Here is what I mean..

These words are from the USDA certified organic guidelines..

“products that contain less than 70 percent organic ingredients.. ..may identify the specific ingredients that are organically produced on the ingredients statement on the information panel.”

In a previous post you can read the full USDA certified organic ingredients requirements but before you do, some skin care brands use this in their marketing which can potentially be misleading.

For example here’s another guideline from the USDA requirements..

‘products that contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients can use the phrase “made with organic ingredients” and list up to three of the organic ingredients or food groups on the principal display panel.’

So basically what this is saying is.. if you see a product that states “Made with Organic Ingredients” it doesn’t mean you don’t have a truly organic product. What it does mean is you have a product which contains at least 70% organic ingredients.

The USDA only allow claims of ‘Organic’ if the company obliges all the rules and pays for certification. This isn’t to say that if a company doesn’t pay for a certificate your product is no less organic than if you had the certificate – does it then make your organic product, a non-organic product? No of course not – it simply means one hasn’t handed money to the USDA for a certificate!

This could be confusing and lead people into thinking they are not receiving an organic product and as you can see, this isn’t always the case. The bottom line is, research organic ingredients yourself and always check the ingredients label for organic ingredient content.

Skin Care ‘Visible’ Seal – Made with Organic Ingredients

To make things absolutely transparent, the Visible Seal shows you the product is made with organic ingredients and each individual product will display the organic ingredients in the ingredients panel on the label.

The seal is your assurance that all ‘Visible Skin Care’ products are carefully made with the finest organic ingredients. All Products that display the Visible seal  in line with the USDA guidelines are Made with organic ingredients

Every Zenulife ‘Visible’ Organic Skin Care product is assigned a seal showing you the true organic content in every product.

Click to see the ‘Visible’ Organic Skin Care Products

Lie No 1 – If it’s for sale at a supermarket, drugstore, or department store cosmetics counter, it must be safe.
Fact – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has no authority to require companies to test products for safety. FDA does not review or approve the vast majority of products or ingredients before they go on the market. The agency conducts pre-market reviews only for certain color additives and active ingredients in cosmetics classified as over-the-counter drugs (FDA 2005, 2010).

Lie No 2 – The cosmetics industry effectively polices itself, making sure all ingredients meet a strict standard of safety.
Fact – In its more than 30-year history, the industry’s safety panel (the Cosmetic Ingredient Review, or CIR) has assessed fewer than 20 percent of cosmetics ingredients and found only 11 ingredients or chemical groups to be unsafe (FDA 2007, CIR 2009, Houlihan 2008). Its recommendations are not binding on companies (Houlihan 2008).

Lie No 3 – The government prohibits dangerous chemicals in personal care products, and companies wouldn’t risk using them.
Fact – Cosmetics companies may use any ingredient or raw material, except for color additives and a few prohibited substances, without government review or approval (FDA 2005, FDA 2000).

• More than 500 products sold in the U.S. contain ingredients banned in cosmetics in Japan, Canada or the European Union (EWG 2007b).
• Nearly 100 products contain ingredients considered unsafe by the International Fragrance Association (EWG 2007c).
• A wide range of nanomaterials whose safety is in question may be common in personal care products (EWG 2006).
• 22% of all personal care products may be contaminated with the cancer-causing impurity 1,4-dioxane, including many children’s products (EWG 2007d, CDC 2009).
• 60% of sunscreens contain the potential hormone disruptor oxybenzone that readily penetrates the skin and contaminates the bodies of 97% of Americans (EWG 2010, Calafat et al 2008).
• 61% of tested lipstick brands contain residues of lead (CSC 2007).

Lie No 4 – Cosmetic ingredients are applied to the skin and rarely get into the body. When they do, levels are too low to matter.
Fact – People are exposed by breathing in sprays and powders, swallowing chemicals on the lips or hands or absorbing them through the skin.

Studies find evidence of health risks. Biomonitoring studies have found cosmetics ingredients – like phthalate plasticizers, paraben preservatives, the pesticide triclosan, synthetic musks, and sunscreens – as common pollutants in men, women and children. Many of these chemicals are potential hormone disruptors (Gray et al. 1986, Schreurs et al. 2004, Gomez et al. 2005, Veldhoen et al. 2006).

Products commonly contain penetration enhancers to drive ingredients deeper into the skin. Studies find health problems in people exposed to common fragrance and sunscreen ingredients, including elevated risk for sperm damage, feminization of the male reproductive system, and low birth weight in girls (Duty et al. 2003, Hauser et al. 2007, Swan et al. 2005, Wolff et al. 2008).

Lie No 5 – Products made for children or bearing claims like “hypoallergenic” are safer choices.
Fact – Most cosmetic marketing claims are unregulated, and companies are rarely if ever required to back them up, even for children’s products. A company can use a claim like “hypoallergenic” or “natural” “to mean anything or nothing at all,” and while “[m]ost of the terms have considerable market value in promoting cosmetic products to consumers,… dermatologists say they have very little medical meaning” (FDA 1998).

An investigation of more than 1,700 children’s body care products found that 81 percent of those marked “gentle” or “hypoallergenic” contained allergens or skin and eye irritants (EWG 2007a).

Lie No 6 – Natural and organic products are always safer.
Fact – Products labeled natural or organic often contain synthetic chemicals, and even truly natural or organic ingredients are not necessarily risk-free. The global, plant-based pharmaceutical market, valued at $19.5 billion in 2008, relies on the ability of “natural” chemicals – like those used in some natural cosmetics – to significantly alter body functions, a far cry from innocuous (BCC Research 2006, 2009). On the other hand, products labeled “organic” or “natural” can contain petrochemicals and no certified organic or natural ingredients whatsoever.

Products claiming they are certified as organic can contain as little as 10% organic ingredients by weight or volume unless they have correct certification from the governing body. (Certech 2008). FDA tried establishing an official definition for the term “natural,” but these protections were overturned in court (FDA 1998). Research shows that 35 percent of children’s products marketed as “natural” contain artificial preservatives (EWG 2007a).

Lie No 7 – FDA would promptly recall any product that injures people.
Fact – FDA has no authority to require recalls of harmful cosmetics. Furthermore, manufacturers are not required to report cosmetics-related injuries to the agency. FDA relies on companies to report injuries voluntarily (FDA 2005).

Lie No 8 – Consumers can read ingredient labels and avoid products with hazardous chemicals.
Fact – Federal law allows companies to leave many chemicals off labels, including nanomaterials, ingredients considered trade secrets, and components of fragrance (Houlihan 2008). Fragrance may include any of 3,163 different chemicals (IFRA 2010), none of which are required to be listed on labels. Fragrance tests reveal an average of 14 hidden compounds per formulation, including potential hormone disruptors and diethyl phthalate, a compound linked to sperm damage (EWG & CSC, 2010).

Lie No 9 – Cosmetics safety is a concern for women only.
Fact – Surveys show that on average, women use 12 products containing 168 ingredients every day, men use 6 products with 85 ingredients (EWG 2004), and children are exposed to an average of 61 ingredients daily (EWG 2007a). The industry-funded CIR safety panel incorrectly assumes that consumers are exposed to just one chemical at a time, and personal care products are the only source of exposure (EWG 2004).

This post was first reported at..

http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/myths-on-cosmetics-safety/

Related Organic Skin Care Product Posts:

Learn about specific skin care safety tips and find out how to protect yourself with certified organic skin care products.

• Almost any chemical to be used as an ingredient in any personal care product
• Misleading and incomplete labeling and disclosure of all ingredients in your skin care products
• Claims about skin care product benefits that are unproven
• There are No specifically required safety testing of skin care products or ingredients

What does this mean for you, the consumer?

You could say it’s totally ironic but the truth is..

When selecting good skincare products that are not actually harmful to your skin and your health, it can be a potential mine field.

So what can you do to protect yourself from dangerous skincare ingredients?

Here is an A-Z list of skincare ingredients that are best avoided where possible and the reasons why these ingredients are potentially harmful.

Benzalkonium chloride: Biocide, preservative and surfactant associated with severe skin, eye, and respiratory irritation and allergies, benzalkonium chloride is a sensitizer especially dangerous for people with asthma or skin conditions like eczema. It is found in many household disinfectants and cleaning supplies. Regular use of products containing antimicrobials such as benzalkonium chloride could lead to development of resistant bacteria.

BHA: The National Toxicology Program classifies butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.” It can cause skin depigmentation. In animal studies, BHA produces liver damage and causes stomach cancers such as papillomas and carcinomas and interferes with normal reproductive system development and thyroid hormone levels.

The European Union considers it unsafe in fragrance. It is found in food, food packaging, and personal care products sold in the U.S.
Coal tar hair dyes and other coal tar ingredients (including Aminophenol,

Diaminobenzene, Phenylenediamine): Coal tar, a byproduct of coal processing, is a known human carcinogen , according to the National Toxicology Program and the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Hair stylists and other professionals are exposed to these chemicals in hair dye almost daily. While FDA sanctions coal tar in specialty products such as dandruff and psoriasis shampoos, the long-term safety of these products has not been demonstrated.

DMDM hydantoin & bronopol (2-Bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol): Cosmetics preservatives that decompose and release formaldehyde , which the International Agency on Research on Cancer lists as a known human carcinogen. The preservatives and their decomposition products, including formaldehyde, can trigger allergic reactions.

About one-fifth of U.S. cosmetics and personal care products contain a chemical that releases formaldehyde. Not surprisingly, more Americans develop contact allergies to these ingredients than Europeans.

Formaldehyde: A potent preservative considered a known human carcinogen by the International Agency on Research on Cancer. Formaldehyde, also an asthmagen, neurotoxicant and developmental toxicant, was once mixed into to many personal care products as antiseptic.

This use has declined, but some hair straighteners are based on formaldehyde’s hair-stiffening action and release substantial amounts of the chemical. Many common preservatives also release formaldehyde into products (like DMDM hydantoin, quaternium, and urea compounds).

Fragrance: It may help sell products from face cream to laundry detergent, but do you know what’s in it? Fragrances are in everything from shampoo to deodorant to lotion.

Federal law doesn’t require companies to list on product labels any of the chemicals in their fragrance mixture. Recent research from EWG and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found an average of 14 chemicals in 17 name brand fragrance products, none of them listed on the label. Fragrances can contain hormone disruptors and are among the top 5 allergens in the world. Buy fragrance free!

Hydroquinone: A skin bleaching chemical that can cause a skin disease called ochronosis, with blue-black lesions that in the worst cases become permanent black caviar-size bumps. In animal studies, hydroquinone has caused tumor development. The National Toxicology Program is conducting reproductive toxicity and dermal carcinogenicity studies of this chemical.

Methylisothiazolinone and methylchloroisothiazolinone: Preservatives, commonly used together in personal care products, among the most common irritants, sensitizers and causes of contact allergy Lab studies on mammalian brain cells suggest that methylisothiazolinone may be neurotoxic.

Oxybenzone: Sunscreen agent and ultraviolet light absorber, found in nearly all Americans , according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In human epidemiological studies, oxybenzone has been linked to irritation, sensitization and allergies.

A study of 404 New York City women in the third trimester of pregnancy associated higher maternal concentration of oxybenzone with a decreased birth weight among newborn baby girls but with greater birth weight in newborn boys. Studies on cells and laboratory animals indicate that oxybenzone and its metabolites may disrupt the hormone system.

Parabens (Propyl, Isopropyl, Butyl, and Isobutylparabens): Parabens are estrogen-mimicking preservatives, found in breast cancer tumors of 19 of 20 women studied.

The CDC has detected parabens in virtually all Americans surveyed. According to the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Consumer Products, longer chain parabens like propyl and butyl paraben and their branched counterparts, isopropyl and isobutylparabens, may disrupt the endocrine system and cause reproductive and developmental disorders.
PEG/Ceteareth/Polyethylene compounds: These synthetic chemicals are frequently contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, which the U.S. government considers a probably human carcinogen and which readily penetrates the skin. Cosmetics makers could easily remove 1,4-dioxane from ingredients, but tests documenting its common presence in products show that they often don’t.

Petroleum distillates: Petroleum-extracted cosmetics ingredients, commonly found in mascara. They may cause contact dermatitis and are often contaminated with cancer-causing impurities. They are produced in oil refineries at the same time as automobile fuel, heating oil and chemical feedstocks.

Phthalates: A growing number of studies link this chemical to male reproductive system disorders. Pregnant women should avoid nail polish containing dibutyl phathalate. Everyone should avoid products with “fragrance” indicating a chemical mixture that may contain phthalates.

Resorcinol: Common ingredient in hair color and bleaching products; skin irritant, toxic to the immune system and frequent cause of hair dye allergy. In animal studies, resorcinol can disrupt normal thyroid function. The federal government regulates exposures to resorcinol in the workplace, but its use is not restricted in personal care products.

Retinyl palmitate and retinol (Vitamin A): Vitamin A is an essential nutrient, but excessive amounts can cause severe birth defects if women are exposed during pregnancy.

New evidence shows that when applied to sun-exposed skin, for instance, in sunscreens, lip products and daytime moisturizers, these compounds can break down and produce toxic free radicals that can damage DNA and cause skin cancer. Recent date from the federal Food and Drug Administration indicate that when retinyl palmitate is applied to the skin in the presence of sunlight, it speeds the development of skin tumors and lesions.

Toluene: Volatile petrochemical solvent and paint thinner and potent neurotoxicant that acts as an irritant, impairs breathing and causes nausea. A pregnant woman’s exposure to toluene vapors during pregnancy may impair fetal development. In human epidemiological and animal studies, toluene has been associated with toxicity to the immune system. Some evidence suggests a link to malignant lymphoma.

Here are 5 tips to help you when you are selecting your next skincare product.

Tip 1. When it comes to skin care, less is better. Using fewer products where possible will be better for your skin. Apply only what you require and only apply products with safe ingredients.

Tip 2. Remember marketing claims like “dermatologist-tested,” “gentle” and “natural” do not necessarily mean anything useful to you – it could be marketing jargon.

Tip 3. The term ‘Fragrance’ is a general non specific term that can include hundreds of chemicals that can potentially cause allergic reactions. Skip products that use the term “fragrance” in the list of ingredients and instead opt for those that list each ‘fragrance’ ingredient separately.

Tip 4. Some ingredients can have harmful contaminants and impurities linked to cancer and other health concerns. Avoid these common potentially risky ingredients wherever possible:

• DMDM hydantoin,
• Diazolidinyl urea,
• Imidazolidinyl urea,
• Ceteareth,
• Polyethylene glycol and PEG

Tip 5. When cleaning your body:

• Do not use bar soaps with (triclocarban) or liquid soaps with (triclosan) on your body.
• Do not use Moisturizers with (retinyl palmitate) or (retinol) in daytime skin products

Tip 6. When cleaning your teeth:

• Avoid triclosan in toothpastes

Tip 7. For your lips:

• Avoid applying products with retinyl palmitate or retinol on your lips.

Tip 8. When protecting your skin from the sun, very few sunscreens provide adequate sun protection and are free of harmful ingredients:

• Avoid retinyl palmitate, aerosol spray and powder sunscreen
• Zinc or Titanium are the best active ingredients, otherwise Avobenzone at 3%
• Use SPF 30 for intense sun, use a lot and reapply frequently

Tip 9. Hair care

• Avoid applying anything with fragrance, PEGs, ceteareths and polyethylene
• Avoid Parabens: propyl, isopropyl, butyl, isobutyl
• Avoid DMDM hydantoin

Tip 10. Your nails

• Avoid Formaldehyde or formalin in polish, hardeners or other nail products.
• Avoid Toluen & Dibutyl phthalate (DBP).
• If you are pregnant, skip using nail polish altogether

Tip 11. For Children

• Kids are more sensitive to ingredients than adults. Use as few products as possible and select them carefully.

Tip 12. For Babies,

• Diaper Cream – Avoid Boric Acid
• Baby Wipes – Avoid 2-Bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol (bronopol)
• Toothpaste – LIMIT fluoride toothpaste for kids who might swallow it (donot use at all for children under 2 years of age)

Tip 13. Download and read the articles on this website for a comprehensive list of skincare ingredients with impurities related to potential health concerns.

Organic Labeling and Marketing Information

The Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) and the National Organic Program (NOP) assure consumers that the organic agricultural

products they purchase are produced, processed, and certified to consistent national organic standards. The labeling requirements
of the NOP apply to raw, fresh products and processed products that contain organic agricultural ingredients.

Agricultural products that are sold, labeled, or represented as organic must be produced and processed in accordance with the NOP standards. Except for operations whose gross income from organic sales totals $5,000 or less, farm and processing operations that grow and process organic agricultural products must be certified by USDA-accredited certifying agents.

Labeling requirements are based on the percentage of organic ingredients in a product.

Agricultural products labeled “100 percent organic” and “organic” Products labeled as “100 percent organic” must contain (excluding water and salt) only organically produced ingredients and processing aids. Products labeled “organic” must consist of at least 95 percent organically produced ingredients (excluding water and salt). Any remaining product ingredients must consist of nonagricultural substances approved on the National List including specific non-organically produced agricultural products that are not commercially available in organic form.

Products meeting the requirements for “100 percent organic” and “organic” may display these terms and the percentage of organic content on their principal display panel.

The USDA seal and the seal or mark of involved certifying agents may appear on product packages and in advertisements.
Agricultural products labeled “100 percent organic” and “organic” cannot be produced using excluded methods, sewage sludge, or ionizing radiation.

Processed products labeled “made with organic ingredients” Processed products that contain at least 70 percent
organic ingredients can use the phrase “made with organic ingredients” and list up to three of the organic ingredients or food groups on the principal display panel. For example, soup made with at least 70 percent organic ingredients and only organic vegetables may be labeled either “soup made with organic peas, potatoes, and carrots,” or “soup made with organic vegetables.”

Processed products labeled “made with organic ingredients” cannot be produced using excluded methods, sewage sludge, or ionizing radiation. The percentage of organic content and the certifying agent seal or mark may be used on the principal display panel.

However, the USDA seal cannot be used anywhere on the package. Processed products that contain less than 70 percent organic ingredients These products cannot use the term organic anywhere on the principal display panel. However, they may identify the specific ingredients that are organically produced on the ingredients statement on the information panel.

Other labeling provisions

Any product labeled as organic must identify each organically produced ingredient in the ingredient statement on the information panel. The name of the certifying agent of the final product must be displayed on the information panel. The address of the certifying agent of the final product may be displayed on the information panel.

There are no restrictions on use of other truthful labeling claims such as “no drugs or growth hormones used,” “free range,” or “sustainably harvested.”

Penalties for misuse of labels

A civil penalty of up to $11,000 can be levied on any person who knowingly sells or labels as organic a product that is not produced and handled in accordance with the National Organic Program’s regulations.