Cinco Vidas

What do you think would happen if you got a wild hair and decided to spend a week slathering yourself with shampoos, soaps, deodorants, and perfumes? Most of us do a little of this every day, but let’s say you were curious and upped the ante a little, took a few more showers, and used a few more products. Would you end up carrying around more chemicals?

Those of us concerned about toxic ingredients in our everyday products work hard to get the message out. Some of us go a little crazy in the effort. Take two environmental advocates from Canada—Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie. Fed up with the lack of regulatory response to toxic concerns, they decided to be guinea pigs in their own chemical experiment. They spent a week in a condo, surrounded with typical sources of contaminants, like personal-care products, canned foods, and stain-resistant clothing and furniture. (more…)

Old fashioned bar soap. You’d think of all the personal-care products, this one would certainly be non-toxic, right? Think again!

Below are some of the ingredients that may be lurking in your regular, everyday bar soap. Of course, there are some made with more wholesome alternatives—we’ll tell you about those at the end!

Synthetic fragrance. The National Academy of Sciences says that 95 percent of the chemicals used in fragrances today are petroleum-based synthetic compounds, including those with potentially harmful effects. As we’ve mentioned before, when manufacturers put “fragrance” on the ingredient list, that means they’re keeping something secret—namely, the chemicals used to make that fragrance smell the way it does. After all, if they’re not using real lavender essential oil, but the scent is supposed to be lavender, they’ve mixed something together in the laboratory to make it so! Avoid soaps with “fragrance” on the ingredient deck, and choose those that say “fragrance-free” instead, or those that use natural sources like essential oils or extracts to create scent. (more…)

Tragic school-wide shootings notwithstanding, we like to think that our public schools are mostly safe. According to a recent report by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), however, our children may be breathing toxic fumes in the classroom.

The EWG tested 13 different school districts in California, and found that the cleaning supplies used could cloud the air with more than 450 toxic contaminants, including those linked with asthma and cancer. (The 13 districts were chosen for geographic and size diversity.)

“Classroom cleaners can deliver harmful fumes to millions of school children each day,” said Rebecca Sutton, Ph.D. and author of the study, “and parents have no way to know about it. Cleaning products aren’t required to list ingredients on the label, leaving school systems and everyday consumers without critical information to make the smart choices.” (more…)

We love to change and update our appearance, don’t we? And what easier way than to dye our hair? A different color can make you feel renewed, young, and energetic. However, depending on the type of dye you use, it can also put your health at risk.

Let’s review some of the evidence. According to the National Cancer Institute, over 5,000 different chemicals are used in hair-dye products, some of which are reported to be carcinogenic in animals. Some population studies have found an increased risk of bladder cancer in hairdressers and barbers, and a 2008 report concluded that some of the chemicals these workers are exposed to were probably carcinogenic to humans. (more…)

Breast cancer cells can be triggered by many different types of carcinogens.

Most of us know that a “carcinogen” is something that can lead to or cause cancer. However, how do we tell when something is really carcinogenic, and how do we stay away from it?

The American Cancer Society (ACS) tells us that cancer is often caused when the cell’s DNA—it’s genetic “blueprint”—is changed, or mutated somehow. Some carcinogens act directly on DNA, causing the change, and some cause cells to divide faster than they normally too, which can increase the risk of faulty DNA changes. (more…)

There’s a new book out that a lot of people are talking about, called Slow Death by Rubber Duck. Next Tuesday, April 6th, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is hosting a virtual book club webinar on the title (5:00 p.m. Pacific, 8:00 p.m. Eastern). If you’ve ever been curious about toxins in your personal care products, or even if you’d just like to hear more from the author of this book, you owe it to yourself to sign up for this webinar today!

Written by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie, two environmental advocates from Canada, the book chronicles the authors’ experiences when they took matters into their own hands and exposed themselves to products we all use on a daily basis. Choosing themselves for guinea pigs, they spent a week in a condo, surrounded with typical sources of contaminants like personal-care products, canned foods, and stain-resistant clothing and furniture. Then they conducted blood and urine tests to find out the effects on their bodies. (more…)

Did you know that in 2005, as a result of a lawsuit, Proctor & Gamble conceded that its Crest brand of toothpaste contained high levels of lead?

“The research demonstrated that almost all toothpaste products contain significant levels of lead,” said the American Environmental Safety Institute, “a heavy metal known…to be hazardous to human health by causing cancer and birth defects.” (Toxic Beauty, Samuel Epstein, p.164) (more…)

Think you can freshen the bathroom air a bit with one of the many air fresheners on the market? Well, it may help the room smell better, but the fumes it creates aren’t worth the fragrance.

A 2007 survey by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) evaluated 14 air fresheners and found phthalates in 12 of them, including those labeled as “all-natural.” (Phthalates are used to make the scent last longer, and are hormone disruptors and probable carcinogens.) The NRDC’s report says, “Of all the products in the home, clean-smelling air fresheners seem to pose little risk. But the fresh scent of air fresheners may mask a health threat—chemicals called phthalates that can cause hormonal abnormalities, birth defects, and reproductive problems.” (more…)

We posted an earlier article on the potential dangers of aluminum in deodorant, but today, we wanted to expand on that a bit. We’ve been talking a lot about materials that can act like estrogen in the body, which may encourage cancer cells to form. Did you know that aluminum is one of them?

Like parabens, phthalates, and pesticides, aluminum can act like estrogen in the body, affecting estrogen receptors and increasing breast cancer risk. Laboratory research shows that aluminum salts, common in most deodorants, can directly bind to estrogen receptors, and can affect estrogen-regulated gene expression in breast cancer cells. (more…)

The First Lady, Michelle Obama, is talking about food. She’s encouraging children to eat healthier, and parents to offer more nutritious meals and snacks. We have an obesity epidemic to deal with, and it’s great that we have some leadership in helping our children to overcome this dangerous trend.

Isn’t it interesting, though, that as we grow more and more conscious of the food we’re putting in our mouths, we’re still applying all kinds of chemicals to our bodies on a daily basis? The skin has the potential to absorb the toxic ingredients in those products, but many still haven’t gotten the message that what’s listed on the bottle could end up inside the body. Hopefully, Cinco Vidas readers are being more careful!

Women are especially at risk, as we use so many more products than men, particularly make-up products. Let’s talk about three of the most concerning items—these may be in your makeup bag right now. (more…)