So the color red is under attack. And just when it was reaching its peak in style, and brown beauties have embraced it fully, there is reason to push pause on that pucker. According to the Washington Post:
A recent federal analysis showing that 400 shades of popular lipstick contained trace amounts of lead has exacerbated an ongoing dispute between regulators and consumer activists over how much lead is safe in cosmetics.
Five lipsticks made by L’Oreal and Maybelline, owned by L’Oreal USA, ranked among the top 10 most contaminated of the cosmetics, according to testing by the Food and Drug Administration. Two Cover Girl and two NARS lipsticks also landed in the top 10, as did one made by Stargazer. For years, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has been pushing the government to set limits for lead levels in lipstick. The FDA has resisted, insisting that the amounts detected in various rounds of testing do not pose safety risks. But in a letter to the agency this month, the consumer group said that federal regulators have no scientific basis for this conclusion and it pressed the government to take action.
The article goes on to explain that the amounts found in cosmetics like lipsticks, while can be high, cannot be compared to lead found in candy, a product created to be ingested. The The Personal Care Products Council, a trade group that represents the cosmetics industry, as well as the FDA contend that cosmetics are not ingested into the system therefore do not pose a threat to end-users.
Halyna Breslawec, the council’s chief scientist, said her group has petitioned the agency to limit the amount of lead allowed in cosmetics. The consensus on what that limit should be — 10 parts per million, Breslawec said — is higher than the levels detected by the two rounds of FDA testing and is in line with proposals in Canada and Germany.
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