After our daughter experienced a painful reaction to the hand soap in her elementary school, we were driven to learn what is used in commonly available personal care products. We were shocked to find harsh chemicals and commonly-known carcinogens throughout the lists of ingredients. Even brands we purchased from our local health food stores contained these chemicals and unlisted by-products of ingredient combinations that have been banned in other countries for years! You should still do a small skin test prior to using any skin or cosmetic product, certified organic or not, but we have been working hard to figure it all out and offer it to you in a simple, accessible way. Did you know? There are over 1100 chemicals that have been banned in the European Union for use in cosmetics and personal care products for being carcinogenic, mutagenic and reproductive toxins. For more information, please visit the following links: - NEW BOOK: "There's Lead in Your Lipstick" Each morning we spritz, soak, and slather ourselves in 127 different chemicals, many of which are toxic. Each time we draw a bubble bath for a child, lather foaming cream for a shave, or deodorize our underarms, we expose our bodies to innumerable chemicals with limited research on their long-term health effects. The cosmetics industry is not required to prove an ingredient is safe for human health before it is used in a consumer product. Shocking, but true.
As a breast cancer survivor, Gill Deacon takes the issue of toxins in bodycare products to heart. Her book is a friendly, informative and meticulously researched guide to more considered options for personal care, showing how to navigate misleading labels and greenwash.
- Check the safety of your cosmetics and personal care products at www.cosmeticsdatabase.com Search the database by brand or by ingredient to get a safety rating for the product(0-2 low hazard and 3-10 medium to high hazard), scroll down the page to read ingredient descriptions, eg. link to cancer.
- Sherry Beall interviews Stacy Malkan, author of "Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry." Today's society seems to be bombarded with products riddled with toxic chemicals and potentially unsafe ingredients. Everything from cleaning supplies to cosmetics can be extremely dangerous to your health and the planet. Join Sherry Beall on "Healthy Planet, Healthy Me!" as she talks with Stacy Malkan about the hidden toxic components that the beauty industry is trying to keep out of the public eye. (video) Healthy Planet, Healthy Me! Co-Founder, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
- How an Inspirational group of Teens were instrumental in getting California Cosmetics Laws changed! (video) Teens for Safe Cosmetics
- CANADIAN LAWS: Hugh Davis of Health Canada (Head of Cosmetics), told CBC Marketplace that "Canada’s regulations are so outrageously antiquated, they’re not worth the paper they’re written on." Davis called cosmetics "high risk," "because you’re applying them directly to your body.” Cosmetics and the cancer connection (CBC Marketplace, broadcast Jan. 2003)
- NEW Book - A must-read for Canadians! Slow Death by Rubber Duck Co-authored by Environmental Defence's Executive Director, Dr. Rick Smith, Slow Death by Rubber Duck reveals how daily life creates a toxic soup inside each of us. How do these toxins make their way inside us and what affect do they have on our health? And more importantly, what can we do about them? Rick Smith and co-author Bruce Lourie tackle these questions head-on by experimenting upon themselves. By revealing the pollution load in their bodies, they tell us the inside story of seven common substances.
- (video)The human race is now polluted with hundreds of industrial chemicals – with little or no understanding of the consequences. Babies are born pre-polluted with as many as 300 industrial chemicals in their bodies when they enter the world. Environmental Working Group "Kid-Safe Chemicals Act: 10 Americans "
- Babies recently treated with infant personal care products such as lotion, shampoo and powder were more likely to have man-made chemicals called phthalates in their urine: Article (Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center, Seattle Washington)
GOOD things can sometimes be hard to find. Here are some of our favourite healthy home ideas......SWEET DREAMS! Almost 1/2 of our lives are spent sleeping. Find a mattress that isn't soaked in fire retardants and other petro chemicals. Click here for more information. SNACK ATTACK? Need school or work snacks fast? These are the tastiest treats we've tried! Healthy, delicious & organic snacks (Canadian) order online http://nudfud.com/ DON'T SWEAT IT? Low heat sauna therapy. A detoxification study on Saunaray's Medical-Grade far infrared saunas with Dr. Gordon Ko, MD and Sat Dharam Kaur, ND, Bsc. Shows blood analysis before and after only fifty hours of sauna therapy showed a 20% decrease in PCB's, Pesticides, and Dioxin. Mercury levels were reduced by 30% (through urinalysis). Handcrafted saunas built in Canada! Hand finished in beeswax and we guarantee no plywood, Teflon, toxic lacquers, solvents, or painted carbon paper and fibreglass. Most other saunas on the market are imported from China where there is little control on the use of toxic lacquers, or metals used in construction. http://www.saunaray.com/ TURNED OFF! Dr. Devra Davis shared the Nobel Prize with Al Gore for work on Climate Change. Her new book, Disconnect, selected by TIME magazine as a top pick, provides shocking detail about cell phone radiation and your health, is receiving kudos from experts and policy makers around the world, and is the subject of broad multi-media coverage. Dr. Davis lectures at Georgetown, Harvard, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and other universities, and was Founding Director, Center for Environmental Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, and Professor of Epidemiology at the Graduate School of Public Health (2004-2009). http://www.disconnectbook.com/ |
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