Thursday, November 1, 2007

Health News: When a Kiss is not Just a Kiss… Lead in Lipstick

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has released a study finding that 61% of the thirty-three U.S. manufactured red lipsticks tested contained lead, and one-third of these exceeded the US FDA limit for lead in candy. None of the lipsticks found to contain lead listed it in their ingredients. The report, A Poison Kiss: The Problem of Lead in Lipstick, complete with lipstick brand names found to contain lead, can be downloaded at: www.safecosmetics.org . The site also offers useful information about other harmful cosmetic ingredients, as well as a list of companies that have agreed to not use hazardous ingredients in their products.

A tip about red: The color red in ceramics, paints, lipsticks and other items is often derived from either lead or cadmium, both heavy metals. The paint color Vermillion was derived from cinnabar from which mercury is extracted. So you can see that red has a heavy-metal tainted history. When you see red, make sure it is not produced from heavy metals.

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