Greening our environments goes deeper with Skin Deep, the Cosmetic Safety Database created by the Environmental Working Group. On my first visit, I realized that I know nothing about the ingredients that go into soaps, shampoos and lotions. The database provides a wide range of risk information about many products: soap, shampoo, lotion, make-up and most recently sunscreen.

The government does not protect consumers (EWG FAQ)

According to the FDA's Office of Cosmetics and Colors, "FDA cannot require companies to do safety testing of their cosmetic products before manufacturing," and "...a cosmetic manufacturer may use almost any raw material as a cosmetic ingredient and market the product without an approval from FDA." (FDA 1995).

With this in mind have a fine old time searching for information about the hazards and data gaps surrounding your favourite products. Here is what the scores mean:

The hazard score represents a synthesis of known and suspected hazards from more than 50 definitive databases. The hazard rating of a product can be higher than for its individual ingredients — it adds up the hazards of all ingredients, and is scaled higher if the product has penetration enhancers or other ingredients that increase skin absorption. This score is similar to the rating previously shown in Skin Deep, but now accounts for more safety references and we show it on a 0-10 scale (with no decimals, 10 corresponding to highest concern).
The "data gap" rating is a measure of how much is unknown about an ingredient. Not all ingredients have the same amount of safety data. For example, some ingredients may appear to have low hazards, but this may be due to the fact that they have not have been studied or assessed completely. Other ingredients may appear to have low hazards and have been thoroughly studied or assessed. This score helps differentiate between ingredients and products that have been studied to different degrees.

The EWG prepared a terrific FAQ to explain the methodology and some actions we can take to make cosmetics and personal products safer:

Why should I be concerned about the safety of personal care products? Doesn't the government regulate them?

The unfortunate reality is that the government does not currently require health studies or pre-market testing for these products before they are sold. According to the FDA's Office of Cosmetics and Colors,

The Cosmetics Ingredients Review (CIR), the industry's self-policing safety panel, falls far short of compensating for the lack of FDA oversight. An EWG analysis found that in its 30-year history, the CIR has reviewed the safety of just 13% of the 10,500 ingredients used in personal care products. FDA does no systematic reviews of safety. That means that nearly 90% of ingredients used in personal care products have not been evaluated for safety by any publicly accountable institution. And as people apply an average of 126 unique ingredients on their skin daily, these chemicals are raising concerns, for their potential impacts to human health and to the environment.

I'm concerned that products people use every day are not screened for safety. What can I do about it?

• Use Skin Deep to check the products you use. We provide Safer Shopping tips as well as a list of ingredients and products we recommend you avoid.
• Support the EWG Action Fund Your support matters. EWG and the EWG Action Fund are small non-profits committed to expanding the Skin Deep site, helping companies make their products safe, and advocating for policies that protect our health. And we need your financial support to make it all happen. Make a donation online or send a contribution to: EWG Action Fund, 1436 U Street NW #101, Washington, DC 20009. Questions? Call 202-667-6982.
• Sign up for the EWG Bulletin Subscribe to our bi-monthly email newsletter to get the latest shopping tips, policy news and "Ask EWG" advice.
• Join the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics Skin Deep helps fuel the nationwide Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of public health, educational, religious, labor, women's, environmental and consumer groups working to protect the health of consumers and workers by requiring the health and beauty industry to phase out the use of dangerous chemicals and replace them with safer alternatives. Through the Campaign, over 500 companies have joined the effort by signing the Compact for Safe Cosmetics. Environmental Working Group is a founding partner organization of the Campaign.

 What does it mean when a company is a Compact for Safe Cosmetics signer?
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics — of which EWG is a founding member — is a coalition of public health, educational, religious, labor, womens, environmental, and consumer groups working on the ground in communities, in the halls of lawmakers, and directly with cosmetic manufacturers to encourage reformulations and safer ingredients. Over 500 companies have voluntarily signed a pledge called the campaign's "Compact for Safe Cosmetics," a pledge to formulate products that do not use ingredients that are known or suspected to cause certain health harms within three years of signing. Read the Compact document or see a complete list of the signers. If you're a cosmetics company, find out how to get involved.

To hear from the cosmetics industry, visit the The Canadian Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association (CCTFA) and their info Site which references American regulations.

P.S. My shampoo apparently contains METHYLPARABEN which is banned in the EU as a cancer agent...hmm...however, according to the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) Expert Panel "concluded that parabens were, at most, weakly estrogenic"...so no need to worry too much...  

Thanks boingboing

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