JOY FEELINGS MAGAZINE December 2016 New Year issue | Page 54

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More than 10,000 ingredients are allowed for use in
personal care products -- and the average woman wears
515 of them every day, according to a 2009 British study
that looked at the routines of over 2,000 women. Very
little is known about the health effects of these chemicals.
More than 90% have never been tested for their effects on
human health, and complete toxicity data are available for
only 7% of them. Even though government agencies are
aware of the health hazards of some ingredients, such as
hydroquinone or phthalates, they are still allowed in
personal
care
products.
We are providing information on some of the most
common hazardous ingredients, so that you can check
your cosmetic labels and see if they are there. Hazardous
ingredients are usually present in conventional products,
but they may also be found in some “alternative” products
which try to be more health conscious. Note though that
some chemicals about which there are serious concerns.
such as fragrance ingredients or contaminants found in
certain chemicals, will not show up on labels so reading
labels won’t tell you everything you need to know. The
information
below
should
be
helpful.
In preparing this guide, we screened products and chose
those which had the least amount of these hazardous
chemicals, or none at all, for our Best and Good sections.
54 | P a g e : J O Y F E E L I N G S !