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The quest for the perfect red pucker may not be all that cracked up to be. In a recent investigation of lip products commonly found in drug and department stores across the United States, UC Berkeley researchers found levels of highly toxic metals with significant potential health impacts. Although none of the samples exceeded current public health exposure standards, women who apply such products to their lips more than twice per day could be getting as much as a fifth of their daily recommended doses, according to the study, which was published Thursday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. In fact, average use of certain lipsticks and lip glosses can result in excessive exposure to chromium, a carcinogen linked to stomach tumors. Women who slather on their lipsticks, or frequently reapply them throughout the day, also risk overexposure to aluminum, cadmium, and manganese. Lead, which children, who sometimes play with makeup, should avoid at any level, reared its head in at least 24 products.

PREVIOUSLY ON ECOUTERRE: “Good Morning America” Finds Traces of Lead in 55 Percent of Lipsticks

Read the rest of How Much Lead is in Your Lipstick? FDA Study Uncovers Worst Offenders

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Peter Dinklage wants to see an end to cosmetics tests on animals in the United States. The Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning actor, who plays charismatic antihero Tyrion Lannister on HBO’s Game of Thrones, has teamed up with Cruelty-Free International to denounce the continued use of animals to develop everyday beauty and personal-care products. Dinklage joins fellow celebrities Joss Stone and Ricky Gervais in promoting humane, non-animal alternatives, such as human-cell and -tissue cultures and computer models.

PREVIOUSLY ON ECOUTERRE: Paul McCartney, Ke$ha Call for an End to Cosmetic Animal Testing

HEAR HIM ROAR

Together with the animal-rights group, Dinklage is urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to follow Europe’s lead and ban the use of “painful and fatal” tests involving rabbits, guinea pigs, mice and rats who are injected, gassed, force-fed, and killed for cosmetics.

Dinklage is urging the FDA to follow Europe’s lead and ban the use of “painful and fatal” animal tests.

“I am so pleased to support Cruelty-Free International and be part of the global campaign to end cosmetics tests on animals,” Dinklage says in a statement. “It is unacceptable that animals continue to suffer around the world, including the United States of America, for the sake of beauty. I appeal to the U.S.A. to follow the European Union’s lead and end animal testing for cosmetics.”

+ Cruelty-Free International

MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES

• 3-4 ripe avocados
• 2 lemons
• 3½ tablespoons olive oil
• 3½ tablespoons honey
• Handful of rose petals
• 1 cup millet flour

STEP ONE

Take a handful of rose petals and soak them in 3½ tablespoons of olive oil overnight to create a scalp-soothing infusion. You can also use jasmine or lavender for their softening effects, or rosemary or thyme to tone the scalp.

STEP TWO

Mash three to four ripe avocados in a medium-sized bowl. If the mixture is too lumpy, press it through a sieve for a smoother consistency.

STEP THREE

Once ready, remove the rose petals and pour the oil through a sieve to collect the petals or sprigs. Add the rose-infused olive oil to the avocados and blend it into the mixture thoroughly.

CONTINUE READING >

Burt’s Bees has called on singer-songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen to be the official face of its Güd line of sustainable body- and hair-care products —no ifs, buts, or maybes about it. With her high-energy, “flower-child pop” sound, the “Call Me Maybe” singer-songwriter is the embodiment of Güd, according to the company, whose youth-focused line includes fragrances and formulas withe names like “Orange Petalooza” and “Pearanormal Activity.” As the brand’s first spokesperson, Jepsen will appear in a multimedia marketing campaign debuting this spring, including the May issues of fashion, beauty, and lifestyle publications such as Glamour, Allure, and Cosmopolitan.

PREVIOUSLY ON ECOUTERRE: Isabella Rossellini Plays “Burt” of Burt’s Bees in Pollinator Week PSAs

GÜD JOB

“Being eco-conscious is so important. I love that gud has figured out a way to reach young women with natural products that are also fun and smell amazing,” Jepsen says in a statement. “I also really connect with the positive spirit of the brand—it’s how I live my life every day.”

Like Burt’s Bees, Güd doesn’t use parabens, phthalates, or petrochemicals.

Burt’s Bees launched Güd in 2012. Now 36 products strong, and spanning five “scent experiences,” the brand is marketed at twenty-somethings as a “fresh and fragrant approach to natural beauty created for the millennial woman.” Like Burt’s Bees, Güd doesn’t use parabens, phthalates, or petrochemicals. Its products are also never tested on animals. Another plus? It uses packaging that contains at least 25 percent post-consumer recycled content.

“We’re delighted to work with a rising star of such magnitude,” Nick Vlahos, vice president and general manager of Burt’s Bees, says. “Carly’s vibrant spirit and genuine talent are inspirational to the Güd consumer. She models a way of life reflective of Güd’s cheerful personality and real substance.”

+ Güd

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Pimples still rearing their ugly heads? The fault might lie in your diet, according to a new study in the March 2013 issue of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Combing through 50 years of literature that investigated the diet-acne connection, a team of nutritionists and dermatologists from New York University and New York Medical College analyzed data for a number of study characteristics, including reference, design, participants, intervention method, primary outcome, results and conclusions, covariate considerations, and limitations. Their conclusion? Frequent consumption of high-glycemic-index foods (white bread, pasta, rice, glucose drinks) and dairy may not necessarily cause acne, but they will almost certainly influence or aggravate it.

Photo by Shutterstock

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

The paper marks a 360-degree turn prevailing notions about nutritional triggers on skin. Although research has linked diet to acne as early as the late 1800s—chocolate, sugar, and fat were identified as the chief culprits— studies began disassociating the two from the 1960s onwards.

Although research has linked diet to acne as early as the late 1800s, studies began disassociating the two from the 1960s.

“This change occurred largely because of the results of two important research studies that are repeatedly cited in the literature and popular culture as evidence to refute the association between diet and acne,” says Jennifer Burris, a researcher at the department of nutrition, food science, and public health at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. “More recently, dermatologists and registered dietitians have revisited the diet-acne relationship and become increasingly interested in the role of medical nutritional therapy in acne treatment.”

Burris, together with her colleagues Kathleen Woolf and William Rietkerk, recommend that dermatologists and registered dietitians work collaboratively to design and conduct quality research to determine the proposed underlying mechanisms linking diet to acne, as well as developing potential dietary interventions for the skin condition’s treatment.

“The medical community should not dismiss the possibility of diet therapy as an adjunct treatment for acne,” she says. “At this time, the best approach is to address each acne patient individually, carefully considering the possibility of dietary counseling.”

+ Press Release

+ Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

[Via ScienceDaily]

Photo by Shutterstock

That sexy scent in your shampoo or lipstick may have less-than-sexy side effects (think blisters, eczema, or problems breathing.) But that’s not the worst of it. Certain fragrance ingredients might even have links to cancer, hormone disruption, and reproductive abnormalities, according to a new study from Women’s Voices for the Earth, a Montana-based nonprofit that works to eliminate toxins that threaten women’s health. Secret Scents: How Hidden Fragrance Ingredients Harm Public Health reports that tens of millions of people across the globe suffer from fragrance-related allergies. Among the common triggers? Household and personal-care products.

PREVIOUSLY ON ECOUTERRE: New Hampshire Considers Perfume Ban for State Employees

Click here for the full infographic

WAFT OF DANGER

But affected populations will be hard-pressed to side-step specific fragrance allergens, the group says. Although the U.S. National Academy of Sciences listed fragrance ingredients more than 20 years ago as one of six categories of neurotoxins that should be investigated for their impact onf human health, neither the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency nor the U.S. Food and Drug Administration require companies to disclose the chemical makeup of fragranced products.

The lack of information regarding fragrance ingredients, Women’s Voices adds, is a major public health problem.

“This policy of secrecy has a two-fold effect on public health: it makes fragrance allergy both harder to diagnose and harder to treat,” reads the report. “Allergy patients are left with the unfortunate and extraordinarily limiting option of attempting to avoid all fragranced products.”

The lack of information regarding fragrance ingredients, Women’s Voices adds, is a major public health problem. Allergy sufferers routinely endure unnecessary pain while incurring significant health costs related to those allergies, it says. Despite the fact that the disclosure of fragrance ingredients, including those that have been identified by scientific bodies as allergens, could provide a “significant global health benefit,” however, the fragrance industry maintains that the secrecy surrounding their ingredients is vital to their business model.

In the U.S., the costs to insurance companies and Medicaid for the treatment of contact dermatitis and eczema ranges between $1 billion and $3.8 billion per year.

The fragrance industry’s self-regulation, the group says, has not served the public well. Children are easily exposed to fragrance allergens not only in scented personal-care product but also in toys, whether through skin contact, oral ingestion, or inhalation. (The European Union banned 55 “highly allergenic” fragrance ingredients from use in toys, and requires labeling for an additional 11 fragrance allergens, for this reason alone.)

In the United States, the costs to insurance companies and Medicaid for the treatment of contact dermatitis and eczema ranges between $1 billion and $3.8 billion per year, similar to the costs of other diseases such as emphysema and epilepsy.

“The argument for withholding this ingredient information as vital trade secrets simply wears thin given today’s reverse-engineering technology,” the report concludes. “A simple list of fragrance ingredients (without percentages or other key formulation details) poses almost no additional risk to the intellectual property of these companies. Yet the benefits of ingredient disclosure to allergy patients, health care professionals, researchers and everyday consumers could be dramatic. It is well overdue for the fragrance industry to shine some needed light on fragrance ingredients for the health of their customers.”

SIGN A PETITION TO STOP SECRET SCENTS >

+ Secret Scents

+ Women’s Voices for the Earth

Photo by Shutterstock

Looking to dye your lovely locks, but without the toxic chemicals? Well, you’re in luck because you could be dying your hair with gold someday. Though a couple of scientists in New Zealand were able to successfully dye lamb’s wool with gold, Dr. Philippe Walter at Université Pierre et Marie Curie-CNRS and his colleagues were interested in trying out gold nanotechnology to dye hair. It’s known that the Romans and Greeks used to dye their hair with lead, so Dr. Walter figured gold would have similar effects. They carried out the test on a couple of white hairs by soaking them in gold particles. After a day, the hairs turned yellow then a little over two weeks later, the hairs were permanently a dark brown — even after several washes.

With $30 of gold used to dye an average head of hair, that’s pretty affordable compared to a $100 trip to the hair salon. There are some downsides though: the dying process alone takes about six hours and then 16 days for the color to really show up. Also another quick note, your hair will glow red under ultraviolet lights (talk about being the life of the party!). Dr. Walter says that it’s a side-effect of how gold interacts with hair fibers. Gold nanotechnology is more known for it’s work towards detecting cancer, but this could be its breakthrough into the beauty industry.

+ Press Release

+ Université Pierre et Marie Curie

[Via Chemical & Engineering News]

Glen Callender and his foreskin have a bone to pick with Oprah Winfrey. The founder of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project has launched a protest against Winfrey, for her endorsement of SkinMedica anti-wrinkle cream…which contains HUMAN foreskins! Callender has called Winfrey a hypocrite, saying that her use of foreskin-cream habit contradicts her work speaking out against female genital mutilation.

What Winfrey describes as the “magic fountain of youth” is really a concoction containing foreskin fibroblast, skin from babies’ foreskins used to grow other skin or cells.  Winfrey has endorsed SkinMedica endlessly, on her show and in print.

Parents everywhere would probably be shocked to find out that the foreskins they have removed at their child’s birth are not thrown away, but instead used for scientific purposes- or worse…sold to make face cream. Callender also brings up the point that infant boys do not have the choice whether they want to be circumcised or not, further complicating the ethical use of the foreskins.

Callender has been quoted saying “How would Oprah respond if a men’s skin cream hit the market that was produced with tissue extracted from the genitalia of little girls?” This thought may sounds extreme or shocking, but Callendar’s comparison is totally valid.

He and his supporters staged a protest a sold out appearance by Winfrey at Rogers Arena in Vancouver yesterday, urging the cultural icon to come to her senses.

+ Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project

[Via Toronto Sun]

Photo by Shutterstock

PURGE YOUR MAKEUP BAG

The new year offers the perfect opportunity to clear old, expired makeup from your cosmetics bag and dressing table. Used makeup collects tons of bacteria, which can result not only in breakouts but also potentially harmful skin conditions. Check the expiration date of your products or follow this rule of thumb: replace mascara every three months, foundation every six months, and lipsticks and eye shadows every year.

Tip: Wash your brushes and sponges every three weeks to keep them—and your skin—in tip-top shape.

Photo by Shutterstock

USE A DRY BRUSH

A great way to rid of toxins, banish cellulite, and improve skin tone is to dry brush your skin a few minutes before you shower. Use a natural bristle brush and be sure to brush it towards your heart—it’s a wonderful way to improve your blood circulation.

Photo by Shutterstock

KNOW YOUR INGREDIENTS

Don’t just fall for the party line—check the labels of your beauty products to ferret out their ingredients. Avoid anything with sulfates, parabens, mineral oil, propylene glycol, phthalates, fragrance, or talc. Conventional cosmetic and personal-care products are chock-full of toxic chemicals, but once you identify what they are, shopping for healthier options become much easier.

PREVIOUSLY ON ECOUTERRE: 6 Toxic Ingredients You Should Avoid in Cosmetics

CONTINUE READING >

After more than a century of pampering other people’s faces, Nivea is getting a makeover of its own. The German skincare brand tapped Swiss designer Yves Béhar, founder of Fuseproject, to create a “new global design language” based on its iconic blue tin. “Our early thinking was to reduce the complexity of the current form languages, edit the numerous packaging types to a minimum set, and eliminate the proliferation of logo variations and typographic expression,” Béhar told Fast Co.Design on Tuesday.

NEW LOOK

But tackling Nivea’s graphic identity was only the beginning. Béhar and his team also designed a new bottle that, by nature of its shape, is both lighter and stronger than previous iterations. Although thinner walls equals 15 percent less plastic, the stronger structural shape maintains the bottle’s durability. Another plus? Because the bottle was designed to fit tighter on the wood pallets that carry Nivea products to the store, Béhar said the redesign will save at least 12,600 pallets and 585 tons of carbon emissions per year.

Béhar also designed a new bottle that is both lighter and stronger than previous iterations.

“It doesn’t happen very often that we, as designers, get to work on things that are on supermarket shelves in 170 countries and affect 500 million women,” Béhar added. “So if we change the amount of plastic used in each bottle by 15 percent, if we simplify the logistics, if we can put more of these bottles on a pallet, then we’re in a much better place.”

+ Press Release

+ Nivea

[Via Fast Co.Design]

Photo by Shutterstock

Navigating the beauty industry isn’t unlike watching an episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County—you’re equal parts baffled and alarmed, there are flashes of self-loathing, and although you have a sneaking suspicion that it’s bad for you, you can’t help but breathlessly indulge. Throw in barrage of mostly meaningless buzzwords like “natural” and “organic,” and it’s no wonder most of us are at sea. Mia Davis, former organizing director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and currently the safety lead at Beautycounter, is at the front line of a new revolution to replace toxic chemicals in cosmetic and personal-care products with healthier alternatives. We spoke with Davis to learn why it’s perfectly legal for beauty firms to use ingredients linked to cancer, how to spot greenwashing in the beauty aisle, and what we can do to make sure our products are truly safe.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Photo by Shutterstock

You were the organizing director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics for five years—tell us about the work you did.

The campaign is a coalition of nonprofit organizations that work to ensure our skin care and makeup are safe for long-term use. Seems like a no-brainer, I know. But right now, it is perfectly legal for cosmetics companies to use harmful chemicals linked to cancer, reproductive problems and other serious health impacts. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn’t have the power to ensure that these products are safe before they hit the market. They can’t even do a recall of unsafe products.

The FDA doesn’t have the power to ensure that these products are safe before they hit the market.

Since “cosmetics” is a catchall term for virtually everything women, men, and kids use on their skin, this affects all of us. On average, women use more than 10 cosmetics a day, but everyone uses multiple products—even those of us that are pretty low-maintenance. So our exposure to cosmetics chemicals really adds up, and some of the chemicals are potent at extremely low doses (like hormone disruptors).

Luckily, the campaign has had a lot of success moving the market away from toxic chemicals. [It's] working to pass common-sense federal policy that will empower the FDA to protect American consumers from these unnecessary toxic exposures.

Can you tell us a little about greenwashing in so-called natural and/or organic products?

Greenwashing is when companies use deceptive “green” marketing practices (basically, talking about how “green” or “eco-conscious” they are, but not really walking the walk).

Many consumers think that “green” products are always safe and nontoxic—it’s not necessarily the case.

Many consumers are left thinking that “green” products are always safe and nontoxic, which isn’t necessarily the case. After all, heavy metals are “natural.” And, on the other hand, there are natural ingredients that manufacturers buy from ingredient suppliers that come preloaded with preservatives, but since the preservatives aren’t an individual ingredient, they don’t always appear on ingredient labels.

For example, I could buy aloe vera with preservatives from a supplier, put it in my lotion, and not list the preservative on the product label. Some of the companies that claim they are natural and that they don’t use synthetic preservatives are really misleading the consumer. Not cool.

CONTINUE READING >

Photo by Shutterstock

A Nobel Prize-winning technology could soon spell the end of synthetic cosmetic ingredients. In a new twist on tapping biomass as a sustainable raw material, scientists from the University of Ottawa in Canada and Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil have uncovered a way to transform plant “essential oils”—substances with the characteristic fragrance of the plant—into high-value components for sunscreens, perfumes, and other personal-care products. Described in the Nov. 5, 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the technique could even open up new economic opportunities for tropical countries where such plants grow.

Photo by Shutterstock

AU NATURALE

Broken down from plant material, the substances offer a sustainable alternative to petroleum-derived raw materials, according to Deryn Fogg and Eduardo dos Santos, who headed the research. In addition to sparing dwindling supplies of fossil fuel, these botanically derived ingredients would also reduce our chemical body burden, which can lead to long-term negative health effects.

Broken down from plants, the substances offer a sustainable alternative to petroleum-derived raw materials.

Because current methods of synthesizing these ingredients from plants are time-consuming, the duo looked to “metathesis,” the topic of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, to develop their approach.

Another benefit of using natural compounds? They could create a source of income for small producers in the developing world. “These methodologies offer the potential for economic expansion via the sustainable cultivation and elaboration of high-return source species in the tropical countries that represent the major producers of essential oils,” the researchers say.

+ Press Release

+ American Chemistry Society

Photo by Shutterstock

And you thought moisturizing with snail slime was weird. The latest “miracle” ingredient to emerge from the beauty industry? Powdered meteorite, the active component of Anesi Beauté’s “Celestial Secret” serum. The self-proclaimed “world’s first anti-aging cosmeceutical elixir originating from outer space” claims to be chock-full of minerals that pamper your punim, including a high percentage of calcium, iron, and magnesium said to refill wrinkles and restore skin density. Combined with extracts from semiprecious stones such as haematite, rodochrosite, olivine, and smithsonite, plus exotic-sounding botanicals such as beech bud extract, the potion purports to boldly go where no beauty product has gone before.

PREVIOUSLY ON ECOUTERRE: 10 Bizarre Natural Beauty Treatments That Freak Us Out Big Time

OUT OF THIS WORLD

Tracey Smith, director of Essential Beauty Supplies, which is marketing the cream in the United Kingdom, says that the £240 ($390) treatment works to repair and rejuvenate the skin moisture barrier for firm, luminous, and youthful-looking skin. “Everyone who tries it say that they feel a benefit straight away which improves every day and after only four days you start to see a difference, which just gets better and better,” she told the Daily Mail on Tuesday. “We have proven photographic results using a much lower percentage of meteorite extract so we know it really works.”

Anesi claims its treatment rejuvenates the skin moisture barrier for firm and youthful-looking skin.

With scant scientific evidence to back up its assertions, however, Celestial Secret appears to be more marketing hype than hope. Certainly the product’s overwrought mythology doesn’t pass the sniff test. Anesi claims to employ nomadic tribes to scour the sands of the Sahara for meteorites to pulverize and process.

By contrast, a bird-poop facial sounds positively quotidian.

[Via Daily Mail]

Photo by Shutterstock

A swipe of a red lipstick may have a transformative effect like no other, but could your signature crimson pucker be responsible for less-than-desirable changes, as well? A recent investigation by Good Morning America revealed that 12 of 22 of lipstick samples—or 55 percent—contained trace amounts of lead, some as high as 3.22 part per million. Lead is a potent neurotoxin that can cause learning, behavioral, and other problems, but even the worst offenders aren’t guilty of anything illegal. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration suggests a lead limit of 0.1 parts per million for candy, the cosmetics industry isn’t beholden to any such threshold outside of California. (The Golden State recommends a maximum of 5 parts per million.) And because lead is considered an “unintended” byproduct of the manufacturing process, cosmetics manufacturers aren’t required to declare it on their ingredient labels.

Photo by Shutterstock

TOXIC SMOOCH

None of this is news to regulators, of course. A 2011 investigation by the FDA uncovered varying amounts of lead in 400 shades of popular lipstick, among them L’Oreal, Maybelline, Cover Girl, and NARS. The lipstick with the highest lead concentration? Maybelline’s Color Sensational Pink Petal lipstick, which topped out at 7.19 parts per million.

The upside is the fact that 10 of the lipsticks didn’t contain lead, which proves it’s possible to manufacture a lipstick without it.

The lead-in-lipstick debate is one that resurfaces once every few years. The FDA and certain experts claim that lipstick, unlike candy, is ingested only in very small quantities, so any traces of lead that do exist are too minute to pose a threat. Anti-lead consumer advocates, including the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, however, insist that there is no such thing as a “safe” level of lead exposure.

Concerns abound, for instance, that a pregnant woman wearing lipstick can pass lead to her baby internally. “What we know now is that even the lowest levels of lead can harm your IQ, your behavior, your ability to learn, so we want to make sure that it is out of everything that is in the environment of children,” Sean Palfrey, medical director for the Boston Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, a joint initiative by the Boston Public Health Commission, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and the Department of Pediatrics at Boston Medical Center, told GMA.

Then there is the fact that 10 of the lipsticks the news program tested didn’t contain lead. “That’s the upside of your survey results,” says Janet Nudelman of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. “Clearly the concerning part is that more than half of the lipsticks do contain lead, but half of them don’t, proving that it’s possible to manufacture a lipstick without lead.”

[Via Good Morning America]

Dr. Bronner’s, the self-proclaimed “fighting soap company,” has declared war on malaria, a deadly disease that exacts an annual death toll of 1 million people worldwide, most of them young children living in Africa. Its first volley? A crowdfunding campaign to provide mosquito nets for thousands of families in the Asuom region of eastern Ghana, where the fifth-generation soap-making family harvests the palm oil it uses in its organic- and fair-trade-certified soaps. Every $10 donation will allow the company to buy and distribute a bed net— which world health experts say can reduce child mortality in malarial regions by 20 percent—to a family in need. Dr. Bronner’s is looking to raise $25,000, which it’ll match dollar for dollar for a minimum contribution of $50,000.

ALL ONE

Spread by a single mosquito bite, malaria causes debilitating pain and prevents people infected with the disease from earning a living. In the district surrounding Asuom, an estimated 40 percent of the population contracts malaria each year, a quarter of which are children under the age of 5. Bed nets offer a simple yet cost-effective solution by creating a protective barrier against mosquito bites while families sleep.

In the district surrounding Asuom, an estimated 40 percent of the population contracts malaria each year.

“Our partners in Ghana have singled out malaria prevention as a top priority for their next community project and Dr. Bronner’s crowdfunding campaign seeks to raise enough funds to provide 5,000 bed nets to cover a shortfall in the government’s distribution program,” says Michael Bronner, the company’s vice president.

To thank donors, Dr. Bronner’s is offering a host of perks, including a special commemorative citrus-orange bar soap, lip-balm flavors previously available only in Asia, T-shirts, DVDs, a fair-trade gift basket, a tour of the Dr. Bronner’s soap plant, dinner with the Bronners, and even a trip to visit the palm-oil mill in Ghana.

Bonus: If the company exceeds its goal, it plans to use the additional funds to support other critical healthcare initiatives in the region, such as a new maternity ward at the local hospital in Asuom.

+ Dr. Bronner’s on IndieGoGo

+ Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps

Think of Deo Perfume Candy as a breath mint for your entire body. A collaboration between Beneo, an American nutrition company, and Bulgarian candy-maker Alpi, the stink-fighting “edible deodorant” is a rose-scented boiled sweet that claims to leave you smelling like a floral arrangement. The source of the aroma? Geraniol, a natural, colorless liquid found in plants such as rose, lavender, and vanilla. (It’s also the primary component of many essential oils.) Like garlic, geraniol contains chemicals that cannot be digested. Instead, it’s secreted through the skin’s pores, resulting in a light, rosy fragrance that allegedly lasts for hours.

PREVIOUSLY ON ECOUTERRE: Swallowable Parfum’s “Edible Perfume” Releases Fragrance Through Your Pores

EDIBLE PERFUME

Part of a new breed of nutricosmetics, loosely defined as nutritional supplements engineered to support the function and the structure of the skin, Deo is based on research that originated in Japan, where researchers confirmed that the consumption of geraniol served as a scent-delivery system through the skin.

A single serving of four pieces affords a 145-pound person up to six hours of perfume-releasing power.

The strength and duration of the fragrance depends on several factors, including body weight. A single serving of four pieces supplies 12 milligrams of geraniol—enough to afford a 145-pound person up to six hours of perfume-releasing power. “If you are being active—working out, dancing, or playing a sport—you will enjoy the effects sooner,” notes Deo’s website.

Whatever Deo is selling, Americans are clearly whiffing…and buying. The candy is already sold out on Amazon, where it’s available in regular and sugar-free versions. Deo isn’t the first ingestible fragrance, however. Japan’s “Fuwarinka” gum claims to freshen your breath and perfume your skin at the same time. In 2011, Australian artist Lucy McRae collaborated with a synthetic biologist to create “Swallowable Parum,” a pill that supposedly excretes fragrance molecules through the skin via perspiration.

+ Perfume Candy

[Via Fox News]

Photo by Veronika Matejkova/Shutterstock

As one of the more visible organizers of breast-cancer rallies across the United States,
Avon talks a good game about “crusading” against the deadly disease, particularly when October rolls around. Yet the beauty firm has far to go before it walks the walk, according to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of health and environmental groups dedicated to eliminating toxic chemicals from cosmetics and personal-care products. Avon’s 20-year-old “Breast Cancer Crusade,” claims the organization, is one of the most egregious examples of “pinkwashing,” a term coined by Breast Cancer Action in 2002 to describe companies who promote pink-ribbon merchandise but continue to produce, manufacture, or sell products linked to the disease.

Photo by pics721/Shutterstock

PINKWASHING

Breast cancer affects more than 1 million women worldwide each year, with women in industrialized nations experiencing the highest rates of disease. In the United States, a woman has a one-in-eight chance of being diagnosed with the disease, and nearly 40,000 women die from it every year. Mounting research shows that breast cancer isn’t simply genetic. Environmental exposures to toxic chemicals through art, food, water, cosmetics, cleaners, plastics, and furniture are contributing factors in a large number of cases.

Although Avon claims it’s “in it to end it,” the firm continues to use chemicals linked to breast cancer and other diseases—including parabens, triclosan, and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives—in its products, notes the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics in an online petition. If Avon is serious about ending breast cancer, the group adds, it needs to “meet or beat” Johnson & Johnson’s recent pledge to rid its products of cancer-causing chemicals.

Although Avon claims it’s “in it to end it,” the firm continues to use chemicals linked to breast cancer and other diseases.

A paper in the June 17, 2011 issue of Environmental Justice cites Avon’s “Kiss Goodbye to Breast Cancer” campaign as one of the company’s most “poignant instances of pinkwashing.” Designed to raise funds for breast-cancer research, the initiative launched in 2001 with six shades of lipstick (“Courageous Spirit,” “Crusade Pink,” “Faithful Heart,” “Inspirational Life,” “Strength,” and “Triumph”) that may have contained hormone-disrupting ingredients linked to breast cancer. But that wasn’t all.

“Avon is one of the most recognizable corporate entities participating in the breast cancer awareness industry and according to the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, more than 250 of Avon’s products listed in a database assessing the health risks of cosmetic products are listed in the ‘highest concern’ category due to the presence of hormones,” Amy Lubitow and Mia Davis write in the journal.

In 2005, Avon shareholders voted 95 percent to 5 percent against a resolution to reformulate, in a reasonable time frame, all its products to be free of chemicals banned by the European Union for known or suspected associations with cancer, genetic mutations, or birth defects.

And what of those ubiquitous Walks for Breast Cancer? The same Massachusetts group notes that the Boston Avon Walk has raised millions of dollars, but less than 2 percent of those funds have supported environmental research related to preventing breast cancer in Massachusetts despite its high rates of the disease. “Funds raised from breast cancer walks and runs undoubtedly serve to further treatment and early detection of breast cancer (which saves more women’s lives),” Lubitow and Davis say. “However, corporate entities marketing to cancer patients and their families develop brand loyalty, generate free advertising on the part of women who participate, and discourage questions about the role of chemicals used [in] consumer products in cancer incidence.”

PREVIOUSLY ON ECOUTERRE: 10 Ridiculous “Pinkwashed” Products That May Actually Cause Breast Cancer

+ Sign the Petition

+ Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

We know celebs are constantly bashed for their over-the-top extravagance, but we never thought it would be over finger nails! Kelly Osbourne’s $250,000 manicure for the Emmys has been met with an onslaught of fan disapproval, causing the star to “sort of” apologize for her excess. Designed by jewelry brand Azature, the mani contained 267 carats of black diamonds, which enraged media and fans alike.

From the Emmys’ “Mani Cam” Osbourne’s giant cocktail ring outshined the sparkly black manicure, but the tips of her fingers may have been worth just as much as the bauble. What Osbourne probably thought was a moment of glamour, turned out to be the talk of the awards show, becoming a hot topic on Twitter as soon as the star posted a picture of her nails on Instagram.

One bottle of Azature’s black diamonds nail polish costs a whopping $250,000- an excess that not only seems unnecessary, but ridiculously exorbitant. Although Osbourne didn’t pay for the quarter million dollar mani, fans launched an attack, accusing her of being frivolous and insensitive to the current economic crises across the globe.

After the subsequent Twitter bashing, Osbourne finally relented with a sort of apology- tweeting “I see that my nail polish has offended some of you, however I see your point, but it was a once in a lifetime experience,” with the hashtag #MyApologizes. No word on where the 267 carats could be salvaged after the mani was removed!

[Via ABC News]

Organic beauty lovers can breathe easy, thanks to Whole Foods. The mega eco-retailer is the first company to personally certify that all of their body care products are certified organic. Personal care products that claim to be organic may not necessarily be, as no laws have been put in place by the Federal government to regulate the health and beauty care industry. Since 2010, Whole Foods has worked with their suppliers to make sure that the claims on their labels are actually accurate, protecting their customers from false claims.

Whole Foods’ label guidelines first came into action in June of 2010, when the company began the process of sifting through their suppliers to enforce an accuracy standard of organic non-food products. Rather than the traditional fine print, Whole Foods requires all products claiming to be organic to make it known on the front of their labels.

Of these claiming to be organic, Whole Foods then requires the products to become certified, either through the U.S. Department of Agriculture organic standards, or the NSF 305 organic personal care standard.

After two years of working with their suppliers, Whole Foods has sorted and certified their entire stock, working with each product line to make sure their claims are not only true, but labeled correctly and apparently. From placing “organic” in the name to listing an organic ingredient, each must be tried, tested and certified by either of the approved channels.

This service to their customers makes Whole Foods a reliable and trustworthy place to purchase organic health and beauty products, without having the concern that the claims each product makes is simply a selling ploy. By eliminating deceptive labeling, Whole Foods is gaining the trust of their customers.

+ Press Release

+ Whole Foods

Revlon has just gained an unlikely shareholder: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a result of the cosmetics giant’s caginess over its involvement in animal testing in China, according to the animal-rights group. Now that PETA has purchased stock in the company, it’ll be able to attend annual shareholder meetings and submit resolutions calling for transparency in Revlon’s animal-testing policies. “Since Revlon won’t come clean to consumers, maybe it’ll answer a shareholder,” says Tracy Reiman, PETA’s executive vice president in a statement. “If the company is breaking its 1989 ban on poisoning animals, we will find out in the boardroom, if necessary, and then shout it from the rooftop.”

BOARDROOM SIT-IN

For over 20 years, Revlon was a member of PETA’s Caring Consumer program, a list of cosmetics and personal-care firms that have signed a statement verifying that neither they nor their suppliers conduct or commission animal tests on ingredients, formulations, or finished products.

PETA has knocked Revlon off its cruelty-free list for refusing to state if it’s paying for these tests.

Animal testing of cosmetics is not required under U.S. law. American companies fishing for a piece of China’s $15-billion-and-growing beauty market, however, have to perform certain skin- and eye-irritation tests before their products can be marketed in the country. Avon, Mary Kay, and Esteé Lauder are among the firms that have allegedly backslid on 20 years of “no animal testing” policies. Likewise, PETA has knocked Revlon off its cruelty-free list for refusing to state if it’s paying for these tests.

Other companies, including Paul Mitchell and Urban Decay, have publicly refused to market in China as long as animal tests are required there. PETA is helping fund scientists working with China on the country’s first non-animal tests for cosmetics ingredients.

+ People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

+ Revlon

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Camouflage makeup can do more than hide soldiers from their enemies. Scientists have developed a next-generation face paint that also shields their faces from the intense heat of bomb blasts. Presented at the 244th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society on Wednesday by Robert Lochhead, a professor of polymer science at the University of Southern Mississippi, the heat-resistant makeup not only provides protection from the searing temperatures of roadside bomb blasts and other explosions but it could also safeguard firefighters from more serious burns.

Photo by Shutterstock

FIREPROOF MAKEUP

“The detonation of a roadside bomb or any other powerful explosive produces two dangerous blasts,” Lochhead says. “First comes a blast wave of high pressure that spreads out at supersonic speeds and can cause devastating internal injuries. A thermal blast follows almost instantaneously. It is a wave of heat that exceeds 1,112 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s as hot as a burning cigarette. The thermal blast lasts only two seconds, but it can literally cook the face, hands, and other exposed skin.”

Regarded as an impossibility at first, the new material slides onto the skin like sunblock, leaving a coating that’s thinner than a sheet of paper.

Regarded as an impossibility at first—most of all by Lochhead—the new material slides onto the skin like sunblock, leaving a coating that’s thinner than a sheet of paper. Waterproof and non-irritating to the eyes, nose, and mouth, the makeup protects the face and hands for up to 15 seconds before its own temperature rises to the point where a first-degree burn is likely to occur. In some tests, it was able to stave off heat-related burns for up to 60 seconds, buying enough time, in some cases, for soldiers and firefighters to move to safety.

One of the challenges Lochhead’s team faced was avoiding the use of mineral oil, mineral spirits, fatty substances, and other traditional hydrocarbon-based cosmetics ingredients, all of which can burn in contact with scorching temperatures. The scientists turned to silicones, which are less flammable because they absorb radiation at wavelengths outside the intense heat spectrum.

Another potential showstopper? Including the insect repellent N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, better known as DEET, which the U.S. military requires in all camouflage makeup. “DEET also is flammable, so when the Department of Defense asked us to incorporate it, we didn’t think we could do it,” says Lochhead. “But the team successfully included DEET by encapsulating it in a hydrogel substance, a water-rich material that prevented DEET from catching fire.”

Now that the material has passed preliminary tests that determine if development should continue, the researchers plan to explore its potential in keeping clothing, tents, and other items from igniting. A colorless version is also being developed for firefighters.

+ Press Release

+ University of Southern Mississippi

We’ve heard of the Chinese expression “saving face,” but these photos of a new swimwear trend sweeping the country takes the saying to a frighteningly literal level. While it may look like bankrobber couture, the Face-kini is actually a sort of bikini you wear on your face. The mask was first spotted on the beaches of Qingdao, and is a way for Chinese bathing beauties to protect their skin from the sun’s harmful UV rays. We’re all for skin cancer prevention, but is it worth absolutely terrifying everyone you come across and also getting an extreme farmer’s tan on just your hands and around your eyes?

Face-Kinis can be purchased in a wide array of colors and bathers can either match them with their full-body suits or contrast them to give their faces extra “pop.” Apparently, Face-Kinis started as a DIY garment that women made at home using scraps of fabric, but now they can be found at swimwear shops for 15 to 25 yuan ($2.40 to $4.00) each. We have to admit that since they’re reusable, that’s quite a value when compared to expensive sunblock.

Although the facial masks were originally created to block out the sun’s rays, they do double duty to ward off the insects and jellyfish that infest local waters.

So what do you think about the Face-Kini. Would you don one or would you rather risk skin cancer?

[Via Daily Mail]

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Cleanliness may be next to godliness, but an ingredient widely used in antibacterial soaps is far from heaven-sent. A new study from the University of California Davis links triclosan with impaired activity in both heart and skeletal muscles. But although evidence for its toxicity is largely based on animal studies, the severity of the effects suggests a similar effect on human health at current levels of exposure. Chief among the concerns? Its potential contribution to heart disease and failure. “The effects of triclosan on cardiac function were really dramatic,” says Nipavan Chiamvimonvat, professor of cardiovascular medicine at UC Davis and a study co-author. “Although triclosan is not regulated as a drug, this compound acts like a potent cardiac depressant in our models.”

Photo by Shutterstock

CHEMICAL ROMANCE

When scientists exposed individual fish and mouse muscle fibers to triclosan, they found that the chemical interfered with normal contraction. This was true when the animals were tested themselves: Mice showed up to a 25 percent reduction in heart function within 20 minutes of exposure to the chemical, as well as an 18 percent reduction in grip strength for up to an hour after exposure. Fish exposed to triclosan-laced water for seven days swam significantly slower than their undosed counterparts.

Although evidence for toxicity is largely based on animal studies, the severity of the effects suggests that triclosan could impact human health at current levels.

The findings, published in the August 13, 2012 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, floored even the scientists. “We were surprised by the large degree to which muscle activity was impaired in very different organisms and in both cardiac and skeletal muscle,” says Bruce Hammock, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and a study co-author. “You can imagine in animals that depend so totally on muscle activity that even a 10 percent reduction in ability can make a real difference in their survival.”

Triclosan was first introduced 40 years ago as a way to prevent bacterial infections in hospitals. Now found in facewash, deodorants, and other personal-care products, the germ-killing chemical has become a ubiquitous presence in our lives. But other than its use in some toothpastes to curb gingivitis, little evidence supports triclosan’s effectiveness over plain soap and water.

Experts also warn that overuse of the pesticide, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies as a “possible carcinogen,” could result in the rise of drug-resistant superbacteria.

This isn’t the first time researchers have witnessed tricolsan’s potential harmful health effects. Previous studies linked the chemical to disrupted reproductive-hormone activity and diminished cell-signaling in the brain. Based on their results, the researchers call for greater restrictions by regulatory agencies.

“Triclosan can be useful in some instances, however it has become a ubiquitous ‘value added’ marketing factor that actually could be more harmful than helpful,” Hammock adds. “At the very least, our findings call for a dramatic reduction in its use.”

+ Press Release

+ University of California Davis

Now here’s a thought that will get your mind into a tangle: Would you comb your hair with another person’s mane? That’s the question Italian designer Giorgia Zanellato sought to answer with “Hairdressed,” a line of hair accessories made from actual human follicles.

HAIR TODAY

Zanellato didn’t have to scrounge very hard to find her material—her neighboring hair salons provided sheared locks in abundance. She created her hirsute grooming tools by setting the hair in resin-filled molds, then using a laser-cutter to whip them into shape.

Zanellato created her hirsute grooming tools by setting the hair in resin-filled molds.

Despite their base beginnings, the resulting pieces are quite beautiful to behold. Most striking are the ones that mingle blonde with brunette tresses. Spied from a distance, the resulting effect resembles the finest tortoiseshell.

+ Hairdressed

+ Giorgia Zanellato

[Via Treehugger]

Photo by Shutterstock

Strawberries aren’t just a delicious fruit, they could also protect your skin from the DNA-ravaging effects of ultraviolet rays. In a joint study by Italy’s Università Politecnica delle Marche and the University of Barcelona in Spain, researchers found that adding strawberry extract to skin-cell cultures offered a measure of protection against UV radiation. While rubbing strawberries all over your body may not protect you from sunburn, scientists say that the findings could pave the way for a photoprotective cream made from the popular scarlet fruit.

Photo by Shutterstock

BERRY GOOD

Strawberries (Fragaria × ananassa) contain several polyphenols with strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, says Maurizio Battino, lead author of the study, which was published in the February 2012 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Anthocyanins—a class of water-soluble pigments that give certain leaves, flowers, and fruits their red, purple, or blue color—are also a likely contributor.

Researchers found that strawberry extract not only boosted cell survival but it also minimized DNA damage.

To check their hypothesis, the team prepared several batches of human skin-cell cultures, otherwise known as fibroblasts, and added strawberry extract in different concentrations (0.05, 0.25 and 0.5 milligram per milliliter) to all but the control group. They then exposed the samples to a dose of UV light “equivalent to 90 minutes of midday summer sun in the French Riviera,” Battino says. The results demonstrated that strawberry extract, especially at a concentration of 0.5 mg/ml, not only boosted cell survival and viability but it also minimized DNA damage in comparison with control cells.

Sara Tulipani from the University of Barcelona acknowledges that this is only a first step. “At the moment the results act as the basis for future studies evaluating the ‘bioavailability’ and ‘bioactivity’ of anthocyanins in the dermis and epidermis layers of the human skin, whether by adding them to formulations for external use or by ingesting the fruit itself,” she says.

No matter what form the latest breakthrough in sun protection takes—whether it’s a strawberry-packed smoothie or some kind of strawberry-based miracle salve—it sounds delicious either way.

+ Press Release

[Via ScienceDaily]