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You鈥檝e seen the stories: There鈥檚 Lead in Your Lipstick! Pthalates in Your Shampoo! Parabens in Everything!

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Our cosmetics are awash in toxic chemicals, or so it seems. Are we in imminent danger? Should we throw them all out and go au naturelle? Or slather away in a fool鈥檚 paradise, only to develop cancer 鈥� or worse, pass on our toxic habits to our children as birth defects? Why are there toxins in our products at all? And if these toxins are so dangerous, why isn鈥檛 anything being done?

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A Scientific Opinion

Most of these articles contain reasoning that goes something like this: 鈥淩esearchers have found detectable levels of hazardous chemical A in your cosmetic product. Scientists have found that hazardous chemical A causes cancer in laboratory animals. Should you be exposing yourself to this hazard?鈥�

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This reference to science is easy to mistake for scientific proof, especially if you鈥檙e not a scientist. And those of us in the creative fields don鈥檛 often have scientists hanging around to explain exactly what is going on with these stories. But听Dr. Joe Schwarcz, Director of 香蕉视频鈥檚 Office for Science and Society, offered a lecture on cosmetic composition and relative hazards at the听听Esthetics and Spa Conference last week 鈥� and since I had an all-access pass, I attended. Dr. Joe isn鈥檛 a cosmetic chemist, and McGill鈥檚 OSS takes no funding from corporate sources 鈥� its mission is to educate the public on scientific issues. So his opinion comes from his work as a chemistry professor, not a marketer.

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Most of what was covered in the three hour lecture was pure cosmetic geek stuff: what emulsifiers are, what this or that unpronounceable ingredient does, and the chemical reasons grapefruit masks 鈥榦ld lady smell鈥�. But Dr. Joe also shared insights about why these scare articles about the 鈥榟idden dangers鈥� in our cosmetic products are so common, and how scientists assess the risks behind them.

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Let鈥檚 Start With Risk

Why not? That鈥檚 what you want to know 鈥� these are听hazardous, toxic chemicals, they鈥檙e going to kill you, right?

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Except that they probably won鈥檛. For one thing, researchers can detect minute qualities 鈥� down to 1 part per听trillion听鈥� of just about any chemical present in a given product. And when you break things down that minutely, you鈥檒l find a lot of things 鈥� and some of them are going to be toxic. An apple, for example, has detectable quantities of both acetone and formaldehyde. No one鈥檚 writing articles about 鈥榥ail polish remover鈥� or 鈥榚mbalming fluid鈥� in our apple (yet), because we assume that apples are not harmful 鈥� we鈥檝e been eating them for ages.

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Scientists use this calculation for risk from exposure to toxic chemicals:

Risk = Hazard x Exposure x Vulnerability.

So the formaldehyde in an apple may be hazardous, on its own. But since it鈥檚 a minute quantity, the exposure is probably not great enough to embalm you from the inside out. So unless you鈥檙e extremely allergic (vulnerability), you can probably eat that apple.

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Why Is There Lead in a Lipstick?

Makeup, even in the 21st century, is basically ground pigments in a wax, oil, or clay base. And many pigments 鈥� and most soils, actually 鈥� contain minute amounts of lead. The perceived risk is in how you use the numbers. The听听considers soil that has 50 parts per million (ppm) of lead to be uncontaminated, and allows up to 400 ppm in soil for children鈥檚 play areas. Today鈥檚 lipstick, depending on the pigment mix, may听.

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The scare articles point out that this is much higher than the amount allowed in candy colorants, or water, and point out how often women reapply lipstick. But we don鈥檛 actually eat large quantities of lipstick.听Dr. Joe points out that we鈥檇 have to eat six lipsticks a day 鈥� every day 鈥� to consume enough lead to cause harm.听And that may just be for the few at the top of the list. I wear lipstick every day, and eat maybe three of them a year (which is a听lot听less than my annual M&M consumption). If you eat six lipsticks a day, then yes, maybe you should think about cutting back.

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So Why Are There So Many of These Articles?

Aside from researchers鈥� ability to detect individual molecules of just about anything present in a product, there are two other factors:

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First, there are about 10,000 scientific journals publishing on at least a monthly basis. The quality of these journals varies widely, but the words 鈥榩ublished scientific study鈥� sound credible to a lot of people. Not all of the studies cited are even credible : an oft-cited study about parabens in breast cancer tumors included no comparative measures for healthy tissues., which also contain 鈥榤easurable amounts鈥� of parabens.

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Second, social 鈥榳atchdog鈥� groups and click-hungry social media combine to create hysteria. A lot of the people writing 鈥榮care鈥� articles based on 鈥榩ublished scientific studies鈥� aren鈥檛 trained in scientific writing. Even major women鈥檚 websites assign bloggers who clearly don鈥檛 understand the material to write polemics about newly published scientific studies (lookin鈥� at you,听!). And all media outlets, my own included, want as many clicks as they can get. If you鈥檙e willing to play the fear and outrage cards, the lure of writing clickbait is hard to resist.

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So how do we read these articles?

First, look for the numbers. Vague words like 鈥榙etectable鈥� and 鈥榤easurable鈥� are routinely used to warn us about the toxins in our cosmetics. But it鈥檚 rare to see a 鈥榮care鈥� article that tells how much of the hazardous ingredient is in the product, and how much it takes to harm a person. If they did, we might not be as scared, and might not share it on FaceBook.

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Second, look for the motive. What does the article鈥檚 author want you to do about this? Sign a petition? Be afraid or outraged so the advertisers can console you? Buy a book or product?

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Third, realize that 鈥榗osmetics companies鈥� are not trying to harm you. Naysayers will note that the cosmetics industry is not officially FDA regulated: it is self regulated, by members of the industry and the FDA. And no, the FDA does not听have听to approve new cosmetic products before they hit the shelves, but it can yank them fast if they are found to be unsafe. Cosmetics companies do not want to make products that get recalled 鈥� they spend far too much money on development and marketing, and live in fear of lawsuits. Besides, killing paying customers is not a good marketing strategy.

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But Meli, Don鈥檛 You Love Your Natural Skincare Companies?

Yes, it鈥檚 true: I love my bioorganic, plant-based skincare, but that鈥檚 because I鈥檝e got a mystical hippie streak in me that believes full plant extracts have more to offer than chemical isolates. This is not a mainstream scientifically accepted idea 鈥� it鈥檚 fringe, and I鈥檒l own it as such. I also know that any reputable organic skincare is formulated by cosmetic chemists in a lab, using the same rigorous approach to composition, safety, and efficacy as their counterparts in more conservative companies. And I鈥檓 pretty sure researchers could find 鈥榤easurable amounts鈥� of听something听toxic in those products as well.

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But I鈥檓 not letting publicity-hungry media outlets and 鈥榳atchdog鈥� groups use pseudoscience to scare me into a corner 鈥� and now that I鈥檝e shared Dr. Joe鈥檚 breakdown of how scientists assess risk in these matters, you don鈥檛 have to, either.

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