Toxic Ingredients
Your health, and that of your family, friends, people broadly and other life forms which with us constitute the co-dependency called organic life, all require the freedom from having to use dangerous substances. This freedom ought to be a simple given of life. As that is not now the case, we must protect ourselves with knowledge and we must exercise our right to choose. As an exercise of that right, we always try to flow money and other help toward just what is ethical.
Integrity and honesty are indispensible elements of a surviving society. Each of us must strive to live with integrity, to teach it, to demand it from others and to support it where we see it. Covertly making things look wholesome that are not is an action committed without restraint in a sick society where money-interest and other materialism matter more than things spiritual. Honesty and magnanimity (literally, great-soulness, which I’d say is heartfelt caring for more than self), qualities such as these need to become commonplace if we are to make it to a happier society.
From this standpoint, it is our duty to know.
“My, Grandma, what big teeth you have!”
What about claims of being “natural” or implications of such on containers and labels? I have looked into this when searching to see if there happened to be a line of products both safe and satisfyingly effective. I found that there is many a fashionable line of products which a company may call its “Natural Line” — but ones I’ve looked at have been loaded with suspect or dangerous ingredients and have contained not a whole lot that qualifies by any mental leap as natural. If you get Judi Vance’s book, you’ll read of her experience with salespeople insisting products were all-natural despite all facts. There’s a bit of chicanery (trickery!) that enters in when people enter the game to make money while the trend, in this case toward what is natural, is steaming hot. We were amazed to find that quite a number of products in health food stores contain dangerous ingredients like sodium lauryl sulfate, methylparaben or propylene glycol. I received a brochure from a well known “health” make-up brand that listed all its ingredients. After reading it, I was outraged nearly to tears thinking of all the women who’ve bought it to be safer. Realize that to the bandwagon of the natural movement, so in vogue today, have come some wolves in Grandma’s clothing.
I do want to acknowledge that there are others who make safe products, thank goodness! I particularly thank Aubrey Hampton of Aubrey’s Organics for making safe products and for being one of the loudest, most informative and empowering advocates of safe cosmetics anywhere. Aubrey is a clearly magnanimous person. I hope that we honest body product makers (and organic and biodynamic farmer) take over our markets. That will happen as people get wise to what is going on and as they demonstrate support by purchasing products from ethical manufacturers.
All I’m doing is putting these products on me. I’m not eating them. How can that be dangerous?
It’s important to realize that skin is an organ of both elimination and absorption. Transdermal (through the skin) medical applications present highly efficient ways of entering substances into the body. After application to the skin, chemicals make their way into the bloodstream and tissues. Many drugs such as heart medicine, nicotine patches and aspirin creams utilize this absorption method. Just because you’re not eating something does not mean you don’t take it into your body (and that you are therefore safe).
We also take in what we inhale. And smell is useful! An alarm system (smells of danger — illness, enemy, rot and such) warning us to be prepared for action or move away, etc. Through aroma-therapy studies I have learned that when we detect the scent of something, the particles we’re smelling have already entered the bloodstream via the lungs. I found this info both wonderful and horrifying. The minute bits of an airborne essential oil enter our bloodstream but so do the neighbor’s dog’s poop or airborne viruses, molds, artificial fragrances, noxious fumes from cigarettes, cars, plastics, etc. This data puts the sense of smell into a different perspective — a highly effective doorway into the innards of our bodies. Hmmm. Sure glad we have immune systems and fingers to block our noses!
The most obvious internal doorway is ingestion (eating, drinking). A bit of data: as per Gary Null, Ph.D., in The 90's Healthy Body Book, there are over 21,000 pesticides poisoning our food.
Nowadays in body care products there are thousands upon thousands of untested chemicals. Anything found by regulating bodies as dangerous, if not banned, is controlled as to percentage of that ingredient in the finished product. However, the manufacturer may use more if the chemical is used for another purpose other than just as a preservative (the use for which it is limited).
A study done by the University of California published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine found that hairdressers, cosmetologists and manicurists had four times the usual rate of multiple myeloma (malignant bone marrow tumor). A study in the Netherlands found that hairdressers working in the first through fifth month of pregnancy were almost 4 times as likely to give birth to a mentally retarded baby.
Now, consider, too, that the questionable or dangerous ingredient may be found in 4 body products a person uses in a day. And these are the products he uses every day, day after day. Ask yourself, what are the long range effects of continued, indiscriminate use of untested chemicals in our body care products?
Some very common toxins and irritants
SLS or SLES: Sodium Lauryl (or Laureth) Sulfate: in liquid soap, shower gel, dish soaps, shampoos, toothpastes, bubble baths for children and adults, as an emollient in creams and lotions, etc. SLS was industrial garage floor cleaner, before someone got the bright idea to market it to the cosmetic industry. It’s a surfactant, a wetting agent, and makes suds and is extremely cheap. Children’s bubble baths contain labels warning us not to leave kids in for too long. They can get urinary tract infections. SLS may inhibit eye development in children also and cause cancer sores in the mouth. Has caused corneal damage to animals. SLS reacts in the body to create nitrates. Also reacts with many other chemicals found in cosmetics to produce known or suspected carcinogens (mixed with TEA can create nitrosamines, known carcinogens). SLS penetrates very easily, particularly in shampoos because of the hair follicles on the head and assists other chemicals to more readily penetrate as well. May cause balding. Causes skin damage, flaking, drying, cracking, roughness, breakdown of our healthy skin’s barrier. We’ve been told that when products are tested in labs to see how they perform repairing skin, for example, the researchers, in order to corrode or damage the subjects’ skin in the same way and to the same extent, may apply...guess what? You got it. And this is in our soaps, creams, toothpastes and let’s not leave out spray-on oven cleaners. Let’s go on to...
FLUORIDE: more toxic than lead! The fluoride in half a tube of toothpaste can kill a child (tragically, this has happened). One of the top ten contact allergens. Please go to www.nofluoride.com for more data.
PROPYLENE GLYCOL: the key ingredient of antifreeze. Like SLS, a chemical borrowed from industry for cosmetics apparently in the 60’s. A common moisture-carrying vehicle, highly penetrative and solvent, used in moisturizers, creams, lotions, shampoos, mouthwashes, perfumes, make-up, shampoos, hair products, deodorants, shaving cream, and on and on. Propylene glycol was found (“The Medical Post” Sept. 1994) to produce an increase in anxiety due to increased brain beta activity in people who are chemically sensitive. Possible carcinogen, may cause dermatitis and allergies. Known to cause liver and kidney damage, it was taken out of cat food after cats were found dying of liver failure. Ms. Vance tell us that the CIR Expert Panel (Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel, established in 1976 by the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Assoc. which makes its findings on safety of ingredients available to the public and publishes in the International Journal of Toxicology), says it is safe as a cosmetic ingredient in concentrations up to 50%.
FORMALDEHYDE widely used in cosmetics as a germicide, preservative, fungicide. Surfactants such as SLS may contain it as a preservative but it may not be listed. It is released in some chemical combinations of the manufacturing process and so may not be listed as an ingredient! Found in soaps, nail hardeners (there may be quite a bit in these), hair-growing products, toothpastes, lipsticks, body lotions, shampoos, etc. Vapors are intensely irritating to mucus membranes. Highly suspect as powerfully carcinogenic and mutagenic; damages and inhibits repair of DNA. Ingestion may be fatal. Has been found to increase the toxic effect of x-rays in human lung cells. The CIR Expert Panel proclaims formaldehyde as safe to the great majority of consumers and has suggested that the minimal concentration not exceed .2%.
Banned in Sweden and Japan.
IMIDAZOLIDINYL UREA and DIAZOLIDINYL UREA are the most commonly used cosmetic preservatives after the parabens, found in baby shampoos, lotions, creams, oils, etc. They are well established as a primary cause of contact dermatitis (inflammation of the skin), according to the American Academy of Dermatology. Some of these compounds release formaldehyde when heated.
PETROLATUM (mineral oil jelly) is commonly used in lip balms, hand and skin care products to form a moisture barrier. Clogs skin keeping it from taking in oxygen and releasing toxins. Highly acne-producing. May contain some well known carcinogens. Lip balms with petrolatum promoted as preventing chapping and sunburn can cause both sun-sensitivity and chapping! Manufacturers sell a product that can induce the very problems it claims to solve! Incredibly cheap.
METHYL, PROPYL, BUTYL and ETHYL PARABEN: preservatives that inhibit microbial growth to extend shelf life of products. May cause allergic reactions, skin rashes and kill the intestinal flora so vital to cleanliness of the intestines, digestive function and general health including freedom from stress (the flora “manufacture” B-vitamins in the body). These preservatives may further damage health by inhibiting the vital action of natural enzymes (chemical workhorses in your cells without which you die). Recent research suggests parabens may act as foreign hormone-like substances and cause a host of problems including making men effeminate and increasing risk of cancers in both men and women. Found in skin and hair care products, make-up, baby products, bath, deodorant, deodorant, dental and other products.
ENDOCRINE-DISRUPTING CHEMICALS: dioxins, PCB’s, phenolics, phthalates, petrochemically derived products, many pesticides, and as just recently learned, parabens. Wide-ranging effects, passed on from generation to generation. Affects brain function, sexual development, mental retardation, and other vital functions.
TALC (Magnesium silicate) is a natural mineral and a lung irritant. Used mainly in make-up and powders including baby powder. May be carcinogenic, possibly linked to ovarian cancer (not good to use on pads and in underwear as it migrates easily up the reproductive tract). When breathed in, it tends to accumulate in the lungs (not biodegradable) and has an effect similar to that of asbestos inhalation. Used on babies, has caused coughing, vomiting and pneumonia.
TRIETHANOLAMINE (TEA) – Often used in cosmetics to adjust the acidity and for other purposes. TEA causes allergic reactions including eye problems, dryness of hair and skin and could be toxic if absorbed into the body over a long period of time.
STEARALKONIUM CHLORIDE is used in hair conditioners and creams. Causes allergic reactions. Stearalkonium chloride was developed by the fabric industry as a fabric softener. It’s very cheap (surprise!) and so manufacturers use it instead of proteins.
SYNTHETIC FRAGRANCES – The synthetic fragrances used in cosmetics (and cleaning products) may contain hundreds of chemicals. There is no way to know what they are, since on the label it will simply say, “Fragrance.” Some of the problems caused by these chemicals are headaches, dizziness, rash, violent coughing, vomiting, skin irritation — and the list goes on. Fragrances draw from up to 5000 hydrocarbons. Some hydrocarbons are formaldehyde, styrene, toluene, phenol... hydrocarbons can cause depression, exhaustion, anxiety, dizziness, headaches, trouble thinking clearly, diminished blood flow and brain damage. (Richard H. Conrad, Ph.D., Perfume Expose).
ARTIFICIAL COLORS, labeled “FD and C” followed by a color, are coal-tar derivatives and not plant-based. FD and C Red No. 6 and Green No. 6 are suspected of causing cancer. Various groups see the matter of these colorants differently. We avoid thementirely and use safe plants.
DEODORANT ANTIBACTERIAL SOAPS are undesirable on a few accounts but let me simply say that I consider them unnecessary. There’s just no need to bypass constantly (using such a soap every day) the skin’s own immune defenses. The acid mantle of the skin is there as a barrier to bacteria. Simple: maintain the pH of your skin a bit acid (alkaline soaps “strip” this acid mantle, but even so it handily restores itself in time). A working immune system is standard equipment on Earth Human Models and we ought not act like it doesn’t exist or it’s likely to get weakened from disuse, as any machine part will. Rely on your time-tested system, give it its fuel (nutritious foods) and back it up when a task requires high volume output (EchinaceaBoost™, SuperImmune Boost™).
For info, just about all essential oils are antibacterial to some extent, with tea tree oil (melaleuca alternifolia), lavender, citrus oils, thyme, ravensara aromatica, niaouli, oregano and some others leading the pack. Used in safe but adequate concentrations (these oils are powerful!,) you’ll have what you need.
But further than just not being necessary, antibacterial and deodorant soaps dry the skin, use toxic things to kill germs that also assault the intestinal flora and reduce immunity, dry the skin and create an imbalance in our skin flora. And, looking at the future, they are very dangerous since the bacteria are one step ahead... there are new forms of antibioti-resistant bacteria cropping up these days, due to our irresponsibly frequent use of antibiotics.
In Sum
This is just a tiny sample of the thousands of chemicals added to common personal care products, most of which are not tested as to their full- and long-term effects on people and the environment.
If, in the quest of cleanliness, beauty and a youthful look, we use products that damage our skin, make our hair fall out, tax our innards and gosh knows what else, how beautiful do we look anyway? And what value, beauty, at the expense of health?
Sources of my studies and information: mainly Beauty to Die For, the Cosmetic Consequence by Judi Vance; A Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients by Ruth Winter, M.S.; Cosmetics Unmasked by Dr. Stephen & Gina Antczak.
