How Do I find Safe Bodycare Products?

. . . it can be challenging How about products that say they're "hypoallergenic," "natural," "herbal" or even "organic?" Sorry, but because this market is unregulated, such product descriptions are meaningless. How about buying products at the health food store? Sorry again, but genuinely non-toxic products are relatively rare, and most health food store products don't pass the test. Now manufacturers do have to list all ingredients on the bottle, so you can become an expert on the particular ingredients to avoid. I've written about many of these in prior Newsclips, and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has done an excellent job in making educational materials about common toxins available on their website. (Also see, "Is Your Bodycare Toxic" by the EWG, at www.shareguide.com/bodycare.html.) However, manufacturers don't have to list unintentional ingredients, i.e., impurities. For example, a Canadian study recently found heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, lead and others) in all cosmetic items they tested (49 in all -- foundations, powders, blushers/bronzers, lipsticks/glosses, mascaras, eye-liners and eye-shadows). None of these heavy metals were listed on the product label. The EWG has tried to help consumers with their Cosmetic Database (cosmeticdatabase.org), which rates most bodycare products on the market. However they've used a computerized rating system that is a blunt instrument where fine tuning is required. As a result, many superior products (some of those we carry, for example) are given lower ratings than inferior products. I wish there were a quick and easy way to evaluate products, but what's really needed is a thorough investigation that starts with the product label description but then goes much deeper into all that is involved in a particular product's manufacture, sometimes sending the product to a lab for independent testing, and assessing how it works in actual practice. This kind of research is extremely time and labor intensive. All of the personal care products we offer at Beyond Health have undergone this close scrutiny and have passed my tests for safety, effectiveness and value. I've done this research in the service of my own health and the health of all of Beyond Health's customers. We may not offer every bodycare product you want, but where we do, I highly recommend using one of our approved products to meet your need. If I've chosen a particular product, it's going to be the best I've found in that product category after months and sometimes years of research and testing. Environmental Defence Canada. Heavy metal hazard: the health risks of hidden heavy metals in face makeup. May 2011.