Carol Secter
As you prepare for your day, are you massaging toxins into your scalp, daubing poisons onto your cheeks, applying hormone disruptors to your hands? Heather Sarantis, Program Manager of the Breast Cancer Fund in San Francisco, wanted to address these questions at a workshop during the recent World Conference on Breast Cancer in Halifax.
Her proposal was not accepted. Avon, one of the major contributors to the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance, was a sponsor of the conference. Fortunately, the conference planners had allowed time for delegates to run their own mini-workshops and Heather took advantage of this to lead a group in discussion of such questions. If you would like to answer them for yourself, go to www.SafeCosmetics.com and click on the Skin Deep link. You will find the ten worst and ten best cosmetics and body products covering many categories — from blushes to hair dyes. You can also create a personal profile of the products you use and find out just what they contain. Be warned — chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects and other health problems abound!
Consider writing or e-mailing the manufacturers of any health and beauty products you are using. Ask them if their products contain any of the many chemicals known — or suspected — to be toxic. Mention that, if they do use such chemicals, it might be wise to plan on removing them. Remind them that consumers have a choice about what they buy and that, as women become more aware of the ingredients in these products, they will learn to buy the safest products and not the products with the most appealing ads or packaging.