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Cosmetic & Skin Care Product Safety

Tips on How to Find Cosmetic Products You Can Trust

Not all products sold as cosmetics are necessarily safe, especially if they were made off-shore by unknown manufacturers.

since we often put these products on sensitive and very visible parts of our bodies, cosmetic safety is an important concern.

Just last January, the New York City Health Department confirmed a case of mercury poisoning from an imported skin lightening cream being sold in stores in the Bronx, Queens and parts of Manhattan. Upon further investigation, four other mercury-containing skin creams and soaps were found on sale throughout the five boroughs.

Further, six other products imported from the Dominican Republic, Hong Kong and China, which did not meet federal labeling requirements were discovered.

[Apparently there are a lot of tainted topical products, some specifically designed for children, coming out of China. Many health and safety experts are recommending that consumers avoid all cosmetic (and many other) products made in that country, no matter the brand name. Read this FDA Advisory about tainted toothpaste from China.]

Mercury is poisonous and can cause severe damage to the nervous system. It also causes birth defects. Some symptoms of mercury poisoning are irritability, tremors, or memory loss. Remember the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland? He went mad from using mercury to block hats.

However a woman can be symptom-free and give birth to a seriously-poisoned infant with brain damage and physical malformations. The woman poisoned by her skin-lightening cream in New York remains under medical observation.

How could this happen and how can you protect yourself? Perhaps the scariest part of this story is that the mercury-containing products listed mercury as an ingredient. So the first step in cosmetic safety is to know your ingredients and always check the labels.

Except for color additives and a few prohibited ingredients (like mercury), under U.S. law a cosmetic manufacturer may legally use any ingredient or raw material and market the final product without government approval. However, all cosmetics must contain labels listing all ingredients and some products are required to carry warning labels as well.

But there’s more to it than that. Mislabeled products were also discovered; meaning ingredients in the products were either not disclosed or were improperly identified. Even if you read the label and know more than most about ingredients, you could be fooled. All the products in the New York story were illegal for sale in the U.S.; yet there they were.

First know your ingredients and always check labels. Second, know your companies. Buy only from reputable cosmetic companies that have been in business for a while. The major cosmetic manufacturers have large research facilities and clean, controlled manufacturing processes. Cosmetic safety is an important consideration for them. These companies have a reputation, as well as a multi-billion dollar investment, to protect.

If a company is new or unknown to you, do some research. If you don’t feel capable of researching chemicals and their accepted uses on your own, consult an expert. The FDA has a lot of information about cosmetic safety on their site FDA.gov, as does the Cosmetic Ingredient Review panel, established in 1976 by the Cosmetic, Toiletry & Fragrance Association (CTFA) with support of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and the Consumer Federation of America. Finally, CTFA has a searchable database of over 55,000 cosmetic and skin care products, which you can use. Visit the site and click on the Consumer Information tab.

We at Ageless Beauty are also here to help you. Contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Check out the current offers promotions at SkinStore.com!

 

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