Chemical Cocktail
“There are over 7,000 ingredients available to manufacturers for use in cosmetics and toiletries (including nearly 1,000 aromatic and perfume chemicals), of which more than a thousand are known to have harmful effects, and many of these are subject to some level of legal restriction. Another 900 ingredients may have been manufactured in such a way as to be potentially contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals”.
Taken from Cosmetics Unmasked by Dr Stephen and Gina Antczak
To be fair, the author quoted above – who is a chemist - also points out that a number of completely natural ingredients can be irritating to some people (although I have not spotted him saying that any cause cancer!) and, therefore, are not without their problems. This is true, but if you have sensitivities you will already know that some essential oils irritate. Commercially produced products contain such a complex list of chemicals, many with made up names and no explanation for their presence, that it would be hard to pin down any particular one that causes you a problem.
The links lead to an a-z list of commonly used chemical ingredients. It is not exhaustive, but goes some way to demonstrating how beauty products may be causing problems. Technically, beauty products are safe. The ingredients have to be approved by the EU or FDA (in the USA). Mostly we suffer more from marketing hype than specifically from these ingredients. But there is a very large question mark that hangs over the line of what constitutes a toxic overload and no-one seems to be able to answer why we are suffering such an increase in allergies, eczema and cancers.
