14 DAY TRIAL // Gone are the times when women would willingly use lead-laden cosmetic products just to get that pale, ghostly aspect that was so revered many years ago. Today, the industry is aiming for healthy products that do not impact the environment, or so major companies claim. A recent FDA investigation shows that many brands of lipstick now available on the market contain many times more than the allowed quantity of lead, as physorg can confirm.
Apparently, the measure of testing lipstick for lead should have been long coming, as eco-nonprofit organizations like Campaign for Safe Cosmetics have been lobbying for it for years. In 2007, for instance, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found lead in 61 percent of the 33 lipsticks tested, in spite of the fact that the substance was not listed as an ingredient on any of them. As physorg puts it, the actual numbers are even higher than that.
“The bad news: The FDA found lead at levels four times higher than even what Campaign for Safe Cosmetics Found! The really bad news: The FDA won’t name names – despite admitting that three specific manufacturers had the highest levels of lead in their lipsticks. And as of yet, the FDA has no standard for lead in lipstick – so toxic lipstick’s fair game.” the aforementioned publication says.
What this means is that, as of now, women are left only with the choice of staying informed and making sure they avoid such products altogether, since no measure can yet be taken against brands that manufacture lead-based lipstick. Many of them state that such a thing is not even possible, physorg further adds, but women should not be deceived by this or their promise that the lead levels in their products are well underneath the red line. They should, instead, buy only lipstick that has the lead-free stamp on it or organic lip balms.
“How much lead are we talking? Well, the FDA found lead in all 20 lipsticks it tested – with the average level being 1.07 ppm – a level 10 times higher than the FDA’s 0.1 ppm limit for lead in candy, which doesn’t bode well for kids who might use a parent’s lipstick while playing dress up. Even scarier, the highest lead level the FDA found was 3.06 ppm!” physorg further points out.