Lead in Lipsticks

Well I am not overly concerned about it, for myself.

I look at it like this: Since 1ppm is equivalent to 1 mg of lead in 1 kg of material, then I am not getting very much from the teeny amount of lipstick I apply. The body does excrete lead, the problem is with high level chronic ingestion.

I wouldn't want my child (if I had one) to eat lipstick or dirt (which contains quite a bit of lead) on a regular basis, but I wouldn't freak out if I found my kid trying on some lipstick. I figure my parents and grandparents survived, without any problems, through times with much higher amounts of lead in the air, foods, water and cosmetics.

That is not to say that I don't take lead poisoning seriously, I just don't think the small amount in lipstick is going to lead to toxic levels.
 
This is somewhat disturbing :s

Group claims some lipsticks contaminated with lead


http://www.king5.com/health/stories/NW_101207BUB_lipstick_lead_KS.163e44d6b.html#

01:50 PM PDT on Friday, October 12, 2007

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration said Friday it would look into claims from an advocacy group that certain lipsticks contain potentially dangerous levels of lead.

Similar claims in the past have not been confirmed, the agency said.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics said that a third of the 33 red lipsticks examined by an independent lab contained a level of lead exceeding 0.1 parts per million -- which is the FDA's limit for lead in candy. The FDA does not set a limit for lead in lipstick.

Related Content

Campaign for safe cosmetics

The organization commissioning the lipstick study says its goal is to pressure companies to remove toxic chemicals from their products and replace them with safer alternatives. The lead tests were conducted by an independent laboratory last month on red lipsticks bought in Boston, San Francisco, Minneapolis and Hartford, Conn., the organization said.

The FDA said concerns about lead in lipstick have been raised occasionally in the print media and on the Internet.

"These concerns have not generally been supported by FDA's own analysis of products on the market. In the present case, we are looking into the specific details of the issues raised," said Stephanie Kwisnek, a spokeswoman at the FDA. "We will need to confirm the factual basis of these reports independently in order to determine what action, if any, may be needed to protect public health."

The trade association representing the cosmetic industry acknowledged "negligible" levels of lead in some lipsticks, but said it is not intentionally added.

"Consumers are exposed daily to lead when they eat, drink water and breathe the air," said John Bailey, an executive vice president at the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association. "The average amount of lead a woman would be exposed to when using cosmetics is 1,000 times less than the amount she would get from eating, breathing, and drinking water that meets Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standards."
 
Coincidentally I watched a programme last night on the harmful effects of chemicals in make up etc. People who use lipsticks & lip gloss are actually "eating" the equivalent of many blocks of lard in a lifetime as well as ingesting all these harmful chemicals!
I have read so many reports about the dangers of cosmetics e.g. Parabens are in almost everything; moisturisers, deodorants, make up etc. High incidence of parabens being found in breast tumours! It is really scary but then I say the only way to avoid a serious illness nowadays is to actually die. The air that we breath is not safe! The water that we drink is not safe! What to do?
 
i heard a lot of lipsticks that claim to stay on all day without fading or smuding off can do it because of the lead content.. i dont know if its true, but i heard it on some news report when L'Oreal was advertising a lot of for their new all day stay lip stick product.
 
I got this email today. You know, one of those emails that a friend passes along that they got from a friend that they got from a friend. Of course, this makes me skeptical.

Here's what it said.

Also, my apologies if this has been discussed before. I ran a search and came up with nothing.

Anyone Christmas shopping or who wears lipstick should use the lead test on their lipstick. I used my gold wedding band for the test. I guess “I was saved by love.”

Out of my 7 lipsticks, three failed…they contained lead.! With all the information on lead and cancer, you would think that lead in lipstick would still be illegal. Well, I guess the proof is in the test. Due to legalities, I won’t tell you which lipsticks failed. Take the test and see for yourself.

The test works! Use it!

Then, pass this information on to someone you love and want to keep healthy. A close friend sent it to me.

This comes from someone who works in the breast cancer unit at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto ..

From: Dr. Nahid Neman

If there is a female you care anything about, share this with her. I did!!!!!
I am also sharing this with the males on my e-mail list, because they need to tell the females THEY care about as well!
Recently a lipstick brand called 'Red Earth' decreased their prices from
$67 to $9.90.
It contained lead.

Lead is a chemical which causes cancer.

The lipstick brands that contain lead are:

CHRISTIAN DIOR
LANCÔME
CLINIQUE
Y.S.L
ESTEE LAUDER
SHISEIDO
RED EARTH (Lip Gloss)
CHANEL (Lip Conditioner)
MARKET AMERICA-MOTNES LIPSTICK.

The higher the lead content, the greater the chance of causing cancer.

After doing a test on lipsticks, it was found that the Y.S.L. Lipstick contained the most amount of lead.

Watch out for those lipsticks which are supposed to stay longer.
If your lipstick stays longer, it is because of the higher content of lead.

THE TEST

Here is the test you can do yourself:
1. Put some lipstick on your hand.
2. Use a Gold ring to scratch on the lipstick.

CONCLUSION : If the lipstick colour changes to black, you should think twice about ever using that product again. Chances are it contains lead.​

This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Centre

Dioxin Carcinogens cause cancer, especially breast cancer

About the Author- Kathleen O’Keefe-Kanavos www.survivingcancerland.com is an agented author and has penned SURVIVING CANCERLAND: The Psychic Aspects of Healing. She is a phone counselor for the R.A. BLOCH Cancer Foundation, a mentor for WE CAN, a contributor to Cape Women Online Magazine, Twitter’s C4Women, Colette Baron-Reid’s Intuition Now, Examiner.com National, blogs http://kathleenokeefekanavos.blogspot.com ,tweets http://twitter.com/PsychicHealing and is a volunteer for many cancer organizations and online cancer groups. She is currently working on her second book, SURVIVING RECURRENCE in CANCERLAND

I don't have any of these lipsticks since I use more of a sheer tint, so I wasn't able to do the test.
 
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/lipstick.asp

Especially read the last two paragraphs. Metals can leave dark marks across one's skin whether or not there is lipstick on it. Old wive's tales say you can detect pregnancy this way (despite the dark marks showing on some men, too). And lead doesn't cause cancer. It is not good for a person, and it is especially dangerous to developing children, but it doesn't cause cancer. These mostly false emails have been around since 2003.
 
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i was a little shocked that Burt's Bees was on the list! I have a blog and one of my focuses is non-toxic beauty, and I've recommended Burt's Bees products. If you search the EWG database though, their line really has such a range where some products are safe and others not so much. I guess that if you have a few safer products, you can claim to be a natural brand. I wasn't really surprised about most of the others like Revlon and Cover Girl.