Cosmetics, Chemicals & Cancer

Above is Annie Leonard's, The Story of Cosmetics, which is a fast-paced and informative narrated cartoon examining the pervasive use of toxic chemicals in our everyday personal care products, from lipstick to baby shampoo; revealing the implications for consumer, worker and environmental health; and outlining ways we can move the industry away from hazardous chemicals and towards safer alternatives. Visit SafeCosmetics.org to learn more about this project.



Recently, leading cosmetic companies including Avon, Estee Lauder, and Revlon embarked on a campaign to distribute pink ribbons, which were intended to highlight the need to support the fight against breast cancer. The response of leading activist organization Breast Cancer Action Network was swift and sure: They condemned the campaign as a marketing gimmick and the companies as hypocritical. Why? Because the very cosmetic and personal care products these and many other companies make are loaded with carcinogenic compounds!

It is hard to believe, but it is a fact that experts say is becoming increasingly clear: most mainstream cosmetic and personal care products contain at least one hazardous chemical compound, and many contain far more than that. By various estimates, there are between 5,000 and 10,000 ingredients currently being used in everything from eyeliner and lipstick to shampoos and deodorants that are synthetic, unnatural, man-made compounds. Many of these are assumed to be safe, but many more have been tested and proven to be dangerous and toxic. The National Institute of Occupational Safety, for example, has identified almost 900 personal care chemicals that are toxic in one way or another. Some cause cancer. Others cause hormone disruption. Some are neurotoxins. And still others can cause organ damage. In Europe, 1100 of these dangerous materials have been banned from consumer products. In America only 10 have been banned. Check out this excellent, comprehensive website CosmeticsDatabase.com to find exactly what chemicals are in your personal care products and exactly what health risks have been linked to each.



Here is a Fox news clip with Dr. Manny Alvarez reporting on a EWG study done on 20 US teenagers who use chemical cosmetics. All of the girls tested positive in their blood stream for over a dozen known toxic chemicals used in their cosmetics. This means of course, as any dermatologist will tell you, that what goes on your skin, goes into your body, and stays there. Chemicals in lotions, soaps, moisturizers, deodorants, shampoos, gels, sunscreens, cremes, dyes, nail polish/removers, perfumes, colognes, foundations, blushes, eye shadows, eye liners, mascaras, and lipsticks, don't just get washed away. Over 70% of what touches our skin is absorbed into our bodies.



Here is a CBS investigative news clip delving into the issue of chemicals and toxins in personal care products. Did you know there is lead in most lipsticks and mercury in most mascaras!? Did you know the FDA has no regulatory control over cosmetics companies, and allows them to decide their own safety standards!? They don't even have to fully label all ingredients!



This next clip is a KREM channel 2 news segment with former Ms. America Susan Jeske who has been on a mission to alert the world to the dangers of cosmetics since she had severe health issues resulting from the toxic synthetic chemicals in her skin care and beauty products. She now travels around the US and the world talking about these issues.



Here is a good radio interview with Stacy Malkan, Author of "Not Just A Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry." Did you know that cancer-causing phthalates have been banned from use in children's toys, but they are one of the most common ingredients in many skin products!? In a 2006 EWG study they analyzed the umbilical cord blood of hundreds of newborn infants and found over 200 toxic synthetic chemicals in every baby tested. This means that these mother's bloodstreams were so full of man-made chemicals from their food, water, air, pills, vaccines, and skin products, that they're transmitting these hundreds of toxic, unnatural, chemicals into the fresh blood of their newborns.



This last video is called The Cosmetic Conspiracy and it gives some little-known facts, as well as common sense questions and answers regarding skin care. The creator of the video also runs a great blog on the subject called Flawless Skin and has a website about the "Toxic 12" at TheCosmeticConspiracy.com Please do yourself and do your loved ones a favor today by checking the health risks of the personal care products you use at CosmeticsDatabase.com, then sharing this blog post with everyone in your email lists.


If we want to be empowered spiritual warriors and truly fight the NWO beast that means taking complete responsibility for our health - not being lazy consumers purchasing products full of toxic chemicals. Don't waste your money on immoral corporations with masonic logos trying to sell you cancer in a bottle! Stop slathering on carcinogenic chemicals and start giving your skin the natural nutrients you crave. Pamper yourselves with actual fruit/plant extracts, flowers, herbs, oils, berries, and other natural, organic substances which actually improve the health of your skin and body! Support small businesses with good intentions working at the grassroots level to change the face of cosmetics. For the Atlantean Conspiracy women out there, here's a few great online retailers of natural, organic cosmetics:

SaffronRouge.com: If it's not organic, it's not here. Why settle for beauty products that don't live up to their labels? At Saffron Rouge, we evaluate every ingredient so you don't have to. All the products you see here are made with genuine organic ingredients without the plastics, silicones, petroleum, artifical fragrances, dyes, and other unsafe ingredients found in most beauty products.

Green Organics: Are you worried about the harmful long-term effects to your health and beauty, from continual daily exposure to the toxic ingredients found in most food, skin care and makeup products? Lets face it! we are already exposed to enough stress from our daily life. Stop clouding yourself with more toxins and give your body and skin a break. Give your body & skin the organic skin care nourishment it deserves. In return, your body will surely thank you by giving you vibrant energy, natural radiant skin and a glowing complexion. At 'Green Organics', you will be able to shop for the best organic skin care products & organic makeup beauty products from around the world. Find beauty products such as organic shampoo & conditioners, natural anti aging face creams, organic cleansers, organic blush makeup, organic eye shadow makeup, organic mascara makeup, organic makeup lipstick, organic makeup powder, makeup bronzer, baby skin care, pregnancy skin care and much more. We aim to lead you back to your organic roots that is free from toxins, contaminates and nasties that may harm your health. We bring to you companies which are genuinely natural and organic and environmentally responsible who are both passionate and dedicated to our industry's organic principles.

Naturally Safe Cosmetics: Naturally Safe Cosmetics is a retailer of natural, organic and herbal cosmetics, makeup and personal care products. Our motto, 'giving nature a chance' describes our focus on natural, organic, safe, and herbal beauty. Many mainstream cosmetics and beauty products are traditionally made from petrochemicals, parabens and synthetic emulsifiers. One of the reasons for this is that these ingredients are cheap, and superficially effective. They effectively preserve a product, and provide a texture that is we as consumers like. But they don’t add much value outside of that. In all likelihood they do more harm than good. Petrochemicals are not responsible for reducing lines, parabens do no soften the skin, and emulsifiers do not add moisture. Quite often we’ll hear the big cosmetics companies name natural ingredients as the source of their products “power”. But on closer examination, we see that the quantity of the so called natural power ingredient is very low. What if a company developed a line of products that were completely opposite to traditional formulations? What if there was a product that dared to add more lavender than salt? As a retailer of organic cosmetic products, Naturally Safe Cosmetics has actively sought out cosmetic and personal care companies that have formulated safe and effective products that actually do chose to use natural ingredients over synthetics. All of Naturally Safe’s brands are primarily made of strictly natural ingredients; they do not have petrochemicals, and contain no or minimal synthetics or chemicals, therefore, they are good for you. All of our ranges are really giving nature a chance.