTFA.

 

Currently, the FDA does not review cosmetic ingredients for their safety before they come to market, nor does it have the authority to recall hazardous products.

 

The European Union on the other hand, in a directive has banned 1100 or more chemicals from their personal care products.

 

Clearly, Toxic chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects and learning disabilities do not belong in products we use on our bodies.

 

Even 61% of such common products as lipstick contain lead but there are many more lesser known toxins, like phthalates for instance.

 

Despite having a Hazard Score of "10," phthalates, an industrialized plasticizer, are found in 72 percent of cosmetics! This harmful toxin is so prevalent that one billion tons are produced each and every year.

 

A recent study for the National Study for Environmental Health Sciences linked higher phthalate exposure by pregnant women to birth defects and developmental problems in infant boys. Though these health affects have long been established in animal studies, recent research has shown that even very low levels of the compounds can impair reproductive development and cause birth defects.

 

They also mimic naturally occuring hormones which can adversely affect female breast tissue, a leading cause of breast cancer. More alarming, this ingredient is often disguised as personal care as "fragrance."

 

If the body is unable to process and eliminate the toxic chemicals that so many of the products contain, the toxins can accumulate in the body, leading to serious disease and potential birth defects

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In October 2006, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed the California Safe Cosmetics Act (SB 484) into law. The new law will require companies to report ingredients linked to cancer or birth defects. This bill faced tough opposition from major cosmetics companies including Mary Kay, Avon, Estee Lauder, L'Oreal, Neutrogena, Proctor and Gamble and Johnson and Johnson. For more information