Lead in lipstick is a real — but avoidable — danger. From Green Goes With Everything: Simple Steps to a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet by Sloan Barnett, a regular contributor to NBC’s Today show
We’ve read a lot recently about lead in children’s toys, and about how quickly toymakers have yanked those products off the market when the lead was discovered. But lead in lipstick doesn’t get either the same kind of media play or the same kind of rapid corporate response. Millions of women unwittingly smear lead on their lips every day. The consumer organization Campaign for Safe Cosmetics recently hired an independent laboratory to test red lipsticks bought in Boston, Hartford, San Francisco, and Minneapolis. Why red? Because that’s the color where lead is naturally more present.
The results were sobering. Of thirty-three brand-name lipsticks tested, 61 percent contained detectable levels of lead, with levels ranging from 0.03 to 0.65 parts per million (ppm). Without a study like this, you have no way of knowing how much lead is in the lipstick you use; it’s never listed as an ingredient.
Is the amount of lead in lipstick significant? That’s hard to say, but here’s one way of looking at it: One-third of the tested lipsticks exceeded the FDA’s 0.1 ppm limit for lead in candy.
Well candy, sure. But who eats lipstick, after all? Answer: We do. Any woman or girl who uses lipstick does. Every day. Glamour magazine figures the average woman inadvertently consumes some four pounds of lipstick in a lifetime. We do it simply by eating, drinking, and licking our lips.
Lead is a proven neurotoxin. What’s more, it accumulates in the body over time. Even very small exposures add up. That’s why it is understood now that there is no “safe” level of exposure to lead. If you’re pregnant, lead can cross the placenta and may enter your unborn baby’s brain. Lead has been linked to miscarriage, reduced fertility in men and women, hormonal changes, menstrual irregularities, and delays in the onset of puberty, among other health problems.
But here’s one of the most interesting things about the study: Almost 40 percent of the lipsticks tested, all of which were red, had no detectable levels of lead. Clearly, red lipstick doesn’t have to contain lead. What’s more, cost isn’t a factor. It didn’t matter whether the lipstick was expensive or cheap; some had a lot of lead, some didn’t. The more expensive brands are just as likely to contain lead as the cheaper drugstore brands.
Here’s a list of lipstick brands to which the Environmental Working Group’s database gives a high safety rating:
- Aubrey Organics, aubrey-organics.com
- Dr. Hauschka Skin Care, drhauschka.com
- Ecco Bella, eccobella.com
- Gabriel Cosmetics, gabrielcosmeticsinc.com
- Jane Iredale, janeiredale.com
- Josie Maran Cosmetics, josiemarancosmetics.com
- Paul Penders, paulpenders.com
- Nvey Eco, econveybeauty.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sloan Barnett, author of Green Goes with Everything: Simple Steps to a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet (Copyright © 2008 by Sloan Barnett), is a regular contributor to NBC’s Today show and the Green Editor for KNTV, the NBC affiliate in San Francisco. She has been a television and print journalist for more than ten years, and wrote a popular consumer advice column for New York’s Daily News for nearly a decade. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and three children. For more information, please visit greengoeswitheverything.com.
MORE ARTICLES BY THE AUTHOR
- A Fine Mess: Cloth or Disposable Diapers?
- How to Buy Organic Without Breaking the Bank
- Simple Steps to Save Energy — and Money — at Home
LEARN MORE
- Read the Introduction to Green Goes with Everything: Simple Steps to a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet
- See the book’s Table of Contents
