What's in Your Makeup Bag?

Beauty without toxins

MINNEAPOLIS _ Ann Garrity is careful to say that there are many reasons that she feels better these days. Her job is less stressful; her diet is healthier. But she has also changed every product that she smoothes, pats or brushes onto her skin, after a doctor suggested that her health problems were linked to her cosmetics.
Persistent fibroids led her to an East Coast physician who urged her to throw out every lotion, soap and cosmetic she used "because I had too much estrogen in my system," Garrity said. The diagnosis was unexpected, "but I was feeling so bad, if she'd told me to bury a tin can and run around the house three times, I would have."
The products themselves didn't contain estrogen, but rather certain synthetic chemicals that can mimic estrogen in the body. Because her grandmother and mother both are breast cancer survivors, and because studies indicate that exposure to environmental, or artificial, estrogen increases cancer risk, she cleared out her shelves. "I just wanted to know that I'd done everything I could to reduce my exposure."
Her search for alternatives led her to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (www.safecosmetics.org), through which manufacturers pledge to phase out the use of chemicals linked to health problems and replace them with safer ingredients. That led Garrity this spring to develop Organic Diva, an online resource on chemicals, cosmetics and health that also is a marketplace for companies that have signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics.
COSMETICS NOT REGULATED
Garrity's learning curve rose like a well-arched eyebrow. First revelation: Ingredients in cosmetics needn't be reviewed or approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Instead, the industry is regulated by the Personal Care Products Council (formerly the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association), the national trade association for the cosmetic and personal care products industry. Views differ on whether that's a case of giving the experts appropriate authority or akin to letting the fox guard the henhouse.

DIVAS' DIRTY DOZEN
Here's a list of synthetic cosmetic ingredients known to cause or strongly suspected of causing cancer, birth defects or endocrine (hormone) disruption, as compiled by nutritionist and author Ann Louise Gittleman for the Organic Diva website.
_Methyl, propyl, butyl and ethyl paraben
_Imidazolindyl urea
_Diazolindyl urea
_Petrolatum
_Propylene glycol
_PVP/V copolymer
_Sodium lauryl sulfate
_Stearalkonium chloride
_Synthetic colors
_Synthetic fragrances
_Phthalates
_Triethanolamine
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Source - Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

I Suggest looking for organic and chemical free products. There are many great ones out there and easy to find these days. My favorite skin care is Juice Beauty which is all organic.

We are exposed to so many toxins we can't avoid it is best to eliminate the ones we have control over!

In health,
Tina

www.InsideAndOutBodyTherapy.com