From the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
Lead in lipstick? Turns out, the urban legend is true. In October 2007, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics tested 33 popular brands of lipsticks at an independent lab for lead content.
The results: 61 percent of lipsticks contained lead, with levels ranging up to 0.65 parts per million. Lead-contaminated brands included L’Oreal, Cover Girl and even a $24 tube of Dior Addict. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration promised it would conduct an investigation, but dragged its feet in doing so.
It took nearly two years, pressure from consumers and a letter from three U.S. Senators, but in 2009 the FDA released a follow-up study that found lead in all samples of lipstick it tested, at levels ranging from 0.09 to 3.06 ppm – levels four times higher than the levels found in the Campaign study. FDA found the highest lead levels in lipsticks made by three manufacturers: Procter & Gamble (Cover Girl brand), L’Oreal (L’Oreal, Body Shop and Maybelline brands) and Revlon. Yet FDA has thus far failed to take action to protect consumers.
Breaking news: An expanded FDA study has found lead in hundreds of lipsticks at levels up to 7.19 ppm. Five of the 10 most lead-contaminated brands in the FDA study are made by L’Oreal USA. See the brands FDA tested here.
No Safe Dose
The recent science indicates there is no safe level of lead exposure.
“Lead builds up in the body over time and lead-containing lipstick applied several times a day, every day, can add up to significant exposure levels. The latest studies show there is no safe level of lead exposure,” according to Mark Mitchell, MD, MPH, policy advisor of the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice and co-chair of the Environmental Health Task Force for the National Medical Association.
“Lead is a proven neurotoxin that can cause learning, language and behavioral problems such as lowered IQ, reduced school performance and increased aggression. Pregnant women and young children are particularly vulnerable to lead exposure, because lead easily crosses the placenta and enters the fetal brain where it can interfere with normal development,” according toSean Palfrey, MD, a professor of pediatrics and public health at Boston University and the medical director of Boston’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. “Since recent science suggests that there is truly no safe lead exposure for children and pregnant women, it is disturbing that manufacturers are allowed to continue to sell lead-containing lipsticks.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states: “No safe blood lead level has been identified.” The agency suggests avoiding all sources of lead exposure, including lead-containing cosmetics. (Read CDC’s lead exposure prevention tips)
Status Update
The Campaign continues to pressure the FDA to set a maximum limit of lead in lipstick, based on the lowest lead levels manufacturers can feasibly achieve. Thus far the agency has failed to take action to protect consumers.
A state bill to ban lead from lipstick passed the California Senate in 2008, but died after a massiveindustry lobby effort.
What You Can Do
Because lead is a contaminant not listed on lipstick ingredient labels, it’s next to impossible for consumers to avoid. But don’t let that dissuade you from doing something:
- E-mail, call or write to the companies that make your favorite lipstick shades and tell them that lead-free products are important to you.
- Write to L’Oreal to demand the company get the lead out of its products.
More Information
Report: “A Poison Kiss: The Problem of Lead in Lipstick”
Science: Lead and other heavy metals
Laws: The FDA response to lead in lipstick
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics Letter to Dr. Linda Katz, Director of the FDA Office of Cosmetics and Colors (pdf)
Press Releases
Hundreds of lipsticks contaminated with lead, reports new FDA study (Feb. 7, 2012)
FDA Study: Lead Levels in Lipstick Much Higher than Previously Reported (Sept. 1, 2009)
FDA fails to protect public: Remains silent about lead in lipstick (Feb. 9, 2009)
Beauty industry lobbies to keep lead in lipstick (June 26, 2008)
New product tests find lead in lipstick (Oct. 11, 2007)
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