Soap. Shampoo. Toothpaste. Lotion. Foundation. Deodorant. Almost everyone uses at least one, if not all, of these products on a daily basis, but do we ever think about what they are made out of? It is surprising how little we know about these familiar bottles and tubes. According to the Green Guide Web site, which is hosted by the National Geographic Society, the average adult uses nine personal care products a day, with roughly 120 chemicals spread among them, many of which are incompletely tested for toxicity.

The cosmetics industry is possibly one of the most unregulated industries. Major loopholes in federal law allows chemicals to be put into personal care products without any monitoring of health effects, almost no labeling requirements and no required testing.

According to the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Cosmetics and Colors, “the regulatory requirements governing the sale of cosmetics are not as stringent as those that apply to other FDA-regulated products… manufacturers may use any ingredient or raw material, except for color additives and a few prohibited substances, to market a product without a government review or approval.”

It then becomes the responsibility of the manufacturers to voluntarily validate the safety of their
products. Unfortunately, the decision between safety and profit doesn’t seem to register for many manufacturers, leaving many personal care product ingredients completely untested.

A report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an environmental watchdog agency, revealed that 89 percent of the 10,500 ingredients used in personal care products had not been evaluated for safety by the FDA. Furthermore, the FDA does not enforce recalls of products found to be hazardous or defective, leaving it in the hands of manufacturers to take dangerous products off of the market.

The chemicals in any one product alone are unlikely to cause harm, but daily exposure to the industrial chemicals in cosmetics and personal care products can take its toll. According to the Good Housekeeping Institute, 60 percent of what you put on your skin is absorbed into the bloodstream, and some of these products’ chemicals are linked to birth defects, cancer and other health problems that are increasing in the human population.

Health risks posed by cosmetics can include anything from allergic reactions to cancer, and the lack of safety standards allows manufacturers to use some very harmful ingredients, including coal tar and paraben preservatives.

Parabens are common preservatives that appear in a wide array of toiletries. Parabens break down in the body into p-hydroxybenzoic acid, which has estrogenic activity in human breast-cancer cell cultures. Nine out of ten liquid foundations sold at Target contain parabens, including most name brands and several claiming to be “natural” products. Revlon, Cover Girl, Mineral Wear, and Botanics all contain parabens.

You can also find carcinogenic coal tar, used in artificial dyes such as FD&C Blue 1 and FD&C Green 3, in your everyday moisturizers. “Fragrance,” which is usually a conglomeration of chemicals, is another common ingredient in moisturizers and personal care products. Fragrance masks chemical smells, but may also mask phthalates. Scientists have shown that phthalates can damage the female reproductive system, but it is the male reproductive system that appears to be more sensitive.

Phthalate exposure damages the testes, prostate gland, epididymus, penis, and seminal vesicles in laboratory animals, according to a report done by EWG in 2002. A study conducted by the University of Minnesota, published in the May 2005 Environmental Health Perspectives, found a connection between phthalates and genital abnormalities in baby boys.

Neurotoxic lead may appear in personal care products as a naturally occurring contaminant of hydrated silica, one of the ingredients in toothpaste. Every brand of toothpaste sold at Target that The Wake examined, including Aquafresh, Colgate, and Crest, had hydrated silica listed as an ingredient.

Possible human carcinogens, petroleum distillates, (often labeled as “liquid paraffin”) are prohibited or restricted for use in cosmetics in Europe but are found in several U.S. brands of mascara. Five out of eight mascara labels read “liquid paraffin” at Target, including Rimmel and Cover Girl.

Many conventional bath and shower products contain the foaming agent sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), and propylene glycol – ingredients also found in anti-freeze, engine degreasers and solvents. According to the American College of Toxicology, SLS is a “potent class of carcinogen.” About 60 percent of soaps sold at Target contained SLS, including name brands Aveno, Dial, Pure and Natural, and Old Spice.

With so many harmful chemicals being used in personal care products today, it comes as no surprise that there has been increasing interest in organic alternatives. Sales of organic personal care products in the U.S. increased by 15 percent annually to almost $9 billion in 2007, according to the Nutrition Business Journal.

“If it falls under the organic umbrella it must be certified by the organic certification organization,” said Kathryn Lawrence, the manager of personal care products at the Seward Co-op, an organic grocery and deli located on 2111 East Franklin Avenue. Certech Registration Inc. is the independent accredited certifying body that has developed North America’s first system certification standard for organic and natural cosmetics.

In order to be certified as “natural” under the IOS Cosmetics Standard, a minimum of 95 percent of the product must be of natural origin and must also use certified organic ingredients which have been grown, cultivated, and stored without the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, fumigants or other toxins, according to the Certech Registration Web site.

Yet many of the self-proclaimed “pure” products lining the Target shelves, such as Tom’s, Pure and Natural, Botanics and Mineral Wear, all contain chemicals such as hydrated silica, parabens, and sodium lauryl sulfate.

While newfound standards allow personal care products to be certified organic, they have not set any regulations against the use of the word “organic” on product labels. Many manufacturers still use the term in the product’s name or on the labeling. Products with at least one organic ingredient can be deemed “organic,” in spite of the other ingredients used.

“Regulation is just starting to filter into the cosmetics and personal care industry, but Europe has been doing it for years,” Lawrence said. “I think the FDA is going to jump on the band wagon and realize that organics is a big money making industry.”

Lawrence said she hopes for a future of organic personal care products that “keep true to their course,” and are not falsely labeled.

But organic products also pose a conundrum. What exactly are “organic” cosmetics? Do they work as well as their chemical laden counterparts? And why do they cost so much more?

Organic products are made exclusively from organically grown plant material without industrial chemicals, pesticides, or genetic manipulation. They replace chemical substances with natural equivalents, for example preservatives such as rose extract for parabens, or jojoba oil for liquid paraffin. These natural ingredients are much more expensive, hence the high cost of organic products.

But scientific purists claim that natural products aren’t necessarily safer. Some organic products can become toxic when they degrade “Products that contain natural preservatives have much shorter shelve lives,” said Lawrence. “Just like with food, you can usually tell they have molded by the smell.”

“If you are someone who likes to keep a tube of mascara for two years, which is bad anyway, organic products may not be the best for you,” she said.

But do they work? Research on the efficacy and safety of organic products has been minimal. Small studies have been conducted into the effects of certain ingredients. Pine bark and blueberry, for example, have shown that they may combat skin ageing, and chamomile and aloe vera have been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects. But the combination of these ingredients in a product is seldom tested.

However, Lawrence says that organic products are the way to go. “They are so much better in so many ways,” she said. “You use these products so close to your mouth, eyes, and on your skin, and organic personal care products are not going to have chemicals like parabens, which are known to cause cancer.”

Awareness is the key. The Safe Cosmetics Act, passed in California in 2005, and companies like Certech are some of the first steps being taken in the U.S. against poor regulation and safety evaluation in the beauty industry. But consumers can take the issue into their own hands as well.

“Lately there are so many different Web sites that tell you how clean a certain product is,” Lawrence said. “Consumers are becoming educated and more aware of what they are putting on their skin.”

With Web sites like National Geographic’s Green Guide and the campaign for safe cosmetics, consumers can have lists of hazardous chemicals, scientific studies and shopping tips right at their fingertips. Some sites even give recipes for consumers to create their own personal care products, chemical-free. As the FDA sits on the decision on whether or not to regulate the cosmetics industry, our health is at risk, and it is up to consumers to make the choice between a cheap chemical bath and their well being.