You can't make this up...

Way back in 1880's Dr MacKenzie's Complexion Wafers was actually the cause of death for a poor young girl just looking to clear up her skin. (The photo to the right was the advertisement for a product that poisoned the blood so that transported fewer red blood cells and provided less oxygen for vital organs). And this wouldn't be the first time in history where a cosmetic product has done more harm then good.

Like I said before, now we have the FDA to approve or deny anything that could potentially cause that much harm to anyone, but how good of a job have they been doing?
Americans spend more than $5 billion a year on cosmetics, toiletries, beauty parlors and barber shops. That's a lot, but in some cases it is understandable, i mean let's face it everything we read and see in magazines, commercials, and on tv only prove that american's have an obsession with how we look more so than most countries BUT with the FDA now there are product regulations now that never existed way back when make up seemed like a miracle cure and sometimes you had no idea what you were wasting your money on.

Samuel S. Epstein's Toxic Beauty: How Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Endanger Your Health . . . And What You Can Do about It, brought to the table common products that we use today that are more hazardous then what you'd think. His intro states that: 

"In reader-friendly language and with meticulous scientific documentation, Dr. Epstein details the wide range of toxic ingredients in currently marketed cosmetics and personal-care products along with those ingredients effects. The ingredients fall into five categories: frank carcinogens, hidden carcinogens (carcinogens that contaminate other ingredients, or ingredients that are the precursors for carcinogens), endocrine disruptors (ingredients that are hormonally toxic, particularly harmful to women and their fetuses), penetrating agents (ingredients that pass through the skin), and allergens."

Although most of medical conspiracies are rare instances gone wrong or over-reactive people that have no idea about medical research, however there are still products of concern that are not worth their claims. 

Epstein has been mostly concerned with products that have created more cancer concerns. In a press release he targeted Avon, a very popular cosmetic company pointing out major ingredients in their products that have a high cancer and hormonal damage risk:

"A class of ingredients in Avon products, parabens, has been shown to stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells in laboratory tests and parabens have been identified as possible causes of breast cancer"

There are many organizations that have stepped up to ad awareness to this issue such as The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics which have worked with companies such as L'Oreal and Revlon in removing harmful ingredients. 

Here are some products to look out for and the chemicals they contain the next time you go shopping:
- Salon Selectives, Neutrogena Clean Shampoo and Clairol Herbal Essences contain SLS.
Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLS) is found in 90% of all shampoo...it penetrate the skin very easily and once inside the body, it collects in the heart, live, lungs, and brain. If SLS mixes with other chemicals, it becomes a carcinogenic.
- Vaseline, Baby Shampoo, Baby Lotions, and Baby Liquid Soap contains Mineral Oil
Mineral oil is the main ingredient in baby cosmetic products and is alien to the human body that has numerous detrimental effects, in particular for babies, because it clogs the pores, hindering the skin’s ability to eliminate toxins, promoting skin disorders and decelerates skin function and cell development—resulting in the premature aging of your skin.
- Colgate Total Advanced Clean Toothpaste contains Trisoclan.
Colgate toothpaste has admitted to using Trisoclan saying that it is an "effective antibacterial ingredient that controls a wide range of bacteria. The copolymer is used in the formulation to prolong retention of triclosan on oral hard and soft tissues and in plaque. Without the copolymer, triclosan would be rapidly lost from the mouth, reducing its clinical effect" and further and that it's safe. However... The EPA registers it as a pesticide that scores high as a risk to both human health and the environment research has revealed that triclosan reacts with the chlorine in your tap water, chloroform is produced. What happens is that it is stored in the body tissue and can accumulate to toxic levels, damaging the liver, kidneys and lungs.
Scary isn't it? And that's only three products that have proven to be potentially extremely harmful to the human body and the environment. Although there are the organizations that are there to help out, it seems that going all natural is probably one of the best things you can do for yourself.