High lead in many lipsticks incl. Christian Dior, L'Oreal & Cover Girl

[Raerae]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071011/...pstick_lead_dc

Quote:

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Lipsticks tested by a U.S. consumer rights group found that more than half contained lead and some popular brands including Cover Girl, L'Oreal and Christian Dior had more lead than others, the group said on Thursday.

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The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics said tests on 33 brand-name red lipsticks by the Bodycote Testing Group in Santa Fe Spring, California, found that 61 percent had detectable lead levels of 0.03 to 0.65 parts per million (ppm).

Lipstick, like candy, is ingested. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of public health, environmental and women's groups, said the FDA has not set a limit for lead in lipstick.

One-third of the lipsticks tested contained an amount of lead that exceeded the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's 0.1 ppm limit for lead in candy -- a standard established to protect children from ingesting lead, the group said. Thirty-nine percent of the lipsticks tested had no discernible lead, it said.

"It's critical that manufacturers reformulate their product," said Stacy Malkan, a co-founder of the coalition. "It's possible to make lipsticks without lead, and all companies should be doing that."

Lead can cause learning, language and behavioral problems such as reduced school performance and increased aggression. Pregnant women and young children are particularly vulnerable to lead exposure, the group said in its statement. Lead has also been linked to infertility and miscarriage, it said.

Procter & Gamble Co's makes Cover Girl brand and France's L'Oreal is one of the largest cosmetic companies in the world.

Over the last three months, more than 20 million toys made in China have been recalled, mostly due to the use of lead paint.

The coalition said that some less expensive brands it had tested, such as Revlon, had no detectable levels of lead, while the more expensive Dior Addict brand had higher levels than some other brands.

The Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association trade group said in a statement that lead was a naturally occurring element that was not intentionally added to cosmetics.

The FDA has "set strict limits for lead levels allowed in the colors used in lipsticks, and actually analyze most of these to ensure they are followed," the association's statement said. "The products identified in the (CSC) report meet these standards."

L'Oreal's U.S. arm said its products are reviewed and tested by a safety team that includes toxicologists, pharmacists and doctors.

"All the brands of the L'Oreal Group are in full compliance with FDA regulations" as well as safety requirements in international markets, L'Oreal USA said in a statement.

P&G said in a statement that the quantity of lead a consumer might be exposed to from its lip product "is hundreds of times less than the amount that she would get from eating, breathing and drinking water."

"Lead builds up in the body over time and lead-containing lipstick applied several times a day, every day, can add up to significant exposure levels. The latest studies show there is no safe level of lead exposure," said Dr. Mark Mitchell, president of the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice.

I had heard rumors about this like a month ago... Guess it's true. In the e-mail I got it said you could check for lead by putting some of your lipstick on your hand, letting it dry, and then rubbing a gold piece of jewelery next to it, and if the lipstick turned black, it had lead in it.

Not sure how true that little test is. But be safe with your lippies heh.

[ilurvemakeup]

I saw this from a youtuber, true or not it's a great article. Something I am very cautious about is chemicals going in my face, body, hair etc. I'm not huge on lipstick so maybe this was a good thing Be very careful everyone!

[meiming]

Wow, read this article. My friend just forwarded it to me.
So scary because as I was reading it, I was wearing L'Oreal l/s

Christian Dior, L'Oreal, and Cover Girl
lipsticks have the highest amount of lead.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21265344/

[MAC_Whore]

Here is the report from The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics:

A Poison Kiss

[frocher]

Read this article, it may ease some of your fears:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/lipstick.asp


I do think they should take all lead out of these products though, why take chances. I am sure they can make formulations that don't contain these kinds of ingredients that are just as good.

[meiming]

I did hear about that. I believe it's a few years old. I also saw this today sometime later...
http://www.notjustaprettyface.org/
it links to the safecosmetics.org site and explains some more

[frocher]

Honestly I think if this was as serious a problem as they say there would be far more cases of lead poisoning. One third of lipsticks tested exceeded the FDAs lead limit for candy. Lipstick is not consumed like candy. While I would prefer that they did away with lead all together, I am not concerned about it being in my lipstick at those levels.

[meiming]

I for one don't trust the FDA farther than I can throw them but that's for various reasons beyond what we are talking about. You may be right, but I figured it's still a good fyi for people and they can judge what's right for themselves. Since I work in healthcare, I may be a bit more cautious than some

[MrsRjizzle]

Look I found the list.....

Lipsticks and lead: The rankings

Updated Fri. Oct. 12 2007 5:37 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics had 33 brand-name lipsticks tested by an independent laboratory. The lipsticks were purchased in Boston, Ma., Hartford, Conn., San Francisco, Ca. and Minneapolis, Mn.
The group includes this text as part of its "buyer beware" list:
"The lipsticks tested for this report may or may not be representative of the entire lipstick market. The lead levels could vary widely for other shades, and as the results below demonstrate, levels are not consistent by brand, shade or state of purchase," it says.
"This list should not be used to decide which brands are safe or unsafe. Instead it highlights two important findings: First, there is lead in some lipsticks and consumers cannot determine which those are from the ingredients, the price or the brand. Second, there are lipsticks containing no detectable levels of lead at every price level."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said it would examine the findings, but warned that similar claims had not been confirmed in the past.
Lipsticks with less than 0.02 parts per million (ppm) lead Brand Product
Name/Shade Lead Parent
Company State Purchase
Date Avon Ultra Color Rich
Cherry Jubilee<0.02AvonMA* 08/27/07 Body Shop Lip Colour Garnet<0.02L'OrealMA 08/27/07 Body Shop Lip Colour Garnet<0.02L'OrealCA 08/27/07 Clinique Long Last
Lipstick Merlot<0.02
Estee LauderMA 08/27/07 Dior Replenishing Lipcolor
Red Premiere<0.02
LVMHMA 08/27/07 Estee Lauder Maraschino<0.02Estee LauderMN 08/26/07 MAC Matte Lipstick
Viva Glam 1 <0.02 Estee Lauder MA 08/27/07 Revlon Superlustrous Love
That Red <0.02 Revlon CT 08/27/07
Revlon Superlustrous
Bed of Roses <0.02 Revlon CA 08/23/07 Revlon Colorstay Lipcolor
Red Velvet <0.02 Revlon CA 08/23/07 Tarte Inside Out
Vitamin Lipstick <0.02 Tarte MA 08/27/07 Wet N Wild Wild Mega Colors
Cherry Blossom <0.02 Markwins CA 08/23/07 Wet N Wild Wild Mega Colors
Cherry Blossom <0.02 Markwins
CT 08/27/07Lipsticks with detectable levels of lead but less than 0.1 ppm lead (the FDA-recommended limit for candy) MAC Matte Lipstick
Viva Glam 0.03 Estee Lauder MN 08/26/07 Revlon
Love That Red 0.03 Revlon MN 08/26/07
Cover Girl Queen Collection
Ruby Remix 0.03 P & G CT 08/27/07
Clinique Long Last Paprika 0.03 Estee Lauder CA 08/23/07 Dior Replenishing Lipcolor
Red Premiere 0.04 LVMH CA 08/26/07 Body Shop Garnet 0.06 L'Oreal MN 08/26/07 Wet N Wild Cherry Frost 0.06 Markwins MN 08/26/07 Clinique Red 0.09 Estee Lauder MN 08/26/07 Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer Merlot 0.09 Burt's Bees MA 08/29/07Lipsticks with lead levels higher than 0.1 ppm Maybelline NY Moisture Extreme
Scarlet Simmer 0.11 L'Oreal CT 08/27/07 Cover Girl Incredifull Lipcolor
Maximum Red 0.12 P & G CA 08/23/07 Peacekeeper Paint Me
Compassionate 0.12 Peacekeeper MA 08/27/07 Maybelline NY Moisture Extreme
Midnight Red 0.18 L'Oreal MN 08/26/07 Maybelline NY Moisture Extreme
Cocoa Plum
0.19 L'Oreal CA 08/23/07 Dior Addict Positive Red 0.21
LVMH CA 08/23/07
Cover Girl Continuous Color
Cherry Brandy 0.28 P & G CA 08/23/07 L'Oreal Colour Riche
True Red 0.50 L'Oreal MN 08/26/07 Cover Girl Incredifull Lipcolor
Maximum Red 0.56 P & G MN 08/26/07 L'Oreal Colour Riche
Classic Wine 0.58 L'Oreal CT 08/27/07 L'Oreal Colour Riche
True Red 0.65 L'Oreal CA 08/23/07

[MrsRjizzle]

sorry it didnt post well here is the link

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...1012/20071012/

[dollparts]

yes, it's true ladies :S whoever thought paying $40 for dior lipstick was because of quality, is clearly kicking themselves now =(
I just watched a clip on Global News Toronto, and some of the colours were CG Maximum Red and Dior Addict in Positive Red.
Here is also an article from NBC:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21265344/

[dollparts]

and it's known the FDA does not have premarket approval authority over the cosmetics being produced...

[dollparts]

Wonder how MAC ranks? I see they have listed Viva Glam 1 as having less than .01 ppm of lead... but wonder how the others compare?

[reesesilverstar]

Okay, so this caught my attention on MSN video today. I tried to do some research for rankings, and found only 1 site. I haven't found anything published by the FDA.
Here's the link. Hope this helps.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...1012/20071012/

[reesesilverstar]

Okay, so I just saw somebody posted the link already...

Ha ha, me and my late self at 10 in the night...

[goink]

http://www.welovebeauty.com/beauty-m...aded-with-lead

an article to try to put some comfort back into lipsticks.

[redambition]

as to why they chose the lippies they did - they were only testing red lipsticks.

correct me if i'm wrong, but from memory red colouring would be the one most likely to contain trace amounts of lead, given that there is a very commonly used red dye that does usually contain trace amounts of lead. The safe limit of lead in that red dye is listed by the FDA as 20ppm.

then they are also comparing the safe level of lead in lipsticks to candy. the FDA safe level of 0.1ppm of lead in candy is described as "candy likely to be consumed frequently by small children". i don't know about anyone else, but i don't eat my entire lipsticks. the amount of lipstick put on the lips in a week much, much less than eating a few candies (just look at the weight of a lipstick, you don't get much and it takes ages to use it up!)... and not all of the lipstick you put on your lips is ingested.

the amounts of lead they are talking about are also incredibly small. they're talking parts per million.

1 part per million = 1mg/1kg

so let's take the highest rating lipstick: L'Oreal Colour Riche True Red (0.65 ppm)

if you had 1 kilogram (2.2lbs) of this lipstick, there would be 0.65mg (0.00002292807oz) of lead.

kind of puts it into perspective. i still think that yes, there should be pressure put on cosmetics houses to reduce and work toward removing dangerous chemicals in cosmetics, but these numbers aren't huge so they don't warrant a panic.

for anyone interested, here's a snopes link explaining a lot of this stuff:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/lipstick.asp

[dollparts]

I also read in my fav mag Allure, that a doctor said we eat about 4 pounds of lipstick in our entire lifetime... i don't know about anyone else, but that's clearly enough to effect our health... I mean, sure we don't intentionally eat our lipstick, but we do lick our lips, drink coffee, eat stuff... in all these actions we do ingest lipstick.
I don't care what anybody says, lead in ANY amount isn't good.

[lovelyweapon]

Though I know it may not be a reliable source or even true, I thought I still might share a forward I received in my email regarding this and other brands of makeup that contain lead. I was quite surprised:

"Recently a lipstick brand called "Red Earth"
Decreased their prices from $67 to $9.90. It contained lead. Lead is a chemical which causes cancer. The lipstick brands that contain lead are:

CHRISTIAN DIOR

LANCÔME
CLINIQUE
Y.S.L

ESTEE LAUDER

SHISEIDO

RED EARTH (Lip Gloss)

CHANEL (Lip Conditioner)

MARKET AMERICA-MOTNES LIPSTICK.

The higher the lead content,

The greater the chance of causing cancer.

After doing a test on lipsticks,

It was found that the Y.S.L. Lipstick

Contained the most amount of lead.

Watch out for those lipsticks

Which are supposed to stay longer.

If your lipstick stays longer, it is

Because of the higher content of lead.

Here is the test you can do yourself:

1. Put some lipstick on your hand.

2. Use a Gold ring to scratch on the lipstick.




3. If the lipstickcolour changes to black,




Then you know the lipstick contains lead.

[lovelyweapon]

I forgot to add the source:
From: Dr. Nahid Neman

In the breast cancer unit at Mt.SinaiHospital , in Toronto

[dialine13]

I remember reading about this. I didn't know that you can test out a lipstick though. My mom loves Lancome I'll mention this to her. Thanks for posting!

[sparklingmuse]

my boyfriend was watching the news a couple months ago, and they had a clip about high content lead in lipsticks. he said they did not mention any BRAND NAMES but when they videotaped the makeup. all the lipsticks they videotaped were MAC!!! and now after reading that estee uses lead that news clip might be right...gotta look into that.

[Dreamergirl3]

this might help clear things up
The Beauty Brains

eta: even before reading the beauty brains post, I kinda thought the ring thing was bogus. I can take a gold ring, or silver for that matter and rub it all over my face and it will be covered in black streaks. Guess I must be chock full of lead! hehe. My Aunt also used to tell me that meant I was anemic. lol.

[redambition]

lovelyweapon - that email is a fraud.

lead does not help lipstick be long wearing, it's not added to lipsticks as an ingredient.

as for the gold ring test - read this. the author actually tested this out and found that it's the ring, not the lipstick, that causes the dark colour.

dreamergirl3 - nice article there... hah, if only i'd read it before typing this out

[lovelyweapon]

Sorry guys for the misinformation..