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FD & C Color Pigments
Countless color pigments initiate skin sensitivity and irritation. The harmful aspects of utilizing artificial colors are extensive. Not only are they disquieting for human health, but for the health of the environment and animals. As far as humans are concerned, these chemicals are suspected carcinogens.
Jane Hersley, the director of The Feingold Association of America states: "Artificial colors and other synthetic chemicals can affect us whether we ingest them, breathe them or just come in contact with them on our skin.”
Women, especially, are exposing themselves to pointless risk. The make-up they wear on the skin have particles that can be inhaled or absorbed, not to mention lipstick on the mouth where substantial
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amounts are eaten. The bottom line is although makeup is worn on the surface, chemical FD&C colors affect us inside as well. Various studies have connected the use of permanent hair-dyes, in particular the darker shades, to an increased risk of cancer. Coupled with coal-tar derivatives, hair dyes contain phenylenediamine, a carcinogen that may cause scalp inflammation and even blindness. Here is what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said about hair dyes. “Several coal-tar hair dye ingredients have been found to cause cancer in laboratory animals.”
Oh, by the way, gentlemen, you are not exempt! A study by Howard W. Mielke, PhD, associate professor of environmental toxicology, deduced that gradual hair dyes were not a safe product for anyone to use. According to him, “The major problem is that users are instructed to coat their hands with a product containing 2,300 to 6,000 mcg of lead per gram. This places a large quantity of lead directly into the hand-to-mouth pathway of exposure. As shown in Table 2, the amount of lead on the hands increases from less than 3 mcg to between 150 and 700 mcg per hand after hair application. As discussed above, the TTDI for lead is 6 mcg for children and 30 mcg for adults. After applying the product and then thoroughly washing hands with soap and water, the hands still retained from 26 mcg to nearly 80 mcg of lead per hand.”
An additional study done by the University of Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center disclosed that women who regularly dye their hair are three times more likely to develop bladder cancer.
As much as we would like to skip painting your nails—we won’t! Pick your poison ladies. Well, for starters, nail polish may include up to half of a chemical called toluene, a petroleum distillate akin to benzene. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances, “A serious health concern is that toluene may have an effect on your brain. Toluene can cause headaches, confusion, and memory loss. Whether or not toluene does this to you depends on the amount you take in and how long you are exposed. Low-to-moderate, day-after-day exposure in your workplace can cause tiredness, confusion, weakness, drunken-type actions, memory loss, nausea, and loss of appetite. These symptoms usually disappear when exposure is stopped.
Researchers do not know if the low levels of toluene you breathe at work will cause any permanent effects on your brain or body after many years. You may experience some hearing loss after long-term daily exposure to toluene in the workplace.”
In addition to toluene, nail polish can have the chemical formaldehyde in it as well. This is an alleged carcinogen, endocrine disrupter and neurotoxin; which is banned in the majority of countries around the world except for North America.
Here is a list of some of the synthetic colors to look for:
•aluminum lakes
•astaxanthin
•azulene
•canthaxanthin
•carmine (because of the synthetic process used to secure the color from the insects)
•sodium copper chlorophyllin (chlorophyll)
•D&C colors (all)
•FD&C colors (all)
•iron oxides
•titanium dioxide
•ultramarine
•zinc oxide
Related Links:
Adverse Health Effects of Synthetic Colors
FDA Approved Colors for Your Cosmetics
Information on Natural Coloring Alternatives
Propylene Glycol (PG)
We all know what antifreeze is, don’t we? Interestingly enough, there is no distinction between the PG used in industry and the PG used in personal care products. Wow!
Both ethylene glycol and propylene glycol are clear, colorless and slightly syrupy liquids at room temperature. Both compounds may exist in air in vapor form, although propylene glycol must be heated or briskly shaken to produce a vapor. Propylene glycol is practically odorless and tasteless. They are also used in the manufacturing of polyester compounds and as solvents in the paint and plastics industries. Ethylene glycol is also a component in photographic developing solutions, hydraulic brake fluids and in inks used in stamp pads, ball point pens and print shops. In other words, it is used in industry to break down protein and cellular structure (what the skin is made of) yet is found in most forms of make-up, hair products, lotions, after-shaves, deodorants, mouthwashes and toothpastes.
The FDA has classified propylene glycol as an additive that is “generally recognized as safe” for use in food. It is used to absorb extra water and maintain moisture in certain medicines, cosmetics, or food products. It is a solvent for food colors and flavors, and is used to create artificial smoke or fog used in fire-fighting training and in theatrical productions.
How would you be exposed to these two chemicals? You can be introduced to ethylene glycol and propylene glycol when you use antifreeze, photographic developing solutions, coolants, and brake fluid. You can also be exposed to propylene glycol by eating food products, using cosmetics that contain the chemicals, or taking medicine that contains it.
The American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) recommends a maximum level of 127 milligrams of ethylene glycol per cubic meter of air (127 mg/m3) for a 15-minute exposure. Research it further, and decide for yourself whether you want it in your personal care products.
Related Links:
Toxic Impurties in Personal Care Products and Cosmetics
FAQ for Ethylene & Propylene Glycol
Isopropyl Alcohol
One of the foremost defenders your body has against viruses, bacteria, fungus, and other perpetrators, is the natural acid mantle your skin possesses. Isopropyl alcohol is a solvent and denaturant (substance that changes another substance's natural qualities), and has an uncanny ability to completely strip the natural acid mantle of your skin, leaving you more vulnerable to the aforementioned issues. Isopropyl alcohol is added to various hair color rinses, body creams, hand lotions, after shave lotions, fragrances and many other cosmetics. Isopropyl alcohol’s primary function is to increase absorption of other ingredients in such cosmetics as body, face, and hand lotions, yet only serves to rob your skin of its natural pH and acid mantle.
High exposure has been related with CNS (central nervous system) depression, and according to a Consumer's Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients, inhalation or ingestion of the vapor may cause headaches, flushing, dizziness, mental depression, nausea, vomiting, narcosis and coma. Isopropyl alcohol is extremely irritating to the skin and has a causal link to dry/cracked skin which can promote the growth of bacteria.
In exposure studies with rats, inhalation had the capacity to paralyze the respiratory system, cause broncho-constriction, hypotension, and in some cases, fatalities. While Isopropyl alcohol may not be the most toxic ingredient that goes into cosmetics, the concentration of its use calls for some alert.
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