“A lot of (mainstream) products contain skin irritants as well as chemicals linked to breast cancer, testicular cancer, asthma, eczema, early puberty and aging skin,” says Mason-Robinson, an aesthetician who now encourages people to use beauty and personal-care products with natural ingredients instead of synthetic ones. “To me, using those products is killing yourself softly, truthfully.” Mason-Robinson isn’t alone in her concern about the ingredients used in many mainstream beauty and personal-care products. Several nonprofit organizations, including the Environmental Working Group and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, are working to eliminate chemicals they believe are linked to cancer, birth defects, hormonal issues and other health problems from cosmetics and personal care products. “Everything from deodorant to baby shampoos contains things that you shouldn’t put on your body,” says Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which recently was involved in convincing the New Brunswick-based company Johnson & Johnson to eliminate potentially carcinogenic chemicals from some of its baby shampoos. “The skin is very effective at absorbing chemicals, and in some cases, it can be an even more direct route of exposure because it doesn’t go into your digestive system.” According to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, the top ingredients and contaminants to avoid in personal-care and cosmetic products include triclosan, formaldehyde, formaldehyde-releasing preservatives such as quaternium-15 and dimethyl-dimethyl, parabens like methylparaben and propylparaben, synthetic musks and hydroquinone.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 02:32:35 +0000
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