Beauty News: Lead in Lipsticks – Should You Be Concerned?

It is common knowledge that the use of lead in paints and other such substances has been banned by federal health and environmental agencies for many years. At certain levels of exposure, lead is extremely poisonous: it can cause nervous and neurological damage, and blood disorders, among other health hazards.

Over the last few years, health and environmental advocacy groups have rallied against chemicals found in cosmetics and demanded that the chemicals in cosmetics and fragrances be regulated by the FDA. Recently, there has been an outcry over traces of lead found in 400 popular brands of lipstick with advocacy groups insisting on lead regulation in lipstick and the FDA stating that the lead traces found are not significant to pose health risks. Visit the FDA’s website to see what lipsticks contain lead and how much lead they contain.

Here’s an excerpt of the article on this issue from The Huffington Post.

“Lead has been banned in paint since 1978 because of its  toxicity at low levels, but it still shows up in small amounts  in some of the best-selling lipstick brands.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which did an analysis of a  study of lead in lipstick conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug  Administration, wants consumers to know that most of the 400  different lipsticks tested were positive for the substance…

“Recognizing that there is no safe level of lead exposure,  we need to be protecting women and children from all levels of  exposure,” said Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the campaign — a  non-profit coalition of environmental- and cancer-prevention  groups.

Malkan’s group wants the FDA to set a limit for how much  lead lipstick can contain and to study whether there are any  dangers to having the substance applied to human lips,  particularly the lips of children and pregnant women. “We know  that ingestion of lipstick happens. It gets into our bodies,”  she said, noting that lead accumulates in people.

The group said that five of the nine lipstick brands with  the most lead are sold by L’Oreal, the world’s largest  cosmetics maker.

L’Oreal’s “Color Sensational” Pink Petal had the most lead  of any lipstick tested at 7.19 parts per million. By comparison,  children’s products sold in the U.S. are forbidden to have more than 100 parts per million of lead.

“The FDA’s independent study, which will be published in the  May/June 2012 issue of the Journal of Cosmetic Science, confirms  that lipsticks pose no safety concerns for the millions of women  who use them daily,” L’Oreal said in a statement sent to  Reuters. “The lead levels detected by the FDA in the study are  also within the limits recommended by global public health  authorities for cosmetics, including lipstick.”

The FDA, for its part, agreed there is no cause for alarm.

“The FDA did not find high levels of lead in lipstick,” FDA  spokeswoman Tamara Ward said. “We developed and tested a method  for measuring lead in lipstick and did not find levels that  would raise health concerns.”

Still, Malkan said the government should take some more  steps to ensure the safety of those who use lipstick.  An  advisory committee to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and  Prevention has taken a position that there is no safe level of  lead for children. So, why asked Malkan, should it be OK for  their [sic] to be lead in lipstick? And, in particular, for certain  brands to have more than others?”

See the full article at The Huffington Post.

Are you concerned? Do you plan to switch to more eco-friendly lipstick brands?