This entry was posted on Thursday, November 6th, 2008 at 10:42 am and is filed under Body Care, Skin Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Most people know that a harsh soap or cleanser can dry out their skin, but that is a minor inconvenience when you learn of what else they can do. According to the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database, the following toxic ingredients may exist in your soap or body cleanser:
- Triethanolamine: A fragrance ingredient and emulsifying agent that has been linked to cancer, immune system toxicity, allergies, organ system toxicity, and potential endocrine disruption.
- Salicylic Acid: An anti-acne agent that may harm your brain or nervous system, have negative reproductive effects, cause organ system toxicity.
- Triclosan: A cosmetic biocide that disrupts your endocrine system, may be carcinogenic, and showed broad systemic effects at low doses in animal studies.
- Fragrance: About 95 percent of the chemicals used in fragrances are synthetic, petroleum-based compounds. For people with allergies or multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), these chemicals can lead to allergic reactions like sneezing, itchy watery eyes, wheezing and headaches.
- Parabens and Phenols: Used in body wash and many other personal care products, according to the National Institutes of Health phenol is toxic and people who are hypersensitive to it could experience death or serious side effects at very low exposures. Parabens have also been linked to cancer and reproductive toxicity.
- Phthalates: These industrial compounds are widely used in hairsprays, perfumes and cosmetics. Animal studies on certain phthalates have shown the chemicals may cause a variety of problems, including reproductive and developmental harm, organ damage, immune suppression, endocrine disruption and cancer.
