As a consumer, you must be on the look out for chemicals and toxic ingredients that may be injurious to your skin and your body. You would not even consider eating products that contained chemicals or cancer causing agents, so don't let these toxins cross the threshold and enter your system through your beauty product either!

Insignificant amounts of research are available to provide evidence of the safety or health risks of low-dose repeated exposures to chemical combinations like those in personal care products, but let's get one thing straight" ?the absence of data should never, never be mistaken for confirmation of safety.

The more we investigate low dose contact with these products, the more we comprehend that they can cause adverse effects ranging from the subtle and reversible, to effects that are more critical and permanent. On the whole, our research of product safety reveals a cause for concern.

Interestingly enough, 450 ingredients that are used in this country are banned for use in cosmetics in the European Union by the industry. The dictatorial vacuum in the United States gives cosmetic companies enormous leeway in selecting ingredients, while it shifts potentially considerable and unnecessary health risks to the users of the products.

Cosmetics and personal care products are promoted based on the quality and ingredients of their formulas. Numerous products allege to be filled with expensive vitamins, oils, and perfumes. Others profess to use an all-natural formula. How can you be certain that the products you purchase contain the ingredients they claim to have or that they are safe? Read the label? Guess again! Unless you happen to be a scientist or a chemist, the ingredient list on the majority of cosmetic and personal care products will look like a laundry list of monotonous, tongue twisting names that make no sense at all. If you want to educate yourself, there are several books that will really bring you up to speed on what is in your personal care products. One would be, Dangerous Beauty, by Mark Fearer; and the other is called, Drop Dead Gorgeous, by Kim Erickson. Additionally, there are many groups that are pushing for safe products such as WomenandEnvironment.org.

Why should you have reservations about the safety of ingredients in body care products that you spread over your body and hair? There are many reasons, yet here is the most compelling one:

Hongran Fan and her coworkers at the Veteran Affairs Palo Alto (Calif.) Health Care System and Stanford University School of Medicine planned to demonstrate the effectiveness of intramuscular gene injections by comparing them with simply dripping a DNA vaccine solution onto the skin of mice. Well, they discovered that it was possible to distribute the vaccine through the hair follicles on unbroken skin.

So, if you can absorb an effectual prescribed amount of a vaccine simply by having it come in contact with your skin, how much of the toxic ingredients that are in your personal care products are you absorbing through your skin? Think about it" ?you are literally bombarding your tissues, your organs and your brain with man-made chemicals and their processing residues!