I’d be willing to bet that when you go shopping, you assume that most, if not all, of the products you’re buying are safe. You probably think that anything that isn’t safe couldn’t pass federal inspections and wouldn’t be allowed to be placed on shelves for sale.

I mean, let’s be real, given the size of government these days; with all the different departments regulating this and that, it’s obvious they review the products before they’re allowed to sell them.

Well not so much…

When it comes to cosmetic products, you are pretty much on your own. The main authority for these products, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has no “authority” to require companies to test the safety of their products before releasing them to consumers. All the FDA does before market launch is check certain color additives and check the active ingredients in any cosmetic product classified as an over-the-counter drug. Not very reassuring, to be sure!

So what else have you assumed about the cosmetics industry that isn’t true?

Indeed, the government prohibits the use of dangerous chemicals in personal care products! Obviously, companies would not expose themselves to liability by including such chemicals in the ingredients of their products.

Wrong again! Cosmetic manufacturers can use any ingredient or raw material they want, except for the color additives, listed above, without any intervention by a government consumer protection agency.

Did you know…

• More than 500 products sold in the US contain ingredients that are banned in cosmetics sold in Japan, Canada, and the European Union.
• The International Fragrance Association has identified more than 100 products sold in the US that have ingredients the organization considers unsafe.
• A substantial number of “nanomaterials” whose safety is questionable can be found in personal care products.
• 61% of lipsticks sold in the US contain lead residue.
• 60% of sunscreens include oxybenzone, which is rapidly absorbed through the skin and contaminates nearly 97% of Americans with a potential hormone disruptor.
• A carcinogenic substance, 1,4-dioxane, can be found in 22% of all personal care products, including those for children.

But then, if you think about it, is there really that much risk in applying something to our skin? How dangerous could it be, when so little goes through our skin, right?

Did you know that many products contain penetration enhancers, to ensure that the ingredients reach the depths of our skin? More importantly, it is not necessarily what has been rubbed into the skin, but rather the vehicle used to transfer the product. For example, your exposure to the hazard may result from inhaling overspray and dust from sprays and dusts, ingesting chemicals applied to your lips or hands, and absorbing chemicals through your skin. .

Ingredients like paraben preservatives, the pesticide triclosan, synthetic musks, and phthalate plasticizers remain in our bodies and can be found in men, women, and children. Many of these ingredients disrupt our hormones and can lead to health problems such as increased sperm damage, reduced birth rate in women, and feminization of the male reproductive system.

Common sense says that products made for children or those that are labeled as hypoallergenic would offer greater safety.

If you think that, you would be wrong, once again. Marketing claims made by manufacturers of personal care products are not regulated and they almost never have to substantiate their claims. Manufacturers use the terms “natural” and “hypoallergenic” to enhance their marketability and often have no basis in reality.

A 2007 study of 1,700 children’s personal care products labeled “mild” or “hypoallergenic” revealed that 81% contained allergens or skin and eye irritants.

The same goes for products labeled as organic or natural. Once again, these labels enhance the consumer’s attraction to them and are used to increase sales. They do not necessarily reflect the actual ingredients found in a given product.

Manufacturers often include a smattering of natural or organic ingredients simply so they can use those terms in their marketing. However, the amounts used are so insignificant that they have no real effect on the performance of the product.

The other point that is often overlooked is that even if an ingredient is natural or organic, it is not necessarily safe to use. As an example, poison ivy is natural, but now you don’t want to rub it all over your skin, do you?

Some personal care products that have been labeled as natural or organic have been found to contain petrochemicals and have absolutely no natural or certified organic ingredients. Zip, nothing, zero! Not only that, but “certified” organic products can have as little as 10% organic ingredients by weight, to be classified as organic.

Finally, research has shown that 35% of children’s cosmetic products marketed as “natural” include artificial preservatives.

We all tend to believe that if a product causes injury, the FDA will immediately remove that product from the market. Sorry to burst that security bubble, but the FDA does not have the authority to do so. Also, manufacturers are not required to report these injuries to the FDA.

Of course, as an informed consumer, you always have the ability to read labels and determine for yourself the safety of the ingredients in any given product. However, with a small caveat. Federal law not only offers no consumer protection, but actually makes it easy for the manufacturer to deceive.

Federal law allows the exclusion of some ingredients from their labels! Ingredients considered “trade secrets” and ingredients that make up the fragrance may be excluded from the label. Fragrances can contain some of the most harmful ingredients, but they can be excluded from identification.

If you think the safety of personal care products is only a concern for women, think again. The following statistics are the results of various surveys and reveal that, on average, women use 12 products with 168 ingredients every day, men use 6 products with 85 ingredients, and children are exposed to 61 ingredients every day. That is a significant amount of exposure to a large number of different chemicals on a daily basis. And remember, the younger you are, the more susceptible you are to the negative impact of those ingredients.

In short, be very, very careful about the personal care products you choose to use. Some of the most popular products endorsed by your favorite TV personalities are not what they seem.