Are Your Cosmetics Dangerous for Your Health?

Due to pressure and consumer concerns, hundreds of beauty companies have made a commitment to remove toxic chemicals from their products. But just the other day, US Marshals seized more than 12 thousands units of an eyelash product the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says may cause vision problems in some consumers.

The action came just a few weeks after a coalition of advocacy groups slammed L'Oreal and other beauty industry leaders for supposedly testing positive to harmful doses of lead in their lipsticks. This appears to be the latest chapter in a fight against the powerful beauty industry that might turn really ugly.

The request for the seizure came from the FDA on November 16, 2007, when a group of US Marshals confiscated 12,682 of Age Intervention Eyelash products that may cause decreased vision in some consumers.

The FDA doesn't regulate the cosmetic industry or other companies in the personal beauty industry, but the federal agency qualified Age Intervention Eyelash as "an unapproved and misbranded drug because (the company) has promoted the product to increase eyelash growth."

Also, Age Intervention Eyelash was labeled as an adulterated cosmetic by the federal agency because of the use of bimatoprost, "an active ingredient in an FDA-approved drug to treat (elevated pressure inside the eye)." Patients using the approved drug can be exposed to an overdose if they happen to use Age Intervention Eyelash.

The Campaign Report

The action by the FDA is something the Campaign For Safe Cosmetics - a coalition of consumer advocacy groups - would like to see done against the beauty industry in general. Just a few weeks before, on October 11, the Campaign came out with their own lab test report allegedly confirming unsafe levels of lead in lipstick manufactured in the United States.

"More than half of 33 brand-name lipsticks tested (61 percent) contained detectable levels of lead, with levels ranging from 0.03 to 0.65 parts per million (ppm). None of these lipsticks listed lead as an ingredient," a dangerous level and above the government's approved limit the group said in their press release.

The suspected culprits were manufactured by L'Oreal, Cover Girl, and Dior according to the coalition, whose actions have already prompted other 600 cosmetic and personal care product companies to sign a compact, pledging to "remove toxic chemicals and replace them with safer alternatives in every market they serve."

L'Oreal Reacts

A day after the coalition's press release, the FDA said it would look into the Campaign lab results. But L'Oreal did not want to wait and responded with a press release saying that "Despite continuous allegations over the years, lead is not intentionally added to cosmetics. Lead is a naturally occurring element that is found everywhere in the environment. Consumers are exposed daily to lead when they eat, drink water and breathe the air. 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 (EPA) drinking water standards."

L'Oreal response spread quickly and caused an immediate reaction in other consumer advocacy groups, this one in a web log post in notjustaprettyface.org : "The titan of the beauty industry (L'Oreal) responded not by apologizing, not by promising to get the lead out, but by using the same old tired excuses: other products contain more lead than our products; we can't live in a lead-free world; and we're in 'full compliance with FDA regulations' - which isn't hard because THERE ARE NO REGULATIONS. How dumb does L'Oreal think we are? ...I guess we're just not worth it."

For now, Jan Marini Skin Research declared that "the company ceased manufacturing and shipping Age Intervention Eyelash product containing bimatoprost last year." But advocacy groups sure will continue raising the pressure against the use of dangerous chemicals in beauty products they say have been linked to cancer, birth defects and other health problems.

Dan Brizel "FDA News" Federal Drug Administration
"New Product Test Find Lead in Lipstick" The Campaign For Safe Cosmetics
"Statement by John Bailey, EVP for SCTFA" PRNewswire