After our daughter experienced a painful reaction to the hand soap in her elementary school, we were driven to learn what is used in commonly available personal care products. We were shocked to find harsh chemicals and known carcinogens throughout the lists of ingredients.
Even brands we purchased from our local health food stores contained these chemicals and unlisted by-products of ingredient combinations that have been banned in other countries for years!
Always do a small skin test prior to using any skin or cosmetic product, certified organic or not. We have been working hard to figure it all out and offer it to you in a simple, accessible way. Did you know? There are over 1100 chemicals that have been banned in the European Union for use in cosmetics and personal care products for being carcinogenic, mutagenic and reproductive toxins. Many of these chemicals are still found in products sold in Canada.
For more information, please visit the following links:
- “There’s Lead in Your Lipstick” Each morning we spritz, soak, and slather ourselves in 127 different chemicals, many of which are toxic. Each time we draw a bubble bath for a child, lather foaming cream for a shave, or deodorize our underarms, we expose our bodies to innumerable chemicals with limited research on their long-term health effects. The cosmetics industry is not required to prove an ingredient is safe for human health before it is used in a consumer product. Shocking, but true.As a breast cancer survivor, Gill Deacon takes the issue of toxins in bodycare products to heart. Her book is a friendly, informative and meticulously researched guide to more considered options for personal care, showing how to navigate misleading labels and greenwash.
- Common Hazardous Ingredients in Personal Care Products, Environmental Health Association, Nova Scotia – See a list of ingredient names to look for and learn what they do.
- Check the safety of your cosmetics and personal care products at www.cosmeticsdatabase.com Search the database by brand or by ingredient to get a safety rating for the product(0-2 low hazard and 3-10 medium to high hazard), scroll down the page to read ingredient descriptions, eg. link to cancer.
- The Story of Cosmetics – The Ugly Truth of “Toxics In, Toxics Out” – great video project!
- The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics – Founding members include: Breast Cancer Fund, Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition
- Corrupt to the Core
– Memoirs of a Health Canada Whistleblower By Dr. Shiv Chopra”Corrupt to the Core” paints a disturbing picture of the internal machinations of a government regulator bent on pleasing its drug company ‘clients’, often with scant concern for the public health implications.Dr. Shiv Chopra is one of three Health Canada scientists whose testimony before a Senate Committee in 1998 triggered headlines around the world.
- How an Inspirational group of Teens were instrumental in getting California Cosmetics Laws changed! (video) Teens for Safe Cosmetics
- CANADIAN LAWS: Hugh Davis of Health Canada (Head of Cosmetics), told CBC Marketplace that “Canada’s regulations are so outrageously antiquated, they’re not worth the paper they’re written on.” Davis called cosmetics “high risk,” “because you’re applying them directly to your body.” Cosmetics and the cancer connection (CBC Marketplace, broadcast Jan. 2003)
- A must-read for Canadians! Slow Death by Rubber Duck Co-authored by Environmental Defence’s Executive Director, Dr. Rick Smith, Slow Death by Rubber Duck reveals how daily life creates a toxic soup inside each of us. How do these toxins make their way inside us and what affect do they have on our health? And more importantly, what can we do about them? Rick Smith and co-author Bruce Lourie tackle these questions head-on by experimenting upon themselves. By revealing the pollution load in their bodies, they tell us the inside story of seven common substances.
- (video)The human race is now polluted with hundreds of industrial chemicals – with little or no understanding of the consequences. Babies are born pre-polluted with as many as 300 industrial chemicals in their bodies when they enter the world. Environmental Working Group “Kid-Safe Chemicals Act: 10 Americans “
- Toxin Found In Leading Organic Brands (Medical News Today)