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Today's Health Update
Oct. 13th, 2007 12:43 amEver since I can remember, I've been telling people that cleaners like Lysol and Pine-Sol, and air fresheners make my asthma worse. Many people react with, "But you need it to smell clean!!!"
A new Spanish study bears me out. Weekly use of cleaning sprays, including furniture polish, disinfectants, window cleaners and air fresheners, increased asthma symptoms and medication use by 50%. The incidence was higher among those using them more often.
Exposure to spray cleaning products could account for one in seven adult asthma cases.
Speaking of exposure, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics wants you to know that there is lead in your lipstick. It's not China this time: elite U.S. manufacturers are the biggest culprits.
Quoting the report: In August 2007, members of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics in Boston, Hartford, Conn., Minneapolis and San Francisco purchased a variety of red lipsticks from retail stores in their communities. We asked the shoppers to go to local drug stores, big‐box discount chains, high‐end cosmetics shops and department stores and buy red lipsticks at all price levels. Thirty‐three unopened red lipsticks were collected and sent to the Bodycote Testing Group laboratory in Sante Fe Springs, Calif.
Even "natural" products, like Burt's Bees were found to have detectable amounts of lead. Their Lip Shimmer Merlot tested at 0.09 ppm. Both expensive and inexpensive brands were found to contain lead. Different lots of the same shade were found to differ by as much as 0.15ppm. The list is by no means exhaustive.
( Lipsticks with lead levels higher than 0.1 ppm )
The average woman ingests nine pounds of lipstick in her lifetime. In addition, lead does not have to be ingested to enter the body. It can be absorbed directly through the skin. Pregnant women and children are the most susceptible to the effects of lead.
The FDA has announced that they will be investigating the campaign's claims, noting that it's own analyses have not supported the claims.
A trade industry spokesman called the levels "quite low" and "not something that is a cause for concern".
A new Spanish study bears me out. Weekly use of cleaning sprays, including furniture polish, disinfectants, window cleaners and air fresheners, increased asthma symptoms and medication use by 50%. The incidence was higher among those using them more often.
Exposure to spray cleaning products could account for one in seven adult asthma cases.
Speaking of exposure, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics wants you to know that there is lead in your lipstick. It's not China this time: elite U.S. manufacturers are the biggest culprits.
Quoting the report: In August 2007, members of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics in Boston, Hartford, Conn., Minneapolis and San Francisco purchased a variety of red lipsticks from retail stores in their communities. We asked the shoppers to go to local drug stores, big‐box discount chains, high‐end cosmetics shops and department stores and buy red lipsticks at all price levels. Thirty‐three unopened red lipsticks were collected and sent to the Bodycote Testing Group laboratory in Sante Fe Springs, Calif.
Even "natural" products, like Burt's Bees were found to have detectable amounts of lead. Their Lip Shimmer Merlot tested at 0.09 ppm. Both expensive and inexpensive brands were found to contain lead. Different lots of the same shade were found to differ by as much as 0.15ppm. The list is by no means exhaustive.
( Lipsticks with lead levels higher than 0.1 ppm )
The average woman ingests nine pounds of lipstick in her lifetime. In addition, lead does not have to be ingested to enter the body. It can be absorbed directly through the skin. Pregnant women and children are the most susceptible to the effects of lead.
The FDA has announced that they will be investigating the campaign's claims, noting that it's own analyses have not supported the claims.
A trade industry spokesman called the levels "quite low" and "not something that is a cause for concern".
