how sad...

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

sarah

Head Chef
Joined
Oct 24, 2004
Messages
1,161
i got this in an email today,i'm so mad,this is so unfair.


Recently a brand called "Red Earth" decreased their prices from $67 to
>$9.90. It contained lead. Lead is a chemical which causes cancer.

>The Brands which contain lead are:
>1. CHRISTIAN DIOR
>2. LANCOME
>3. CLINIQUE
>4. Y.S.L
>5. ESTEE LAUDER
>6. SHISEIDO
>7. RED EARTH (Lip Gloss)
>8. CHANEL (Lip Conditioner)
>9. MARKET AMERICA-MOTNES LIPSTICK.

>The higher the lead content, the greater the chance of causing cancer.

After doing a test on lipsticks, it was found that the Y.S.L. lipstick
>contained the most amount of lead.

>Watch out for those lipsticks which are supposed to stay longer. If
>your lipstick stays longer, it is because of the higher content of
>lead.

>Here is the test you can do yourself:

>1.Put some lipstick on your hand.
>2.Use a Gold ring to scratch on the lipstick.
>3.If the lipstick color changes to black then you know the lipstick
>contains lead.
 
Fortunately, this is not true. Check it out at www.snopes.com. Actually, here is what it says there:

[FONT=Trebuchet MS,Bookman Old Style,Arial]Easily Lead[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS,Bookman Old Style,Arial]
Claim: Several major brands of lipstick contain dangerous levels of lead.

Status: False.

Example: [FONT=Trebuchet MS,Bookman Old Style,Arial][Collected via e-mail, 2003][/FONT]

This is how to test Lipstick for "Lead", lead is a chemical which causes cancer. Recently a brand called, "Red Earth" decreased their prices from HK$67 to HK$9.9. It contains lead.

Brands which contain Lead
1. Christian Dior 4
2. LANCOME 2
3. CLINIQUE 2
4. Y.S.L 5
5. ESTEE LAUDER 3
6. SHISEIDO 2
7. RED EARTH (Lip Gloss) 2
8. CHANEL (Lip Conditioner) 2
9. Market America-Motives lipstick 0

The higher the number of lead the higher the content which means a greater chance of causing Cancer. After doing this test, we found Y.S.L. lipstick to contain the most lead. It is not easy to "REMOVE" because of the lead. Watch out for those lipsticks which are suppose to stay longer

Here is the test you can do yourself:

1. Put some lipstick on your hand,
2. Use a 24k-14k Gold ring to scratch on the lipstick.
3. If the lipstick color changes to black then you know the lipstick contains lead.

Please send this information to all your girl friends.

Variations: In November 2004 this item was combined with another piece about the purported dangers of microwaving food in plastic containers.

Origins: This
lipstick.jpg
terrifying warning about danger lurking in lipstick began frightening the makeup-wearing public in May 2003, even as it apparently offered them a way to protect themselves from dangerous products via a simple test which could supposedly identify a lurking threat to their wellbeing.

Lead may not necessarily cause cancer, but it most assuredly is an element dangerous to humans; one they should make every effort to distance themselves from. Exposure to lead can cause a range of deleterious health effects, from behavioral problems and learning disabilities to seizures and death. Children 6 years old and under are most at risk because their bodies are growing quickly, thus additional care has to be taken to protect them from exposure to this common element. In the past, many house paints were lead-based and the solder commonly used on plumbing joints contained lead, bringing this killer into numerous unsuspecting households. But lead awareness has improved in recent years, as have regulations restricting the use of lead in goods or products average consumers might have contact with. In this respect, our houses today are far safer than those of our parents and grandparents.

But what about the presence of lead in cosmetics? Although many dangerous substances (including lead) have been utilized as ingredients at various times in the history of makeup, and some women of earlier days caused themselves life-long health problems (or even managed to kill themselves) with beautifers that amounted to death in a jar, what goes into cosmetics these days is strictly regulated, controlled, and fully understood. While in the past anything and everything got tossed into the paintbox without anyone's knowing what could cause harm and what was safe to use, our modern world at least has safe cosmetics going for it.

We spoke with a compliance officer at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about the possibility of lead being present in lipsticks. All dyes used in foodstuffs or cosmetics have to be vetted by the FDA for safety, and although some of the colorants the FDA grants approval to do contain lead, it is present in such miniscule amounts that is has no adverse effects on consumers. Manufacturers who wish to do business in the USA are restricted to the use of FDA-certifiable colors only; otherwise their products will not be allowed in the country or onto the shelves of American stores. Each of these approved dyes has its own rigid set of specifications which must be adhered to. For instance, F&C Red #6 cannot contain more than 20 parts per million of lead (also not more than 3 parts per million of arsenic or 1 part per million of mercury). As for how stringent these requirements are, every time a manufacturer prepares a batch of dye for use in its products, it has to submit a sample from that batch to the FDA for certification. The FDA's certification process is exhaustive and exhausting. And only the FDA can certify colors as safe — no one else has that authority.

The FDA further regulates the selection of dyes manufacturers can incorporate into their products according to the proposed end uses of the items in question. Thus, products intended for use on mucous membranes can contain only certain FDA-approved dyes rather than drawing from the full spectrum of approved dyes. Because the lips are considered mucous membranes, lipstick manufacturers may make their colorant selections only from this reduced pool.

Despite initial inability to see the resultant streaks (my eyesight is not nearly as good as it once was, which may partially explain why I believe my husband gets better looking with each passing year), further tests conducted under strong light by rubbing various metals across lipstick smears made on sheets of white paper produced dark brown marks. Rubs of pewter, copper, silver, and gold across samples drawn from three Revlon Colorstay Lipcolors left dark streaks in their wakes; rubs of stainless steel did not. Even coins produced reactions, with dimes and nickels leaving discernable streaks, although pennies did not. (Which is not all that surprising, given the reaction to copper noted above. Pennies are 2.5% copper and 97.5% zinc; nickels are 75% copper and 25% nickel, and dimes are 91.67% copper and 8.33% nickel.) All reactions were more noticeable against streaks of lighter-colored lipstick.

Yet the interests of science carried me further, especially after a call to Revlon failed to yield anything that would help explain what component of the cosmetic was reacting to those metals. Remembering that lipstick is (at its most basic) oil, wax, and color, I rubbed the four metals across swipes of wax made on white paper, and again saw dark streaks, albeit grey ones. Curiousity then inspired me to make yet another test with the four metals, this time against plain white paper. And once again, the grey streaks were there.

The streaks that supposedly herald the presence of lead in one's lipstick are in reality dark marks produced by the testing agents themselves. Gold, silver, copper, and pewter leave these trails no matter what they're rubbed against, in the same way that pencils make marks on whatever surfaces they are trailed along. That these marks appear more prominent against a lipstick backdrop is attributable to contrast — streaks that look grey against a white background seem brown against a reddish background, and brown is a color more readily picked out by the eye.

The bottom line is that U.S. medical literature has yet to record a single case of anyone's coming down with lead poisoning through lipstick use. (And, in any case, contrary to what is claimed in the alarming e-mail quoted above, contracting cancer is not one of the recorded adverse health effects one is likely to suffer through excessive exposure to lead.)

Of course, all of this information applies to lipstick legally produced and sold in the U.S. When it comes to unauthorized imports and counterfeit cosmetics that evade the scrutiny of government regulatory agencies, all bets are off.


[/FONT]
 
Last edited:
I was about to do the same, Barbara! Good job. For anyone here, looks like Barbara does the same, DO NOT BELIEVE EVERY EMAIL!! IF I get an email claiming anything like this about something or someone, I look it up on snopes. It hasn't let me down yet. Doing this and passing the email on with the snopes link, will help lower the passing of these emails.
 
What got my attention is their claim that Lead causes Cancer. (it almost made me laugh out loud).

According to the CDC there is no proven link between Lead and Cancer.

The Physiology of Lead in the human system primarily effects the Nervous System, Growth and Development, and Cognitive Function as well as a host of symptoms that mimic Parkinsons Disease, and can lead to serious illness, organ damage and even death if left undiganosed and untreated, but at the moment there is only rudimetry evidence to suggest the development of tumors in the kidneys as a result of lead poisioning.

~ Raven ~
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom