Send all your eco-inquiries to Jennifer Grayson at eco.etiquette@gmail.com. Questions may be edited for length and clarity.
I'm a guy who recently started moisturizing my skin (how metrosexual!). I bought a well-known brand -- the men's version of the stuff my wife uses. When I mentioned this to a friend, he cautioned me that this product and others like it contain methylparaben, which apparently has come under scrutiny as a potential carcinogen. Is there anything to this? If so, what would be a better alternative for me and the planet?
-Dennis
I hate to burst your shiny bubble of metrosexual enlightenment, but I'm going to let you in on a little secret: When it comes to your health and the health of the planet, you'd be better off leaving that hope-in-a-jar on the pharmacy shelf where you found it. Although we ladies believe we are "taking care of ourselves" by slathering our bodies with moisturizers, scrubs, night creams, and the like (I'm not even going to start in on makeup and self-tanners), it's all a prettily-packaged, sweet-smelling lie: What we're actually doing is polluting our bodies -- not to mention our waterways -- with a toxic soup of thousands of industrial chemicals.
It always surprises me that my health-conscious friends who scour nutritional labels and ingredient lists for every last trace of high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, and preservatives are the same people who don't give a second thought to what's in the cosmetics and personal care products they put on their skin. They should: If Nicoderm and Ortho Evra can be sent directly into your bloodstream via a transdermal patch, it stands to reason that lotion, deodorant, makeup, or whatever you rub into your skin (your body's largest organ) will also make its way into your system.
And whatever encompasses a pretty large pool of offenders: There are currently more than 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States, the majority of which have never been studied and are not regulated. Among them, the methylparaben your friend underscored -- a widely used synthetic preservative that's been linked to breast cancer, endocrine disruption, reproductive problems, and developmental defects.
Last month, President Obama's Cancer Panel released a study that sounded the alarm about toxic chemical exposure and cancer; evidently, our failure to regulate yet another industry -- the chemical industry, or more specifically, the petrochemical industry, since most of these chemicals are derived from oil -- has left us vulnerable to an ubiquitous army of unpronounceable carcinogens.
Fortunately, there are safe alternatives out there for the guy who grooms, but I'm not gonna lie: You'll have to become a diligent label reader to find them. Even products that purport to be natural and organic contain ingredients that are potentially hazardous to your health. The second ingredient in Pantene's new Nature Fusion shampoo, for instance, is sodium laureth sulfate, a powerful skin irritant often contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, a cancer-causing petrochemical that also is used in paint solvents.
Here, five frequent offenders to watch for:
Phthalates. These petrochemical plasticizers once used to soften your child's rubber ducky (and that are linked to sexual development abnormalities) are also used to enhance the fragrance of your favorite personal care products. Companies are not required to list phthalates on labels (except in California), so look for products designated phthalate-free.
Parabens. This group of synthetic, estrogenic preservatives contains the aforementioned methylparaben, along with propylparaben, butylparaben, and pretty much anything with a -paraben in its name. And they're everywhere: A 2006 CDC study found parabens in nearly all of the urine samples collected from over 2,500 American adults.
Fragrance. Since scent is considered a trade secret and is not required by law to be disclosed, the generic term fragrance on a label is actually a catch-all term for nearly 4,000 (mostly man-made) chemicals that can trigger allergies, disrupt hormones, and act as neurotoxins. Unfortunately, even products labeled unscented can contain harmful masking agents, so look for those that specify essential oils in lieu of fragrance.
Sodium laureth/lauryl sulfate. I may have singled out Pantene, above, for its inclusion of what the World Health Organization classifies as a possible carcinogen, but the truth is that SLS, as it's widely known, is an effective detergent found in nearly 90 percent of all commercial shampoos. Even natural hair care lines sold at health food stores can contain the chemical, so read labels carefully.
Oxybenzone. A petrochemical used in sunscreens and other cosmetics because it absorbs UVA rays, oxybenzone, ironically, has also been shown to release compounds that may contribute to skin cancer. Don't want to get burned? Look for mineral sunscreens that list zinc or titanium as their active ingredient.
In doubt? Search for your product among the nearly 60,000 listed on Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep cosmetic safety database. Any metrosexual worth his face cream wouldn't moisturize without it.
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Here's what I've found about it:
Arginine - See Amino Acids.
Amino Acids - ...Amino acids support protein in the skin...and, used in certain combinations, help regulate oil production in the skin and scalp...
- From the Natural Ingredients Dictionary, by Aubrey Hampton, founder of Aubrey Organics.
Hope this helps.
One very interesting personal observation I had was that after I stopped using parabens, my breasts stopped uncomfortably swelling on a monthly basis. This would suggest I had been overdosing on synthetic estrogens and as we know from the estrogen replacement therapy debacle, that lead to increased breast cancers.
You know a good moisturizer alternative... castor oil. I found that it isn't greasy and the skin drinks it up well in a few minutes. Just google how to make your own lotions at home. Can save you a ton on products.
Coconut oil and extra virgin olive are also good but pretty greasy. You have to put a sock on if you slather them on your feet. The castor oil is the best and doesn't "wash" off when your skin gets wet. Even after a bath the skin still feels moisturized.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratum_corneum
http://dermatology.about.com/od/anatomy/ss/sc_anatomy.htm
Blog posts written without any scientific understanding of the topic equate to the blind leading the blind on topics they really should not even be talking about due to their own ignorance.
For the record, transdermal birth control and nicotine patches use a very sophisticated delivery system. Huge obstacles have to be overcome because the basic funtion of the skin is to prevent and repel substances penetrating it.
http://molinterv.aspetjournals.org/content/4/6/308.full
"The transdermal route is indeed desirable, but there is one small obstacle: whereas the function of the GI tract is to render ingested material suitable for absorption, the skin’s function is to keep things out of the body. "
not sure anyone would buy this nonsense.......
"Reservoir effects are well documented for several lipophilic compounds. The water-insoluble fragrance musk xylol showed rapid and significant diffusion from the skin within 72 h after application of a dermal dose. However, the formation of a skin reservoir for a chemical during
percutaneous absorption is not limited to lipophilic chemicals but also applies to polar and non-polar chemicals that bind to the skin during the absorption process. Nicotine, caffeine, cationic-blocking drugs, surfactants, testosterone, malathion, hair dyes, vitamin E, and glycolic and lactic acids have all been reported as forming a skin reservoir. Amounts of phenanthrene, benzo[a]pyrene, and di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate remaining in hairless guinea-pig skin after 24 h eventually became
available for systemic absorption"
Recent studies examining the cord blood of newborns show that they have already been exposed to more than 200 potentially dangerous chemicals in the womb (http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/01/backpack.cord.blood/index.html?hpt=C2). If you want to take the risk that the thousands of untested chemicals put into everyday cosmetics aren't somehow having a detrimental effect on your health, then by all means -- slather away.
I, however, will be sticking to personal care products deemed a "low hazard" by the EWG's Skin Deep cosmetics database: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/
Everything Jennifer says is right on. Many of us get very sick near these cosmetics, soaps, detergents.
I was using zinc oxide for sunscreen for a safer alternative but recently studies regarding nanoparticles talk about the dangers of these tiny particles getting into your blood stream. I have heard not to get the zinc that is really white and get a more clear product.
Legislation has been introduced for the Safe Chemicals Act of 2010 because they don't know what is in our products and only about 200 out of 80,000 have been tested.
Tonight they had Toxic America on CNN and they had good info but it is like night and day when you hear one side say oh no problem with chemicals. Well one woman said it is absurd. I think we are educated enough to know now that info simply is wrong. I and many all over the world are working on this issue of safer products like they are doing in the EU Government.
http://goldensgreengirl.mionegroup.com/
i learned a lot there