Popular brands like Cover Girl, L’Oreal and Christian Dior have been found to contain lead. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of public health, environmental and women’s groups, stated that tests done on 33 brand name red lipsticks done by Bodycote Testing Group showed that 61% had evident levels of lead, 0.03 to 0.06 parts per million (ppm). A third of the tested lipsticks contained lead that exceeded the FDA limit of 0.01 in candy. As you know, lipstick like candy can be ingested, thus the cause for alarm. Those most at risk to exposure are children and pregnant women. The manufacturers however countered that the amount of lead from a lip product a woman can get exposed to “is hundreds of times less than the amount that she would get from eating, breathing and drinking water.” This did not appease the growing number of concerned citizens as lipstick is used several times daily and lead can build up in the body over time. This significantly increases the risk of lead exposure, and there is actually no safe level of exposure when it comes to lead. Of note, the more expensive popular brands had higher levels of lead than the less expensive brands.
Oct 12
Recent Comments