"No, There Aren’t Toxic Amounts of Lead in Lipstick," By The Center for Accountability in Science Team. According to the Environmental Working Group, those scoundrels at the FDA are allowing toxic amounts of lead to poison lipstick lovers nationwide! Not so fast. After all, “according to EWG…” is not the same things as “it’s true that…” Last year, the FDA issued guidelines detailing how much lead is safe in lipsticks and other cosmetics. The agency found that products containing less than 10 … [Read more...]
EWG’s Skin-Deep Pseduoscience
December 20, 2016
"EWG Cries Racial Injustice Over Product Safety," by The Center for Accountability. Last week, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) once again stoked the flames of fear with pseudoscience. The group’s latest update to its Skin Deep Cosmetics Database identified 1 in 12 products marketed to African American women as being “highly hazardous,” with fewer than one fourth receiving a “low hazard” rating. Considering the average woman owns 40 different makeup products – a value that doesn’t even … [Read more...]
War on Women’s Personal Care Choices
November 1, 2016
"Activists Wage War on Women's Personal Care Choices," By Angela Logomasini, Ph.D. I suspect most women would agree that when you find a skin care product that works, you stick with it. But activist groups are waging war against many key ingredients in our personal care regimens based on highly speculative and questionable science. Both regulators and manufacturers are responding with product bans or “voluntary” product reformulations, leaving women with fewer options. For example, you may soon … [Read more...]
Green Alarmism and Halloween Makeup
October 22, 2015
"Sen. Schumer on Halloween Paint: Health Threat or Political Theater?" By American Council on Science and Health. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is afraid of face paint but does that mean you should be? In the scientization of politics trope, China is an easy target and no one wants to defend lead, so Sen. Schumer has invoked a science-y sounding activist group named the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. It’s a coalition of environmental fundraisers like the Breast Cancer Fund, which, it may not … [Read more...]
Nail Polish and Health
October 22, 2015
"Is Painting Your Nails Harming Your Health?," By Center for Accountability in Science. Earlier this week, the Environmental Working Group (an environmental activist group known for dubious science) released a new study with Duke University researchers that examined women’s levels of triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), a chemical sometimes used in nail polish. The researchers told the media women who painted their nails had “substantially higher” levels of TPHP than the general population and “These … [Read more...]
Not So Honest Company?
September 11, 2015
"Jessica Alba’s Company Sued for Being Not-So-‘Honest.’" by Center for Accountability in Science. A few weeks ago, we highlighted the problems with sunscreen sold by Jessica Alba’s Honest Company—despite being “all natural,” many consumers reported it didn’t actually stop them from getting sunburned. Now, the Honest Company is being sued for its ineffective products and misleading marketing. The company is currently fighting two lawsuits. Read more. … [Read more...]
Paltrow Uses Junk Science to Sell Her Cosmetics
July 30, 2015
"Gwyneth Paltrow Whips Up Consumer Fears to Promote New Organic Cosmetics Line," by Center for Accountability in Science. Gwyneth Paltrow isn’t exactly known for giving the best health advice. She advocates “detoxing” by severe diet restrictions, saunas, and colonics to “flush out” toxins—treatments that are at best useless (as Frank Sacks, MD, of the Harvard School of Public Health says, the idea that you need to help your body get rid of toxins has “no basis in human biology”) and at worst … [Read more...]
Handmade Soap Under Attack
May 13, 2015
"Big Cosmetic And Sen. Dianne Feinstein Go After Your Handmade Soap," By Hank Campbell. What do you have when someone declares that organic food should be separate from USDA oversight but organic soap should have special oversight if it is not made by a large corporation? A California politician. In this case, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who is obeying the wishes of every large cosmetics corporation and siccing the Food and Drug Administration on 300,000 primarily woman-owned handmade … [Read more...]
Fear of Parabens in Cosmetics is Unwarranted
September 2, 2014
"Fear of Parabens Compromises Safety of Certain Cosmetic Products," By American Council on Science and Health. Parabens are commonly used in foods and cosmetics as preservatives. Back in 2004, Dr. Philippa Darbre of the University of Reading published a study reporting that many breast cancer tumors contained parabens. This study resulted in an unwarranted fear of parabens based on the claim by Dr. Darbre that these preservatives have estrogen-like activity which has been linked to breast … [Read more...]
Parabens in Cosmetics
February 14, 2014
"Do Consumers Think About Parabens in Cosmetics?" by Perry Romanowski. If you spend a lot of time on the Internet surfing RSS feeds and social media, you could develop the notion that parabens are dangerous chemicals in cosmetics and that you should avoid products that contain them. Of course, actual science tells a different story and a review of all the scientific evidence by the independent scientists of the EU’s Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) indicates that parabens in … [Read more...]
Cosmetics and Cancer Claims
February 5, 2014
“Safe” Chemicals Used In Makeup and Skincare Doubles Cancer Risk by Katherine Corkill. Well I had hoped to not be broaching this subject yet again. However there was an article that I took exception to this month that was written by a gal in the UK for the Epoch Times. My particular concern is through her attempted proclamations of fact there was not a single link to support her objective. I have read countless arguments, misconstrued facts, skewed data only to see yet again another article … [Read more...]
Cosmetics Regulation
October 30, 2013
"Another Non-Problem Distracting the FDA: Cosmetic 'Safety,'" by American Council on Science and Health. Cosmetics funWhat’s up with our Federal government these days? Now that the government has un-shutdown, we find the FDA, our regulator with oversight over about one-third of all the goods and products in our commerce, dealing with many important issues. As if they didn’t have troubles enough assessing drug safety, how to deal with the supplement industry, food safety inspections, medical … [Read more...]
NRDC’s Junk Claims on “Endocrine-Disrupting” Chemicals
April 19, 2013
"National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Champions Shoddy Journalism on Endocrine Active Chemicals," By Jon Entine. As Jon Entine of the Genetic Literacy Project reports, the NRDC is not exactly known for scientific nuance. So, there was little surprise when blogger Mae Wu took to the cyberwaves recently to plug an NBC Dateline story promoting the alleged dangers of “endocrine disrupting” chemicals.According to Wu, we should all be shocked—yes shocked—that an NBC producer and her family found … [Read more...]
Hype about Chemicals in Cosmetics Hits New York Times
February 7, 2013
"NY Times’ Bittman: The Chemical Hitman," by American Council on Science and Health. New York Times columnist Mark Bittman isn’t content just to scare people on food issues — he’s now branched out into other topics. Today he writes in “The Cosmetics Wars,” about how American consumers are purportedly covering their faces, lips and hair with a long list of toxins. Read the full article in ACSH Dispatch. … [Read more...]
Pesticide and Cosmetics
December 14, 2012
"The Pesticide and Cosmetic Pests are Back," by American Council on Science and Health. As the year comes to an end, the scares keep coming, today — as often before — in the form of pesticides and cosmetics. These alarmist stories are simply baseless and raise needless consumer concerns based only on the precautionary principle. Read the full story in ACSH Dispatch. … [Read more...]
Scare Tactics Undermine Fight Against Breast Cancer
October 31, 2012
"Scare Tactics Distract from Finding a Cure,"by Carrie Lukas. With Halloween this week, one might assume that orange and black are the hands-down winners for favorite marketing décor. Yet pumpkins and witches hats have a formidable challenger in the pink ribbons signifying breast cancer awareness month, which currently adorn everything from grocery shelves to athletes’ uniforms. Read the full story on Townhall. … [Read more...]
Johnson & Johnson Goes “Beyond Science” to be Green
August 17, 2012
"Johnson & Johnson Kowtows to Chemophobic Activists," by American Council on Science and Health We were more than a bit dismayed to learn that health care and consumer product giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) plans on removing a number of allegedly “toxic” chemicals from its line of consumer products. J&J, which also owns popular skin care brands such as Neutrogena, Aveeno, and Clean & Clear, has pledged to remove certain chemicals from its baby products by the end of 2013 and reformulate all … [Read more...]
Changing the Debate on Chemicals
May 14, 2012
"Framing the Debate on Chemical Regulation," by Angela Logomasini Last week, CEI hosted a congressional briefing on chemical policy and regulation (the video of the event is forthcoming). A news story in Risk Policy Report covering the event proclaims: “Free- Free-Market Group Seeks To ‘Re-Frame’ Hill Debate Over Chemical Risk.” Indeed we do! Read the full story on CEI's OpenMarket.org … [Read more...]
Unlikely Link between Phthalates and Diabetes
April 16, 2012
"Scary common consumer products — not," by American Council on Science and Health. For years, agenda-driven activists have attempted to link phthalates to every conceivable ailment. And now, a new study twists and turns to try to link this class of chemicals — which are present in a wide variety of common products ranging from plastics to cosmetics — with a disease that afflicts many Americans: diabetes. The authors’ own interpretation of this questionable study indicates that exposure to … [Read more...]
Cancer Rates, BPA, and Makeup
March 30, 2012
"Cancer rates dropping in the U.S.," by American Council on Science and Health. ACSH is happy to note, yet again, that both U.S. cancer incidence and death rates continue to fall. The latest report, issued annually since 1998 and published in the journal Cancer, is compiled by various health agencies including the CDC and the American Cancer Society and includes nearly every cancer case reported through 2008. According to the statistics, the rate of new cancer cases has been decreasing at a … [Read more...]
Congressional Hearings on Cosmetics
March 27, 2012
"Congressional Blowout Over Cosmetics Law Reform," by Angela Logomasini. Today, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on cosmetics regulation to consider whether Congress should beef up federal law to ensure public health and safety. Ironically, many calls for federal action came from industry, mostly small firms that simply want the freedom to innovate and market products across state lines without running up against 50 different sets of rules and who want to … [Read more...]
Neurotic Green Hype about Chemicals
March 19, 2012
"The Land of the Free, and the Home of the Neurotic," By Josh Bloom. Many things in life make me crazy. It doesn't take much, as anyone that knows me will confirm. So, it is no surprise that the feature article in last week's Times called "Is It Safe to Play Yet?" did the job. But it happened before the end of second sentence. And that takes something special. Things certainly have changed since I was a kid. People had a slightly different idea of the meaning of the word "safe." Biking to … [Read more...]
