What is Safe Beauty?
Safe Beauty is focused on knowing the
ingredients of cosmetics and skin treatments, and increasing your awareness
about how chemicals in makeup, fragrances, personal care products, and skincare
products might affect you both in the short- and the long-term. It’s an
education for me as well! As q surgeon, and an aesthetic surgeon to boot, I
want to be certain that the treatments I or my staff perform will improve your
appearance now, of course, but I also want to be certain that there aren’t any
untoward side effects later!
The
Fox is Guarding the Hen House
Did you know
that, even though the Food & Drug Administration monitors food and drugs,
the FDA neither has the power to oversee nor regulate the $50 billion personal
care products industry? Did you know that many
ingredients in soap, shampoo, body wash, baby care products, fragrances and
cosmetics are not on the labels? Would you ever
guess that personal care products labeled as “organic” can be sold without a
single organic ingredient in them? And that manufacturers can include the word
“natural” even if the product is filled with synthetic ingredients? It’s
completely legal. Further, companies can make all kinds
of claims, including false ones, about product effectiveness, because neither
the FDA nor anybody else regulates the language on the labels. Disheartening,
isn’t it?
Many of us are so overwhelmed
with the constant bad news about the chemicals sprayed on our food, leached
into our water, buried in the earth and floating in the air, that we want to
throw up our hands and cry, “Uncle.” But
in truth, cosmetics and home care products are one area in which you have a
great deal of control!
You can (and should) know what
you’re putting on your body, just as
you want to know what you’re putting in
it. Further, you can and should know how effective a product really is—based on scientific testing,
not just because the label says so!
Everything we do here at our Atlanta plastic surgery
practice has undergone rigorous testing and scrutiny to
assure our patients of not just beautiful results, but the highest level of safety as well. My medical and plastic
surgery training focused on perfecting tried-and-true procedures, to enable me
to safely create physical improvement for patients desiring cosmetic
enhancements. The equipment we use has been tested for safety and efficacy. The
injectables, such as BOTOX® Cosmetic, Juvéderm, Radiesse, and all the others,
have undergone years of testing before the FDA gave their federal stamp of
approval. The skincare products we provide our patients have undergone rigorous
testing as well.
Why Consumers Haven’t Been Protected
The existing law, the Food,
Drug & Cosmetics Act of 1938, as you can see by its date, is vastly behind
the times. That law gave decisions regarding ingredient safety to the cosmetic
industry—similar to allowing the fox to guard the henhouse, wouldn’t you agree?
Many of the ingredients in today’s personal care products didn’t even exist in 1938! Under the 1938 law, the
FDA cannot force cosmetics companies to verify the safety of the products they
sell, nor can it issue a product recall. When Brazilian
Blowout hair straightening products, used on children as young as 5 years
of age, were discovered to contain formaldehyde, the FDA was powerless to act.
A letter was issued, but in truth, the FDA cannot close them down, even though
the National Academy of Sciences released a report on formaldehyde that
confirms the determination of the Environmental Protection Agency that
"formaldehyde causes cancer in humans."
A New Law Is In The Works
The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011, currently House Rule 2359, was
introduced in June of 2011 by Representative Janice Shakowski, and co-sponsored
by 20 other legislators. The Act would amend the 1938 act to allow the
Secretary of Health & Human Services to regulate the cosmetics industry in
the following ways:
·
To require that labels clearly identify all ingredients. Many ingredients in
products we use daily are never posted on the labels;
·
To establish safety standards to avoid consumer harm,
especially in products used by children, the elderly, and cosmetics industry workers;
·
To notify workers in cosmetics plants of any heath
risks associated with the products they manufacture and package;
· To eliminate ingredients linked to
cancer, birth defects and developmental harm;
·
To establish a database of cosmetic ingredients. This
database would include three ingredient categories: (A) a prohibited/restricted
list; (B) a safe list and (C) a priority assessment list for new ingredients
not yet classified;
·
To require manufacturers to report any adverse health
effects associated with their products;
·
To minimize the use of animal testing through shared
product databases;
·
To create an Interagency council on Cosmetic Safety;
·
To provide additional funding to the FDA Office of
Cosmetics and Colors so it has the resources necessary to oversee the cosmetics
industry.
·
To permit the FDA to order recalls for any cosmetics
in violation;
What
Can You Do as a Consumer?
Awareness is the first step. Yes, it’s
painful to discover that favorite lipsticks, mascaras and baby products are
tainted with chemicals like lead and formaldehyde, but hiding one’s head in the
sand won’t make the risks disappear. Knowledge
is power. What you learn over the next 12 months can help you lower your
exposure to chemicals linked to allergy; skin and scalp irritation; hair damage
and hair loss and worse, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and a host of other
chemical-related disorders.
As a first step, a baby step, click
this link to download a pocket-sized Shopper’s Guide to Safer Cosmetics.”
When cut on the dotted lines, the guide fits neatly into a purse or pocket.
Take it to the store and use it when choosing shampoos, baby care products, or
other personal care items.
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