A study shows that 400 shades of lipsticks contain lead, including five made by L'Oreal and Maybelline that were ranked in the top 10 most contaminated of cosmetics, according to testing by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Two Cover Girl and two NARS lipsticks also landed in the top 10. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has been insisting the government to set limits for lead levels in lipstick, but the FDA resisted, saying the amounts of lead detected in testing do not pose safety risks. However, consumer groups have been pushing the government to take action because federal regulators have no scientific evidence for this conclusion. Reports of lead in lipstick have dated back to the 1990s and in 2007, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics tested 33 red lipsticks and found that two-thirds contained lead and that one-thirds exceeded the FDA's limit for lead in candy. But the FDA said that comparing lipstick to candy is unfair because candy is ingested and lipstick is ingested much less than candy. The Personal Care Products Council chief scientist, Halyna Breslawec, said her group has petitioned the agency to limit the amount of lead allowed in cosmetics. The agreement on what the limit should be is 10 parts per million.
Breslawec said that lead is not intentionally put in lipstick or any other cosmetic but that many color additives approved by the FDA are mineral-based and contain trace levels of lead that is naturally found in soil, water and air. The FDA found that the highest lead concentration is in Maybelline's Color Sensational Pink Petal lipstick, containing 7.19 parts per million. “We do not consider the lead levels we found in the lipsticks to be a safety concern. The lead levels we found are within the limits recommended by other public health authorities for lead in cosmetics”, the FDA said in its online comments. However, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics had different results and stated that the lead content in Maybelline's Pink Petal lipstick is more than twice as high as levels found in FDA's report.
The least contaminated product, Wet ’n’ Wild Mega Mixers Lip Balm, was also the least expensive, “demonstrating that price is not an indicator of good manufacturing practices”, the FDA said. “Lead builds in the body over time, and lead-containing lipstick applied several times a day, every day, can add up to significant exposure levels,” Mark Mitchell, co-chairman of the Environmental Health Task Force for the National Medical Association, said. California has concluded that the concentration of lead in lipsticks was too low to trigger the law. The duty to warn consumers would not rise until the lead concentration reached five parts per million, the state said. In the FDA’s study, the majority of the lipsticks fell below that but two exceeded it — Maybelline’s Pink Petal and L’Oreal’s Colour Riche Volcanic. However, the California attorney general’s office has taken no further action.
I didn't know that lipstick and cosmetics contained lead until reading this article. Now I'm glad that I don't use lipstick or any type of cosmetics. Lead is a dangerous toxin, especially to children. The FDA concluded that there’s no safe level of lead exposure for children, so we need to prevent children and pregnant women from exposure. Women are the ones mostly using lipstick and it could harm pregnant women and their babies. We need to bring awareness to this problem because a lot of people put lipstick on many times a day. If consumers know, they could take precautions to protect themselves from exposure. Hopefully, if everyone knew about this, we can limit or even completely eliminate the amount of lead put into lipsticks!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/400-lipstick-brands-contain-lead-fda-says/2012/02/14/gIQAhOyeDR_story.html
Article by Dina ElBoghdady on February 14,2012.
Breslawec said that lead is not intentionally put in lipstick or any other cosmetic but that many color additives approved by the FDA are mineral-based and contain trace levels of lead that is naturally found in soil, water and air. The FDA found that the highest lead concentration is in Maybelline's Color Sensational Pink Petal lipstick, containing 7.19 parts per million. “We do not consider the lead levels we found in the lipsticks to be a safety concern. The lead levels we found are within the limits recommended by other public health authorities for lead in cosmetics”, the FDA said in its online comments. However, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics had different results and stated that the lead content in Maybelline's Pink Petal lipstick is more than twice as high as levels found in FDA's report.
The least contaminated product, Wet ’n’ Wild Mega Mixers Lip Balm, was also the least expensive, “demonstrating that price is not an indicator of good manufacturing practices”, the FDA said. “Lead builds in the body over time, and lead-containing lipstick applied several times a day, every day, can add up to significant exposure levels,” Mark Mitchell, co-chairman of the Environmental Health Task Force for the National Medical Association, said. California has concluded that the concentration of lead in lipsticks was too low to trigger the law. The duty to warn consumers would not rise until the lead concentration reached five parts per million, the state said. In the FDA’s study, the majority of the lipsticks fell below that but two exceeded it — Maybelline’s Pink Petal and L’Oreal’s Colour Riche Volcanic. However, the California attorney general’s office has taken no further action.
I didn't know that lipstick and cosmetics contained lead until reading this article. Now I'm glad that I don't use lipstick or any type of cosmetics. Lead is a dangerous toxin, especially to children. The FDA concluded that there’s no safe level of lead exposure for children, so we need to prevent children and pregnant women from exposure. Women are the ones mostly using lipstick and it could harm pregnant women and their babies. We need to bring awareness to this problem because a lot of people put lipstick on many times a day. If consumers know, they could take precautions to protect themselves from exposure. Hopefully, if everyone knew about this, we can limit or even completely eliminate the amount of lead put into lipsticks!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/400-lipstick-brands-contain-lead-fda-says/2012/02/14/gIQAhOyeDR_story.html
Article by Dina ElBoghdady on February 14,2012.