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A Consumer's Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients, 7th Edition: Complete Information About the Harmful and Desirable Ingredients Found in Cosmetics and Cosmeceuticals - Softcover

Buch 1 von 2: Consumer's Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients

Winter, Ruth

 
9780307451118: A Consumer's Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients, 7th Edition: Complete Information About the Harmful and Desirable Ingredients Found in Cosmetics and Cosmeceuticals
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0307451119 ISBN 13: 9780307451118
Verlag: Harmony/Rodale/Convergent, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

Everything you need to know about the safety and efficacy of cosmetics and cosmeceuticals.

Is it a cosmetic? A drug? A nutrient? It’s becoming more and more difficult to tell the difference with the cosmetic companies combining the three. And unlike with food additives, the FDA has little control over what goes into the products that claim to make you look more beautiful–even though cosmeceuticals (cosmetics that purport to have druglike benefits) have skyrocketed into a multibillion-dollar industry.

So before you slather on that “wrinkle-reducing” cream or swallow a “skin-rejuvenating”vitamin, find out what’s in your health and beauty products with A Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients. This updated and expanded edition gives you the facts you need to protect yourself and your family from possible irritants, confusing chemical names, and the exaggerated claims of gimmicky additives. With 800 new ingredients found in toiletries, cosmetics, and cosmeceuticals–everything ranging from shampoo to shaving cream, bath lotions to Botox–this alphabetically organized guide evaluates them all, and includes targeted information for children and for people of color.

A Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients is more indispensable than ever to anyone who cares about the health of themselves and their loved ones.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

RUTH WINTER, M.S., is an award-winning author of thirty-seven books. Visit her at BrainBody.com or IngredientBlog.blogspot.com.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Introduction

Why You Need This Book

Are you afraid of aging?

Does a wrinkle on your face cause you to panic and make you fear you are becoming unattractive and unemployable?

Do you believe a fragrance can make you irresistible?

Are you willing to spend your hard-earned money to buy expensive cosmetics that promise you a cure for whatever flaw you think you may have?

If you answer yes to these questions, you have become a pawn of the manipulative cosmetic industry. These geniuses of marketing have convinced you and most of society of the following:

• Aging and wrinkles are to be greatly feared.

• Natural body odors are mortifying.

• Cosmetics can cure anything.

I really do admire the cleverness of cosmetic producers and sellers— even if they don’t like me because I reveal to you what is really in their products. But I believe they are still fabulous sociologists, psychologists, and marketers. They know before anyone else what we want or should want, and they immediately build upon those desires to sell us what we may or may not need. From the department store counter to the drugstore to the Internet, they have given us literally thousands of choices of cosmetics. As you will read in this dictionary, some of the potions and powders are excellent and fulfill their promises, many of the compounds do nothing and are actually fraudulent, and some may be damaging to our health because they contain toxins or cancer-causing agents.

You may be asking yourself at this point: “Well, doesn’t the FDA protect us?”

The answer is NO!

Cosmetics have always been a low priority at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but now its regulatory powers have been weakened to the point where they are almost nonexistent.

Why Are Cosmetic Regulations So Limited?

The agency’s regulations were determined more than seventy years ago when it was wrongly assumed that the skin is an impermeable barrier that prevents chemicals from penetrating into the body. Scientists now know that this is not true, yet most consumers and cosmetic companies are concerned only with allergic reactions and skin irritations. But what of systemic absorption, toxicity, and chronic effects? What degree of absorption is there when a cosmetic is left on the face (as a makeup base might be for twelve hours) or spread over the entire body (like suntan lotions)? What is the impact when these products are used for many years?

No one knows. Cosmetic companies do know that an increasingly popular way to deliver drugs is “transdermally.”

All we know is that cosmetics can affect us outwardly and inwardly, so the question becomes, What safeguards does the FDA have today?

THE FDA’S COSMETIC SAFETY REGULATIONS

The following quote is directly from the current FDA Handbook:1

Although the FD&C Act does not require that cosmetic manufacturers or marketers test their products for safety, the FDA strongly urges cosmetic manufacturers to conduct whatever toxicological or other tests are appropriate to substantiate the safety of their cosmetics. If the safety of a cosmetic is not adequately substantiated, the product may be considered misbranded and may be subject to regulatory action unless the label bears the following statement: “Warning—The safety of this product has not been determined.”2

Why Is the FDA So Powerless?

The Report of the Subcommittee on Science and Technology on the FDA Science and Mission at Risk presented answers.3 The committee said its major findings were as follows:

• The FDA cannot fulfill its mission because its scientific base has eroded and its scientific organizational structure is weak.

• The FDA cannot fulfill its mission because its scientific workforce does not have sufficient capacity and capability.

• The FDA cannot fulfill its mission because its information technology (IT) infrastructure is inadequate.

Inspections have declined while the work assigned to the FDA has skyrocketed. In 2008, the United States imported more than $2 trillion worth of products sent to the United States by an estimated 825 major importers, through more than 300 ports of entry. The FDA projects a total of 18.2 million import lines a year, 9 percent of which is cosmetic products. The FDA is also responsible for overseeing more than ninety thousand U.S. facilities where food, drugs, and other products are manufactured, processed, or stored. Twenty-one cents of every dollar spent by consumers goes toward products the FDA is supposed to regulate. The Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) is the lead office for all FDA field activities. The largest portion of ORA’s work involves postmarket inspections of foods, human drugs, biologics, animal drugs and feeds, and medical- device manufacturers (nothing is designated specifically for cosmetics). The FDA has about 3,472 full-time employees associated with field activities with a requested budget at $542,534,000. They are sometimes helped by state health inspectors.4

Why is the FDA so beleaguered and underfunded? No matter how skilled and well intentioned the staff may be, they are being smashed under an impossible workload. Unless consumers like you and savvy organizations such as those listed on pages 559–564 lobby effectively for changes, nothing will happen.

In the meantime, I have written both A Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients and A Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives to give you the information you need to make wiser choices in the almost unregulated marketplace. For example, anyone can go into the cosmetics business without notifying the FDA. If you don’t believe it, the following is directly from the FDA Handbook:5

Voluntary Registration

Although the FD&C Act does not require cosmetic firms to register manufacturing establishments or formulations with the FDA or make available safety data or other information before a product is marketed in the United States, manufacturers or distributors of cosmetics may submit this information to the agency voluntarily. Voluntary registration and assignment of a registration number by the agency does not denote approval of a firm or product by the FDA. Any use of a registration number in labeling must be accompanied by a conspicuous disclaimer phrase as prescribed by regulation.

Cosmetic companies that wish to participate in the voluntary registration forward data to the FDA. Only an estimated 35 to 40 percent of the companies are honorable enough to inform the FDA of the ingredients they are using. But since the last edition of A Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients, there is a new game being played. A significant number of the companies are “registering” their names with the FDA and then saying in their ads “Registered with the FDA” in an attempt to have us believe their product has been approved by the agency.

The truth is the FDA admits it cannot require companies to do safety testing of their cosmetic products before marketing. Neither cosmetic products nor cosmetic ingredients are reviewed or approved by the FDA before they are sold to you. Recalls taken by the cosmetic industry to call back products that present a hazard, or that are somehow defective, are voluntary. The FDA is not permitted to require recalls of cosmetics but does monitor companies that conduct a product recall.

The FDA can only take action against a company if complaints are made by consumers or health providers and the complaints are registered. For this edition, I found out the FDA no longer has a database of reports of adverse effects from cosmetics. When I asked why, a very frustrated FDA staff member said, “Because our...

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Verlag
Harmony/Rodale/Convergent
Erscheinungsdatum
2009
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0307451119
ISBN 13 
9780307451118
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
576
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
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