In Your Cosmetics...What You Don't Know...Still Won't Kill You Pt. 2

This entry is designed to answer the question about chemicals in cosmetics. If you haven't yet read part 1, do so before reading this, because it gives context. What are the issues? Well I think the biggest issue that is leading to all this concern is the large information gap between the public and the scientists. There is a lot of misleading information out there, and from what I have garnered, the major lobby groups are making their cases based on a misreading of study presented in the Journal of Applied Toxicology. Here's the deal: just because something is "chemical" doesn't make it unsafe. As I have said in other entries, we are all chemicals, what eat are chemicals, our world is chemicals. 

So what has people concerned for their cosmetics? Preservatives. Those are the formaldehydes and parabens that are being referred to. They are added to cosmetic products to prevent bacterial growth, which could lead to infection as cosmetics and places in which they are stored (ie, your bathroom) are ideal microbe breeding grounds. Without preservatives, you would have to treat your personal care products like perishable food items, and the result would be contamination. A particular ingredient is made unsafe by the dose or exposure. I think caffeine highlights this nicely because many of don't function without a daily caffeine jolt from tea, coffee, or cola. But have you ever read an MSDS (material safety data sheet-just Google MSDS caffeine)? The LD50, which is the dose at which the compound resulted in the death of 50% of the test population, is 127 mg/Kg (for a rat). To put that in perspective, the LD50 of sodium cyandide is 6.4 mg/Kg, nicotine is 0.3 mg/Kg, ethanol (your vodka martini) is 1200 mg/Kg, and PCBs (which are banned) are 1295 mg/Kg. Formaldehyde (ingested) is 100 mg/Kg. That means that caffeine, which is ingested without compunction, is about the same toxicity as formaldehyde and that is if you ingest formaldehyde. The LD50 for skin absorption of formaldehyde is 270 mg/Kg. 

The public push is for "natural" products. But there is absolutely a danger in this. They are not necessarily safer because natural counterparts are not as well defined, therefore not as well legislated, and can contain many impurities that lead to allergic reactions. I actually have been having problems with eczema (stupid dry weather) and one of the things that the doctors have all told me is to avoid any lotions that contain natural botanicals because my skin is already over sensitive and those chemicals will spur an allergic reaction to make things worse. Also keep in mind that the most poisonous compounds that we know about are all nature made not human made. 

There is a really great article in C&EN Chemical & Engineering News that essentially describes all of this. I have linked it here. I hope you read it and enjoy it. http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/88/8820cover.html 

Things you should definitely stay away from are dollarstore made in China cosmetics that still contain lead and arsenic. No good will come of those ones. As for the others, read the actual scientific data that is published, not the data given out by those with an agenda.