The Green Beauty Guide

Popular lipsticks contain massive levels of lead, found the new study by FDA - and these levels are even higher than those reported in 2007 by the consumer advocacy group Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

This new analysis, conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, used a technology called “inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry” to assess lead levels in 22 different lipsticks, all in shades of red.

FDA does have authority to regulate color additives in cosmetics, but not other ingredients.
No wonder, FDA is powerless against the cosmetic giants. Hence, they said:

“Lipstick is a product intended for topical use, and is only ingested incidentally and in very small quantities,” said FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Kwisnek. “FDA does not consider the lead levels that it found in lipsticks to be a safety concern.”

So why did you guys bother to conduct a new study? How many years (and sick children) will it take FDA to admit truth?

According to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, the average level of lead found in the lipsticks — 1.7 parts per million — is more than 10 times higher than the standard imposed on candy.

Even low levels of lead can accumulate in the body to dangerous amounts, especially in fetuses and children.

“If you put this on your mouth every day, or little kids’ mouths or when you’re pregnant, this small amount of lead [is] building up in a way that would actually affect infants, fetuses and young children significantly over time,” says Dr. Sean Palfrey, a professor of pediatrics and public health at Boston University School of Medicine and medical director of Boston’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Program.

In the current study, FDA said that lipsticks from three manufacturers had the highest amounts of lead, but it did not specify the brands.

L’Oreal, Cover Girl, Christian Dior and Maybelline were among the brands found to have high lead levels in a 2007 study by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

For example, L’Oreal Colour Riche True Red had a lead content of 0.65 parts per million, L’Oreal Colour Riche Classic Wine had 0.58 parts per million and Cover Girl’s IncrediFull Lipcolor Maximum Red had 0.56 parts per million.

“Don’t buy it,” Palfrey said. “It’s apparent that no lead is really good for you, so if you’re a company that’s making a cosmetic, why include lead at all when you can make a perfectly equal adequate product without lead?”