Lead In Your Lipstick? Ouch

Drizzle and mist fill the view, a New England steam bath.

It's true. Lead in lipstick. I have never been a personal user of lipstick but there's a bigger picture here so stay with me.

Lead in lipstick is just one of the many ingredients allowed in our make-up and does not have to be disclosed. A lawsuit has been brought against Dior because their lead levels are two times higher than the safe level. I didn't know there was a safe level for lead. Actually there isn't a safe level based on science, it's just an arbitrary number in our country.

Lead received a lot of attention last year during the holiday time when toys were found to have lead in their paint. And did natural toys fly off the shelf after that. We know lead is a powerful neuro-toxin and does all sorts of nasty brain things, especially for developing fetuses and children. Skin Deep does a great job analyzing cosmetics and lipstick. So how is it in our personal care products and we don't even know it? Our all powerful lobbyists hard at work again making sure profit comes before people.

The EU has much stricter cosmetic laws and Australia has really taken the lead on lead. Australia requires that ALL ingredients be listed on cosmetics and not in strange sounding names that you can't look up. And, Australia requires a warning sign if it contains any lead at all. Thank you Australia.

And if you still think this is no big deal because we're talking about lipstick which doesn't affect children, think again. Think about all the pregnant women walking around wearing lipstick. And have you ever seen a group of small kids play dress up and smear old lipstick all over their lips and half their face? We can do better.

What's a woman to do? Go naked!