What Are You Soaking Yourself In?

By Melanie DesChatelets, BSc(h), ND • February 20th, 2011 • 11006 Views

What everybody should know about personal care products in their bathroom. Nutritional and exercise science have demonstrated that what we eat and what we do can make a huge difference in a multitude of disease end-point markers; but what about what we soak in?

Despite many advancements in science very little is known about chemicals we put on our skin and the impact that it has on our system.  Over 10 500 ingredients are used in personal care products.  The average person uses 10 different cosmetic and personal care products daily, each of which contain a plethora of chemical ingredients.  You must be thinking sure that is probably true but why should we worry?  They must be tested for safety and properly regulated, right?

The purpose of this article is to shed some light of what we do and don’t know about this subject and most importantly to give you some practical tips on how to decrease your exposure to some potentially harmful chemicals.

The reality about regulation

“Cosmetic products and ingredients are not subject to FDA pre-market approval authority, with the exception of color additives. Cosmetic firms are responsible for substantiating the safety of their products and ingredients before marketing.” - FDA

Bottom line:  Proving safety is the responsibility of the cosmetic firm. The same firm who will be economically benefiting from this product. Ideally, the manufacturer is accountable, responsible and is not influenced by the financial impact of these decisions.  The reality is that making unbiased decisions can be very difficult with the lack or minimal research that exists on these chemical ingredients.  The research has not been able to keep up with the 10 500 chemical ingredients in existence.  Does the lack of research equal safety?  Many would argue that it does not.  However, it appears many cosmetic firms will say it does until proven otherwise.

Um, but there are many chemicals that do show preliminary animal *in-vivo *studies that indicate potential carcinogenic and hormone disrupting properties.  A common response is that the exposure of the chemical ingredient in their product is not in any considerable quantity that is proven to be potentially dangerous to humans.  In addition, this means that everyone is only concerned about one product at a time.  No one stops to think, “well if these chemicals are in most of the products, what is the synergistic exposure?” Not one manufacturer needs to consider overall exposure and synergistic risk. No one...

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Location:  Vancouver, CA

Mélanie DesChâtelets, BSc(h), ND, is a licensed Naturopathic Physician committed to recognizing and attending to the fundamental antecedents of illness. Using the synergistic power of groundbreaking scientificevidence and long standing historical evidence in natural medicine, Mélanie strives to empower individuals to...