fracas

Back in April of 2007, fracas, as part of a Sunday Snopes regular feature, wrote about lead in lipstick. Despite being an old hoax, it still at that time, registered high on Snopes’ all time popular list of urban legends.

This October morning brings announcements once again in the media, of lead in lipstick. This time, courtesy of a group called The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. Creators of the Compact for the Global Production of Safe Health and Beauty Products,  The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics organization boasts of more than 300 names on their Compact, including companies such as The Body Shop, Burt’s Bees, Avalon Natural Products, Aubrey Organics, Osea Skin Care, Jason Natural Products, Zia Skin Care, EO Products and Kiss My Face. The names of all signing companies can be found here.

Going back to our morning news though, in this Houston Chronicle report, Joy Sewing writes:

“More than half of 33 top-brand lipsticks recently tested contained detectable levels of lead, according to a report released Thursday by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of environmental and public health groups advocating toxin-free products.Also, 11 of the lipsticks tested exceeded 0.1 parts per million, which is the federal lead limit for candy.”The cosmetics industry definitely has a lead problem,” said Stacy Malkan, a spokesperson for the group. “We’ve heard about lead in toys and baby bibs made in China, so it isn’t just a problem of items in China. This should be a wake-up call for the industry.”Among the brands found to have high lead levels were L’Oreal, CoverGirl, Christian Dior and Mabelline.The lipsticks were randomly selected in four cities: Boston, Hartford, Conn., San Francisco and Minneapolis. The products were tested by Bodycote Testing Group in Sante Fe Springs, Calif.”

Seems to be scary business. It might be enough to prompt women everywhere to gather in large groups, create bonfires and toss their lipsticks into the fire and break into a little Helen Reddy.

Or not.

Follow the history of cosmetics and you’ll find that making one’s self beautiful has always taken precedence over health, logic and (one might even say) sanity.  Ancient Romans used fat from sheep mixed with blood as nail polish and reveled in mud baths that were a mixture of mud and crocodile excrement.

As Sewing points out in her article,

“Reports of harmful toxins in cosmetics is nothing new.The Food and Drug Adminstration has been aware of concerns about lead in lipstick in the past. Many of the reports have been “urban legends,” said a FDAspokesperson Stephanie Kwisnek . She added the agency has no plans to take action in response to the latest report.In calls to both Walgreen’s and Dillard’s, neither company planned to pull lipstick brands from their cosmetic shelves.Local makeup artist Heidi Schulze isn’t worried about using lipstick. In her 30 years in business, she says she hasn’t heard of any problems with cosmetics other than allergic reactions.”If you really wanted a safe way stain your lips,”she said, “you could go to Whole Foods and get an organic dye.”

And yet… women continue to choose to walk into their preference of locally available retail outlet offering up the latest brands of everything from lipstick to toothpaste and tampons, and purchase a good old possibly chemical laden cosmetic product.

One might say that the lead has already affected them, another might believe that claims pushed on us by environmental groups are outlandish and at times even fabricated.

Isn’t it wonderful to live in a time and a world where we can do our own homework, decide who we trust and make our own choices?

What’s yours?

Book Credit: Slap on a little lipstick You’ll be fine is a book by Jodi Hills, available online. Click the image.