UNCATEGORIZED
“I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”
-Maya Angelou
Do you know what’s in the deodorant that you smear into your armpit each day? How about the soap, shower gel, lotions and myriad of products that you slather on to look and feel your best each day? We have all learned to read labels on the food we eat. However, many of us do NOT read labels when choosing personal care and home cleaning products. What you put ON your body can affect your health just as much as what you put IN your body. Our skin is our body’s largest organ! According to Dr. Samuel Epstein, (Former Head of the Cancer Prevention Coalition and author of TOXIC BEAUTY) it is more dangerous to put a product on your skin than to ingest it. Our bodies detoxify what we eat. Chemicals in products placed onto our skin are directly absorbed into our bloodstream. Examples include, transdermal drug delivery systems and patches (nicotine patch, estrogen patch, seasickness patch, etc).
As part of a marketing strategy called “greenwashing”, manufacturers commonly use color schemes and words on their packaging such as “all natural, pure, organic, non-toxic, sensitive, safe, or hypoallergenic”, misleading the consumer to believe their products are something they are not. In addition, as consumers, we assume that if a product is being sold in the open market it has been approved by our government as safe to use. Meanwhile, Europe bans over 1,300 harmful chemicals from personal care products while the U.S. bans a mere 11. American based manufacturers must reformulate their products for export and sales within European markets to meet their regulatory standards, but they can leave harmful chemicals banned by Europe for sale in the U.S. market and for our consumption. I will leave politics out of this post, however, I have listed some resources at the end which include some interesting facts about chemical policy in the U.S. if you choose to read further about this topic.
What does all this mean and why does it matter to you and your family members? Many personal care and home products contain harmful ingredients that may be hazardous to your health. A manufacturer can add as many botanical ingredients as they want and label a product as “all natural”, yet the product can still contain toxic/harmful ingredients such as carcinogens, allergens, neurotoxins and endocrine disruptors. My goals in writing today are; to introduce you to this important issue, to help you to better understand how to read labels on products that you use daily, and to provide an introduction to the implications that some of these ingredients may have on you and your family.
Fragrance is an ingredient used widely in personal care and cleaning products. It’s also an ingredient that doesn’t typically have any value in the effectiveness of a product but serves to primarily stoke your emotions and attract you to using a product! I recently saw a TV commercial portraying a dad on military deployment. He was shown smelling an apple pie candle, which evoked happy memories of family and home. Another shows a student away from home, smelling freshly laundered clothing with a “fresh breeze” scent fondly recalling an event with friends. According to a report issued by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, more than 75% of products with fragrance are legally hiding phthalates. Phthalates are known endocrine disruptors, and are linked with birth defects, breast cancer, diabetes, obesity, autism and ADHD in the first and third trimesters of pregnancy. The words fragrance or parfum are known as a “trade secret” in the industry. Manufacturers legally use these terms to hide hundreds of harmful ingredients.
The endocrine system regulates biological processes in your body including brain and nervous system development, growth and function of the reproductive system, metabolism and blood sugar levels, pituitary, thyroid and adrenal gland function. Four common endocrine disruptors commonly found in either personal care or home care products are Parabens (mimic estrogen and are suspected to be linked to breast cancer), Triclosan (the active ingredient in many “anti-bacterial” products, also registered with the government as a pesticide!), Oxybenzone and Octinoxate (chemical UV ray filters found in many sunscreens). Nanoparticles frequently found in make up and sunscreen (think zinc oxide and titanium dioxide) have been found to cross the cell barrier, driving into the body’s organs (including the brain). As consumers, we have no way of knowing what size particle a manufacturer is using unless they tell us. In Europe manufacturers are mandated to list nanoparticles on their label, but not in the U.S. When reading your labels always look for “non nanoparticle” minerals.
PEG’s, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and ingredients ending in eth are petrochemicals. These create a known human carcinogen (1,4 dioxane) during the manufacturing process. You will not see this on your labels, as companies are not currently required to list carcinogenic contaminants on their labels. The President’s Cancer Council has indicated that only a fragment of cancer is genetic and far more is due to environmental causes (you can look up these reports by searching The Presidents Cancer Council on the internet). We cannot control genetics or the air but we CAN control what we eat and drink as well as products placed directly into our bloodstream by what we put on our skin!
What’s a neurotoxin and why does it matter to you? A neurotoxin is simply a substance that is destructive to nerve tissue. Back to that deodorant you use every day...aluminum is the active ingredient in many deodorants. Aluminum (as well as metals such as lead and copper) are bio accumulative meaning it is very difficult for your body to break down and get rid of. It stores in your fat cells and accumulates.
What impact do these chemicals have on our environment? Most personal care and cleaning products end up going down the drain. Wastewater treatment plants are designed to remove bacteria, not toxic chemicals. This treated water and sludge are reintroduced to the environment likely sending toxic chemicals back into our food and water supply. The environmental impact could be an entirely separate post so I will leave this as food for thought for now.
Lastly, I will share some statistics to increase your awareness of issues these chemicals can contribute to:
According to the EWG (Environmental Working Group) the average woman is exposed to 168 chemicals before she leaves home in the morning (think soap, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, lotion, moisturizer, and makeup).
Over 200 chemicals have been found in babies’ cord blood, many of which can be harmful to the brain and nervous system (EWG, 2009).
According to the American Cancer Society (2015 Facts & Figures) approximately 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime.
1 in 68 children (1 in 42 boys) have been identified with autism spectrum disorder (up from 1 in 88 in 2012 (CDC, 2014).
More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s, and that’s projected to increase to nearly 7.1 million by 2025 (2015 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts & Figures).
All of this information can be disparaging and overwhelming! I do not share these facts or this message to instill fear or encourage or discourage use of any particular products, but to inspire you to get informed and to implement small changes wherever you can. The EWG has a great app you can download for free (EWG Skin Deep). You can look up a product by scanning the barcode or enter its name in the search box. I encourage you to think outside of the box by using less, making small changes or even making your own product. Here’s a recipe I use to make my own scrubbing cleaner (used instead of COMET): 1 cup baking soda (for scrubbing), 1/4 cup Castile soap (I like Dr. Bronners Peppermint) for cleaning, 1/4 cup water, 2 tsp. hydrogen peroxide (for whitening and brightening), 10 drops lemon essential oil, 10 drops tea tree oil. I mix them all together and pour into a squeezable bottle (a recycled ketchup bottle is perfect).
Malkan, Stacy. Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry. Gabriola, B.C.: New Society Pub., 2007. Print.
Schapiro, Mark. Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products: Who's at Risk and What's at Stake for American Power. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Pub., 2007. Print.
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi
