We love the David Suzuki Foundation. Not only is DS the coolest Canadian born this side of 1936 but he and his team at DSF are singing a welcome and familiar tune. We’ve been saying ‘Chemicals Add Up. Natural Matters‘ and in perfect harmony DSF have now launched their own campaign against toxic chemicals in body care products called ‘What’s Inside That Counts‘. This campaign is a call out to Canadians to educate themselves about the toxic ingredients used in the body care industry and to participate in a survey that will help bring awareness to the issue.
David Suzuki recently interviewed author David Boyd who wrote ‘Dodging the Toxic Bullet’ which he wrote after a distressing visit to ‘Chemical Valley’ near Sarnia, Ont. You can read this excellent interview here.
Exerpt:
Suzuki: Why would industry/government allow chemicals linked to cancer, hormone disruption, and birth defects as ingredients in the personal care products we use each day?
Boyd: As for industry, the essential fact to remember is that their over-riding purpose is to make as much money as quickly as possible. Over and over again, industries have disregarded and denied the detrimental health effects of their manufacturing processes and products—including tobacco, lead paint, gasoline, asbestos, benzene, vinyl chloride, beryllium, and chromium.
When it comes to personal care products, what concerns me the most is the widespread use of ingredients that are known or suspected hormone disruptors, including triclosan (found in many anti-bacterial soaps) and phthalates (often disguised as ‘fragrance’ on labels).
You can purchase ‘Dodging the Toxic Bullet’ here.
What we do to our environment, we do to ourselves.
Tags: chemical valley, david suzuki, dodging the toxic bullet
Posted in Ingredients to Avoid with the tags chemical valley, david suzuki, dodging the toxic bullet
4 Comments »
Hi Abby-Lynn!
I’ve enjoyed tweeting with @FootButterGuy for some time, and been using the RMSC products for 3 years with only one complaint about them. (I’ll save that for the end of the comment though.)
After reading about the 99.99% natural vanilla resulting in the discontinuation of the vanilla products, I found myself reading through the definition and products to avoid page again.
I noticed this: “We will not use natural ingredients that have a harmful effect on the body and/or environment e.g. mineral oil, talc.”
I did find the info on mineral oil (thanks) but was wondering how talc has a harmful effect on the body. Did I miss it somewhere, and if not… could you blog about that for us?
Here’s the one complaint I referred to…
I’ve been looking through the store, and RMSC has too many products I want.
Thanks!
Hi Fracas,
Great question! In ’93 there was a US toxicology study done on talc that reported that rats forced to inhale it developed tumours. Talcs make people nervous because many of them contain fibres that are much like asbestos which mean they are suspect in causing pulmonary issues as well as ovarian cancer and skin cancer.
The US FDA considers non-asbestos like talc to be GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe), but the study done in ’93 used non-asbestos like talc. Whether talc is considered GRAS or not by the FDA we say why use it if there is a chance that it could be harmful?
Thanks for the great comment posting!
Thanks for the answer! Are cornstarch powders ok to use, or is that what you meant by the GRAS ones used in the ’93 study?
I’ve been eagle-eyeing everything since I’ve gotten hooked on your stuff, and it’s infuriating that there’s almost nothing (sold in regular stores that is) that isn’t just loaded with every scary ingredient on the list.
Cornstarch is a-ok.