Information about the Environmental Working Group's newly updated database on personal-care products and the chemicals they contain.
If you've ever wondered whether that jumble of hard-to-pronounce chemicals in your makeup, shampoo and lotions is really good for you, there's a new and updated resource to help you understand better what you might be putting on your skin.
The Environmental Working Group has just released a redesigned and expanded version of its Skin Deep online product database, which lets you explore exactly what's in 25,000-plus cosmetics and other personal-care products. This third update to the resource in its four-year history added nearly 10,000 new products to the database, which means you can now find detailed ingredient information for about 25 percent of all the products currently on the market.
The Skin Deep database assesses the ingredients in personal-care products based on research into the potential risks and toxicities of each of those chemicals, substances like lead (which harms brain development), phthalates (which have been shown to disrupt normal sexual development and endocrine activity), and petroleum byproducts such as petrolatum and petroleum distillates (which are suspected carcinogens). Each product, along with every ingredient in it, is rated on a potential hazard scale of 0 to 10, with 10 posing the highest risks.
The Environmental Working Group says it assembled the Skin Deep database to help consumers protect themselves in light of the fact that the federal government in the U.S. has no requirements for pre-market safety testing of cosmetics ingredients.
"Under federal law, companies can put virtually anything they wish into personal-care products, and many of them do," said Jane Houlihan, vice president of research at the Environmental Working Group. "Mercury, lead and placenta extract -- all of these and many other hazardous materials are in products that millions of Americans, including children, use every day."
The new Skin Deep database lets users conduct searches by product name, ingredient or brand name. It also allows users to create customized shopping lists based on their own habits and needs, provides a list of key products to avoid, offers regular email updates on cosmetics safety and includes an online petition urging the U.S. Congress to enact stricter regulation of personal-care products.
Founded in 1993, the Environmental Working Group includes scientists, policy experts, lawyers and engineers who study government data, scientific research, legal documents and other data to identify environmental and health hazards. It also has produced reports on pesticides and other chemicals found on common store-bought, fruits and vegetables, U.S. farm subsidies, drinking water safety and other issues.
