Mar 14, 2008
I picked this up from Enviroblog: many skin care products labeled organic contain contaminants. Not as ingredients, necessarily, but as byproducts of the manufacturing process. The Organic Consumers Association, a national network overseen by environmental health consumer advocate David Steinman (The Safe Shoppers Bible) says there is an undisclosed carcinogenic contaminant called 1,4-Dioxane in leading shampoos, body washes, lotions and
other personal care and household cleaning products claiming to be “natural” or “organic”.
Apparently, to be labeled organic, a product has to have at least a few individual "certified organic" ingredients, but then can throw in synthetic toxins and still be marketed as natural.
Here's an example. Bear with me on the high school chemistry. Ethoxylation, a cheap short-cut companies use to provide mild-
ness to harsh ingredients, requires the use of the cancer-causing petrochemical ethylene oxide, which generates 1,4-Dioxane as a
by-product. 1,4-Dioxane is considered a chemical “known to theState of California to cause cancer”
To avoid this ingredient, search product labels for ingredients with the following in their names: myreth, oleth, laureth, ceteareth, any other eth, PEG, polyethylene glycol, polyoxyethylene, or oxynol. In general, avoid products with unpronounceable ingredients to be sure to avoid synthetic toxins and carcinogens.
Unfortunately, Kiss My Face, a readers' favorite here, contains 1,4 Dioxane. Ah, well, nothing's perfect.
Return to Beauty Cred
3/15/08
It is a very frustrating topic for me. I own my own B=B company and make everything with my own hands. When doing research on pregnancy products, I found that so many companies say "ALL NATURAL" on the front of the label but parabens and other toxic stuff was in there. How awful! I guess they are allowed to say that because all natural ingredients are IN THERE. How awful to pull the wool over people's eyes, especially when they are carrying. If pregnant women want to use unnatural products it is their choice but to fool them into your product when they are specifically looking for a natural moisturizer? Shame on them! When I came out with Mama Bomb (a truly all natural body line for women) I was thanked by so many pregant women. A choice!! I am trying to educate people about such chemicals, because in fact, some of the preservatives actually cause hormone disruption. Can I ask you, does a pregnant woman need to be hormonally disrupted? I think not!!
Thanks for letting me ramble. Nice blog!
-Joanna
Product Body
The Soap Bar Blog
Product Body Blog
4/13/08
I find these studies really frustrating. It bothers me that once a product labels itself as green, it automatically goes under the microscope, and any flaw found is seen as a massive, news making black mark. The reality is, even with these downsides the products are still better than most mainstream products out there. When products are tested without comparison - ie. they talk about Green Shampoo X having carcinogens, but they don't talk about Mainstream Shampoo Y having twice as many carcinogens - it is misleading and quite unfair to the product, because the product is usually overall better for you and for the environment. That gets lost in the hype.
The truth is, nothing is 100% environmentally friendly. Nothing comes without a cost. Yes, manufacturers need to strive to do better and better and consumers need to be aware of what we're buying. But to focus on a single flaw on a product that is at least trying to be better for the environment makes me gnash my teeth in frustration, because it is so short sighted and hurts the environmental momentum overall. Even your products, that you claim to be certified organic, use Caustic Soda or Potassium hydroxide (that are not really very natural and safe ingredients) during the soap making process. Caustic soda or Sodium Hydroxide is linked to cancer, neurotoxidy, causes skin and eye irritation in very low quantities and there are so many cases of occupational hazards for the workers who are exposed to such dangerous ingredient. The important thing is Dr. Bronner is going to the market with his pointing finger trying to show so-called bad ingredients but he is hiding to consumers that he is using a very bad one (Dr {edited} is misleading consumers because he doesn't display all ingredients that he use to make his soaps. He lists ingredients like saponified organic oil. But he doesn't state how he saponify them. Dr Bronner uses an alkalyne product like CAUSTIC SODA that causes cancer). The normal ph of skin is 6-7 and his product ph is 10.... this is not exactly mild to skin. Sorry.
Please visit Skin Deep and educate yourself: {edited weblink}
4/14/08
Tell us more about your products, or send me some, and I will have a pregnant woman try them This is really important.
4/14/08
I've actually been there. And I agree with you up to a point. But I've been pretty immersed in the environmental movement for about 30 years, and I know that American cosmetic labeling is way behind Europe, and is about to change. American chemical (and therefore cosmetic) companies are going to have to comply with REACH, the new European standard, pretty soon. And then we will have adequate labeling of ingredients, which will allow the consumer to make his/her choice in a more informed way.