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August 09 2008
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Poison Kiss: Lead in Lipstick

lipstickWomen are being warned that some lipsticks could contain lead. The warnings come in the wake of a U.S. ruling that a class action suit can proceed against luxury goods giant LVMH, the manufacturer of Dior Addict Positive Red lipstick, which has been found to contain lead.

The lipstick was among dozens of lipsticks found to contain lead when the U.S. group Campaign for Safe Cosmetics commissioned an independent laboratory to test lead levels in 33 brand-name lipsticks.

Sixty-one percent of the lipsticks tested had detectable lead levels. One-third of the lipsticks exceeded accepted U.S. levels of lead for products that are ingested. The Dior lipstick was found to contain more than twice as much lead as is allowed.

Dr. MercolaDr. Mercola's Comments:
Last year it was revealed that many lipsticks sold in the United States contain lead. And these were not off brands from a discount store, either.

More than half (61 percent) of 33 name-brand lipsticks tested in September 2007 contained lead levels ranging from 0.03 to 0.65 parts per million (ppm). And one-third of them had more lead than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 0.1 ppm limit for lead in candy.

It may sound shocking, but the FDA has not set a lead limit for cosmetics, including lipstick!

Yes, you put it directly on your lips. And yes, you ingest it when you wear it (the average women ingests 10 pounds of lipstick in a lifetime). But it can contain as much lead as the manufacturers see fit, and it doesn’t have to say so on the label.

Among the U.S. lipsticks with the highest lead levels were:
  • L’Oreal Colour Riche “True Red” –- 0.65 ppm
  • L’Oreal Colour Riche “Classic Wine” –- 0.58 ppm
  • Cover Girl Incredifull Lipcolor “Maximum Red” –- 0.56 ppm
  • Dior Addict “Positive Red” –- 0.21 ppm
I think names like “Toxic Red” or “Maximum Lead Red” would be more fitting, don’t you?

The issue has surfaced again in the media because it was recently ruled that a class-action lawsuit against LVMH, the manufacturer of Dior Addict Positive Red lipstick, can proceed.

It will be interesting to see how the case turns out, considering that …

It’s Not Illegal for Lead to be in Your Lipstick

I’m not one for increased government intervention, but come on.

What exactly is the point of having a “Food and Drug Administration” if they are not going to make sure that toxic substances are kept out of the products you put on your lips or slather all over your body?

And when it comes to toxins, lead is certainly at the top of the list.

Studies have found that there is no safe level of lead, and since it does not break down in your body you will accumulate it for a lifetime. According to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which conducted the lipstick study last year:

“Lead is a proven neurotoxin that can cause learning, language and behavioral problems. Lead is also linked to infertility and miscarriage. Pregnant women and young children are particularly vulnerable to exposure because lead easily crosses the placenta and enters the fetal brain, where it interferes with normal development.”

Lead in your lipstick may come from one of two places: colorants, which may contain lead, or as byproducts from ingredients obtained from raw materials like petrolatum, mineral oil and paraffin. The only limit that the FDA has established is for FD&C color additives that are sometimes used to color lipstick, and these are allowed to contain 10-20 ppm of lead!

Anything Goes When it Comes to Cosmetics

Lead is just the beginning of the toxins that exist in your makeup and cosmetics. It says right on the FDA’s Web site:

"The regulatory requirements governing the sale of cosmetics are not as stringent as those that apply to other FDA-regulated products... Manufacturers may use any ingredient or raw material, except for color additives and a few prohibited substances, to market a product without a government review or approval."

This is not so in many other regions such as the European Union, which banned the use of chemicals that may cause cancer, mutation or birth defects. Apparently the FDA has no problem with these, because they get the green light here in America.

Ingredients to watch out for include:
  • Paraben, a chemical found in underarm deodorants and other cosmetics that has been shown to mimic the action of the female hormone estrogen, which can drive the growth of human breast tumors.
  • Phthalates, plasticizing ingredients (present in nearly three-quarters of 72 products tested by the Environmental Working Group), which have been linked to birth defects in the reproductive system of boys and lower sperm-motility in adult men, among other problems.
  • Mercury, used in mascara, gels, and even eye drops, this metal can damage your brain function. Look for it listed as “thimerosal.”
  • Musks, used as fragrances, can accumulate in your body, and have been linked to skin irritation, hormone disruption, and cancer in laboratory studies.
  • Artificial fragrances, which are among the top five known allergens, and can cause asthma and trigger asthma attacks. Fragrances can also contain neurotoxins and cause hormone disruption.
  • Petroleum byproducts, used in makeup, shampoo (even baby shampoo), face creams and more, these chemicals have been linked to cancer.
  • Methylisothiazolinone (MIT), a chemical used in shampoo to prevent bacteria from developing, which may have detrimental effects on your nervous system.
Are Any Lipsticks Safe?

Your cosmetics should be just as pure as the food you eat because ultimately they both end up in the same place: your body. Look for products that actually list their ingredients, and then accept only those with items you recognize.

You can also look for products that have signed the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics “Compact for Safe Cosmetics,” which is a pledge to formulate products that do not use ingredients that are known or suspected to cause certain health harms. Another great resource is the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database.

You can look for many categories of cosmetics and choose only those with a low (0-2) score.

Last but not least, I am proud to report that my team has been researching this topic extensively and we are very close to launching one of the best skin care product lines out there. It is truly effective, has absolutely no synthetic ingredients, and is packaged in glass bottles.

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Community Comments ( 19 )
Comment on this Article
  
  
natural harmonies
[ Joined on 05/08 ] [ Posted on August 9, 2008 ]
3 Points        
   
 
Novice User

I don't think any amount of lead is acceptable! Not only are the lips very vascular (and if they crack/bleed, guess where the lead goes directly, not to mention it just soaks right into your lips via the skin), but you talk, chew, lick your lips, drink, eat, etc. So, you end up eating little bits of lead and reapplying numerous times a day. For ladies that love their lipstick and can't live without it, I wonder how much lead has accumulated in their bodies over the years. I switched to all organic powder mineral make-up years ago. I use organic, all natural ingredient lip balm as a 'lipstick'. Most of the time, I don't wear any make-up at all and I never have. But I do like to use an organic face moisturizer with no toxic ingredients. Other than that, I stay away from face cake that detracts from natural beauty and health.

 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
timmy_esq
[ Joined on 08/08 ]  [ Posted on August 9, 2008]
       
   
Novice User
  Mercola

Ok 0.65 PPM x 454g/lb x 10 lb/lifetime = 2.951mg

Over the course of a lifetime this is really nothing  (and this is for the highest lead lipstick).  There should be rules about lead content, for sure, but let's keep things in perspective.  The limit on lead level in water is 10 ppb,  while the level of lead in the very highest lead lipstick is 65X this (650ppb or 0.65 ppm), one will clearly consume many thousands times as much water as lipstick in a lifetime.

Say the average person drinks 91291 lb of water at the 10 ppb limit in a lifetime, divide that by 65 and one gets the equivalent of eating 1404 lbs of this lipstick - therefore a person drinking water deemed safe would consume 140X as much lead from their water supply as from this 'dangerous' lipstick over their lifetime!  

  
  
FunRun
[ Joined on 07/08 ] [ Posted on July 23, 2008 ]
3 Points        
   
 
Novice User
Remarkably they did not blame Chinese toy makers or Mexican jalapeno growers for the lead in the lipstick.  If we can't blame them, who are we going to blame?
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
ET
[ Joined on 07/06 ]  [ Posted on August 9, 2008]
       
   
Novice User
  Mercola

According to the produce lady where I shop the tainted Jalapeno peppers recently taken off the market were mexican.

Jalapeno's are back in the stores because the US crops are finally ready for harvest.

If the shoe fits, blame whoever is responsible.

  
  
KellyBelly
[ Joined on 08/06 ] [ Posted on July 23, 2008 ]
2 Points        
   
 
Novice User
Why do they not list the 33 lipsticks that contain lead?  Where can we find the brands, as I'd like to know which of my lipsticks to toss out?
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
A Storm
[ Joined on 06/06 ]  [ Posted on August 8, 2008]
1 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola

Kelly,

Go to the two websites listed.  They have good information.  the "campaign for safe cosmetics' has the list and the other has 1000's (literally 1000's) of products listed and their ingredients and a rating.

Mercola's articles usually have the backup information in them.  All you need to do is 'click'.

Mercola
  
organicmum
[ Joined on 04/07 ]  [ Posted on August 9, 2008]
1 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola

I'd toss them all out. Its not only the lead you have to worry about in your lipstick or cosmetics, as Dr Mercola mentioned there are other toxic ingredients in all the "off the shelf" products, even the ones that claim natural and organic. Just check out the link provided by A Storm to learn what the ingredients are in your product. Its also as easy as reading the ingredients list of your products in the bathroom and your cosmetics bag...if you cant pronounce it chances are its a synthetic chemical or toxic preservative, and dangerous.

These are the products you put on your face, your body, your hair, under your arms, spray on your skin....they are absorbed into the body and accumulate in the tissues and organs.....parabens have been found in tumours taken out of breast tissue.

The only real guarantee you have of purity of product is to buy certified organic, to food standard. If the ingredients are free from synthetic chemicals, preservatives, emulsifiers, artificial fragrance, herbicides, pesticides etc you can feel safe in the knowledge that you are not loading your body full of harmful chemicals....

Mercola
  
sanderman
[ Joined on 12/07 ]  [ Posted on August 9, 2008]
       
   
Novice User
  Mercola

organicmum,

I agree with you.  When you start reading labels of products that claim to be organic, it just makes you mad sometimes! You see that they often have just as much chemicals and toxins as ones that do not claim to be organic.  

Manufacturers often throw out the label "organic" or "natural" because they know that it will sell.  I have learned my lesson. Always, ALWAYS read the label, even when products claim to be "organic."  Also, DO YOUR RESEARCH.  

I was so happy to finally make it to the health food store the other day (it is 30 miles away).  To my horror, I saw all kinds of soy products!  Of course, most of it was "organic." My point is this: the people that run the store have boughten the idea that soy is a health food.  

Employees at health food stores sincerely believe that the products they are selling are healthy [some are and some are not] and will extol their virtues to you, so you have to know your stuff.  They will sell you a shampoo with SLS or a lotion with paraben and think they have helped you get something healthy and good for you.

The motto "buyer beware" is especially applicable in such stores since we can be lulled into thinking that the products there must be good for us.

  
  
Dr Rik
[ Joined on 11/06 ] [ Posted on August 9, 2008 ]
1 Points        
   
 
Savvy User

I don't think the government should be regulating anything that we buy.

What they should be doing is enforcing standards of "Truth in Labeling" and "Quality Control/Standards of Manufacturing"

In other words, they can make and you can buy whatever you want, but you can find out whether it really is what they say it is.

Let the consumer beware.

 [ Reply ]
  
  
curious7
[ Joined on 03/07 ] [ Posted on August 9, 2008 ]
1 Points        
   
 
Apprentice User

I have been hearing this for years, and then it was supposedly changed, in that the lead was removed.  That is until lipsticks were manufactured in China.  Here we go again, another Industry with dangerous products on the market, and a denial of the same.  Yet all our so Government has to say is we need more deregulation.  But even that is an oxymoron, because I see no regulation as is.

Heads up people our Government cannot, or will not protect us from harmful items coming from anywhere at all.  We need to educate ourselves, and thereby protect ourselves.  

At the same time I must agree with Wiselou, and Sanderman outward adornment is so unnecessary, true beauty comes from within.  Oh and do not stop with lipstick, look at the foundations, and lotions, and face creams, with an eye toward caution.  Again if you cannot eat said product safely, it does not belong on your skin.

 [ Reply ]
  
  
Scott1111
[ Joined on 08/08 ] [ Posted on August 9, 2008 ]
1 Points        
   
 
Novice User

http://www.care2.com/news/member/185341883/820380?saved=1

Poisoning By Toxic Metals - Most Toxicity, in Order,.#1 Is Most Toxic, - # 9. Fluoride - # 80. Mercury - # 82. Lead,
...

Why is everyone so worried about lead, .. Fluoride is much more toxic, and people ingest Fluoride every day,.. Wake Up, Get Conscious, Help Save Our Earth

 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
organicmum
[ Joined on 04/07 ]  [ Posted on August 9, 2008]
       
   
Savvy User
  Mercola

True Scott1111, we need to be conscious on every level....what we drink, what we eat, what we put on our skin..

Also who are the companies that are creating and selling these products, they are they poisoning the earth as well as people.

We need to get this out to the public, most of Mercola readers are aware and conscious.  We need an awakening of the wider public, a growing awareness about the connections between what they spend their money on and what impact that has on the wider ecology.

Mercola
  
timmy_esq
[ Joined on 08/08 ]  [ Posted on August 9, 2008]
       
   
Novice User
  Mercola

These numbers have no intended association with how toxic the elements are, they only indicate the position on the periodic table of elemenets!  There are toxic elements all over the table.   Beryllium, #4, is very toxic, as is Fluorine (#9), Arsenic (#33), Cd (#48), Hg (#82).   All very toxic, and all over the table.  

  
  
wisesolu
[ Joined on 04/08 ] [ Posted on August 9, 2008 ]
1 Points        
   
 
Novice User

I guess this is one reason why devout Seventh-day Adventist women do not wear cosmetics. The main reason is that they adhere to the Bible teaching about outward adornment.

 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
sanderman
[ Joined on 12/07 ]  [ Posted on August 9, 2008]
6 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola

wisesolu,

I doubt that devout Seventh Day Adventist women are aware of the dangerous chemicals in lipsticks and other cosmetics.  However, following their conviction has kept them safe.  There are many benefits to following Biblical convictions that may not at first be apparent.

The passage you are referring to (I Peter 3:1-4)states that a woman's adornment should be an inner beauty, not just from outer things such as braiding hair or wearing jewelry or fancy clothes.  It doesn't necessarily state that a woman should never do those things, but instead says her true beauty will be in her "hidden person of the heart."

As a "devout" Christian, I have no problem with women that wear make up, though I myself wear it only occassionally.  As a whole, I think we women could stand to wear a lot less make up.  Wouldn't it be nice if women (men too, for that matter) started putting as much or more focus on being inwardly beautiful as we do on looking good on the outside?

~Claire~

  
  
webwitch6
[ Joined on 09/07 ] [ Posted on August 9, 2008 ]
       
   
 
Novice User

I used to love to wear make up-granted I was a veritable "kid" at 21, when I thought being an adult meant wearing Maybelline war paint and not getting carded at the neighborhood SudsShack. My how I have changed!  I stopped wearing any make up at all in 1994. Not a blush or foundation, mascara or eyeshadow can be counted among my possessions. Funny thing is I always hated lipstick! It had a weird smell that I always associated with dead people-maybe it was the preservative I was smelling.

  I had so many skin allergies when I was in my 20's and it slowly began to sink in, (literally, too) that it was the cosmetics I was slathering on. Redness on my face, swollen eyes, red eyes, chapping skin, cracked lips -even with lip gloss, and a constant rash on my neck and arms, where I sprayed perfumes.

I was forced to go natural or end up living in a dermatologists office!

Now, I cant be bothered wasting money on paint for my face or artificial perfumes. I use plant based moisturizer and perfumes and my skin is quite nice!  

 [ Reply ]
  
  
JoannaC
[ Joined on 03/07 ] [ Posted on August 9, 2008 ]
       
   
 
Novice User

If you get your lipstick and put it onto the back of your hand then rub it with a gold ring if it turns black then it has led in it.  You can do this with the sample testers in the shop.  Job done.

 [ Reply ]
  
  
LoriJean
[ Joined on 05/08 ] [ Posted on August 9, 2008 ]
-2 Points        
   
 
This user is BELOW novice level and all their comments need to be reviewed with great caution.

Melaleuca has a product out from Nicole Miller that offers organic cosmetics, all pure.  Check out Meleleuca at Melaleuca.com.  A worthwhile website to get excellent info!!!

 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
sanderman
[ Joined on 12/07 ]  [ Posted on August 9, 2008]
       
   
Novice User
  Mercola

LoriJean,

My husband & I were Melaleuca "preferred customers" for 3 & 1/2 yrs.  Melaleuca, like many companies nowadays, throws around a lot of terms like "natural." The more you learn about what is truly healthy and the more you learn about what Melaleuca puts in their products, the more you will become disenchanted with them as I did.  

Many of their vitamins contain soy. I know their prenatal vitamins do. I just got Kaayla Daniels' book The Whole Soy Story.  I have not yet gotten to the part about what soy does to infants and babies in the womb, but I know from what I've read on this site and others that soy is not something I want to be taking when I'm pregnant (or at any time)!!  

Melaleuca wants to make you think that they just have your best interest and health at heart.  The truth is that they are simply interested in making a buck like most big corporations.

Have you ever noticed how much they charge for shipping?  Strange that when they break down how much their products cost per use (the amount their laundry detergent costs per load, for example) they never figure in their outrageous shipping and handling charges.  Also, check out the amount they charge for taxes. The percentage changes with the amount you spend.  The more you spend, the lower the tax rate.  Hmmm...why is that?


 
Truste
 
Mercola