Caveat emptor

Vegetarian Times, Oct, 2004

Nearly 90 percent of ingredients in popular personal care products have never been evaluated to determine whether they are safe--not by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or even by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR), a board established by the cosmetics industry to provide voluntary safety testing. A 6-month study of health and safety assessments of more than 10,000 personal care product ingredients conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and released on July 1, 2004, also found:

* One in every 120 products on the market contains ingredients certified by the federal government as known or probable human carcinogens. These products include shampoos, lotions, makeup foundations and lip balms.

* Seventy-one hair dye products include ingredients derived from coal tar, a carcinogen.

* Fifty-five percent of all products contained "penetration enhancers" to increase absorption into the skin and bloodstream. Fifty products contained these penetration enhancers in combination with known or probable carcinogens. For information about 25 specific products, EWG has posted a chart on its Web site, www.ewg.org.