Here’s some cheery news: according to a report in The Independent, the FDA is warning cosmetics makers they may have to start warning consumers they have no idea if their products are dangerous:
What concerns scientists at the FDA and at environmental health organisations throughout the world is the “cocktail effect” – the daily mixing of many different types of toxins in and on the body – and how this might damage health over the longer term.
On average, we each use nine personal care products a day containing 126 different ingredients. Such “safety” testing as exists looks for reactions, such as skin redness, rashes or stinging, but does not investigate potential long-term problems for either humans or the environment. Yet the chemicals that go into products such as shampoos and hand creams are not trace contaminants. They are the basic ingredients.
See? And you were all worried about avian flu.
