Dying to Look Good : The Disturbing Truth About What's Really in Your Cosmetics, Toiletries and Personal Care Products - Softcover

Farlow, Christine H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 096356353X ISBN 13: 9780963563538

Publisher: Keep It Simple Secrets for Hea, 2000

Synopsis

Who would expect that making a profit would be more important than people's health and their lives? Yet, this is exactly the case in the cosmetics industry. Cosmetics and toiletries are laden with toxic chemicals, many carcinogenic. Makeup, hair coloring products, baby powder, shaving cream, mouthwash and toothpaste are just a few of the products that contain cancer-causing ingredients. Even products that are supposed to be gentle and mild for babies often contain toxic, irritating chemicals.

Dying to Look Good tells you if the cosmetic and personal care products you're buying contain dangerous ingredients. It reveals what manufacturers don't want you to know about their products and shows you how to find the truth behind deceptive product packaging. You will learn how to confidently read labels so you know how safe your cosmetics and toiletries are.

This book classifies over 1200 cosmetic ingredients according to safety, whether they may cause allergic reactions, whether they have been reviewed by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review Panel and if they are approved or recognized as safe by the FDA. It also lists over 750 cosmetic and personal care products that have been evaluated as "safe." In just seconds, you can find out if an ingredient in the product you're buying is harmful and you can identify safer products for yourself and your family.

About this title

About the Author

The study of health and nutrition has been a passion for Dr. Christine Farlow since 1975. Before she ever earned the title of doctor, people were coming to her unsolicited and asking for advice about health and nutrition. It just seemed natural that the next step would be to become a doctor and make it her business to counsel patients in these areas. Dr. Farlow is a Doctor of Chiropractic with a specialty in Nutrition. She has been counseling patients and teaching classes in health and nutrition since 1984. Her books evolved out of her teaching and her nutritional counseling. These were the tools she found that people needed most to get started toward eating and living healthfully and to make healthy eating and healthy living a lifetime habit.

From the Back Cover

Buyer Beware!

The cosmetics industry is very poorly regulated. Many of the ingredients in the cosmetics, toiletries and personal care products we use every day are harmful. Some cause cancer.

Most products are labeled to "sell" rather than to provide accurate information about the product. Terms like natural and hypoallergenic do not have official definitions, so the manufacturers can use them to mean anything they want. This often leads to misleading information about the product on the label.

"Some people will do anything to look good in their coffins. ... Every person who uses cosmetics - male or female - should have this book when they go shopping, or look up the products they are currently using."
Lendon Smith, M.D.
How to Raise a Healthy Child

Dr. Christine Farlow has been counseling patients and teaching classes in health and nutrition since 1984. She has helped thousands of people achieve higher levels of health and well being.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

The codes below are to the left of each additive and indicate the safety of the additive when used for intended purposes in cos metics and toiletries.

* - GRAS - Generally Recognized As Safe by the FDA.

 - FDA approved colorant

- CIR (Cosmetic Ingredient Review) Expert Panel considers this ingredient safe

S - There is no known toxicity. The additive appears to be safe.

A - The additive may cause allergic reactions.

C - Caution is advised. The additive may be unsafe, poorly tested, or used in too many products we use on a regular basis.

C1 - Caution is advised for certain groups in the population, such as pregnant women, infants, persons with high blood pressure , kidney problems, etc.

X - The additive is unsafe or very poorly tested.

Why You Should Use This Book

Your health is affected not only by what you put into your body in terms of food, drink, drugs and nutritional supplements, but also by what you put on your body. Your skin is not an impenetrable barrier as was thought years ago. We now know that all che micals that come in contact with the skin can penetrate the skin in varying degrees. Many of the chemicals that can be absorbed through the skin have been detected in the blood stream.

Many of the ingredients used in cosmetics are toxic, even though they may not cause any reactions on the skin. Some even cause cancer. Some of the most commonly used ingredients combine with other ingredients to form cancer-causing substances. From 1978 to 1980, the FDA analyzed 300 cosmetic samples for carcinogenic contamination. Forty percent of the samples analyzed contained carcinogens. In 1991-92, they found that 65% of the cosmetic productt his product has not been determined."

This is not true, however, of hair coloring products, which are among the most poorly regulated consumer products. There is no requirement to place a warning on the label of hair coloring products to inform consumers that these products cause cancer. Usi ng hair dye increasee is strong evidence that as much as 20% of the cases of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in U.S. women may be a result of using hair dyes.

According to John Bailey, Ph.D., director of the FDAs your risk for multiple myeloma, Hodgkins sampled contained carcinogenic contaminants.

The cosmetics industry is very poorly regulated. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act does not require cosmetics or their ingredients to be approved before they are marketed and sold to consumers. FDA regulation starts after they are already i n the marketplace. So, except for color additives and a few ingredients which are banned, manufacturers may use whatever ingred ients they choose in the cosmetics they produce without approval from the FDA.

However, the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act requires cosmetic manufacturers to list the ingredients on the label of every cosm etic product sold directly to consumers in descending order of quantity. In other words, the ingredient present in the largest quantity appears first on the label and the ingredient present is the smallest quantity appears last.

Cosmetic manufacturers are not required to prove the claims they make about their products or to test their products for safety. However, if the product

Edition details

• Publisher: Keep It Simple Secrets for Hea
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 096356353X
• ISBN 13: 9780963563538
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 136