Cosmetic Chemicals Warning

If you haven't checked the labels on your favorite products, it might be time.

Do you know that the lipstick you're wearing contains lead? Or that the shampoo promising a silky sheen contains parabens, which have been linked to breast cancer? There are harmful chemicals in everything from our soaps to toothpaste, nail polish to tanning products.

Recently, the FDA found lead in 400 shades of lipstick. Researchers don't know if it is enough to harm you, but they are trying to find out.

Brianna Rognlin, editor-in-chief of women's wellness site Blisstree, says cosmetics are one of the least regulated consumer products on the market today. Despite measures like the Safe Cosmetic act of 2011, many common beauty products still contain harmful ingredients.

No one seems to know if the amounts in the products are harmful to us now or after many years of use.

Rognlin urges us to be good consumers and read not only the front of the packaging, but also the back. If you see ingredients like formaldehyde, triclosan or phthalates, ask yourself "Do I want that in my body?"

Also, natural product claims may not be truthful. Many of the safest beauty trends don't come from high end retailers -- they come from local kitchens and family farms. You may have to pay more, but the products will be better for you and the environment.

A eco-design a beautycare product

The fragrance in Or Infini was created by Mane, using 100% natural ingredients in an infusion of floral notes, with mandarin top notes, vanilla and almond base notes. The delicate pearly formulation is by Strand Cosmetics Europe, manufactured according to Ecocert guidelines.

The 30ml Infini Glass bottle, by SGD, is 100% recycled and recyclable, made from recycled domestic cullet. Rexam supplied the Nea lotion pump, that combines protection with ease of use; and VPI provided the R’PET cap using 100% recycled PET from collected plastic bottles.

The box uses Carta Elega 280g/m² from Metsä Board, a lightweight, sustainable and PEFC certified cartonboard that reduces the weight of the box set by more than 10% compared to some other cartonboard materials. Printing is by Wauters under Imprim’vert environmental accreditation and FSC/PEFC certification. Finally, the concept was beautified by Sylvie de France Designer, a 3D and graphic design agency specialising in the beauty and luxury goods sector.

Mouvement Infini was formed to demonstrate that innovative beautycare and fragrance products can be developed sustainably, and indistinguishable in their environmental qualities unless desired. It has previously created Naya, an organic cosmetic skincare cream, and Emoi Inifini, a box set of three fragrances. As with the two earlier products, everything used in making Or Infini, the product and its packaging, are Ecocert certified.  

Coakley defending Obama health care law

President Obama's national health care reform bill is being challenged in the nation’s highest court, and now the controversial act is getting some support from state Attorney General Martha Coakley.

Coakley has filed a brief at the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the constitutionality of the health care reform bill. She was one of a dozen attorneys general to file testimony in favor of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), often called “Obamacare” by opponents.

Last summer, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit decided that parts of the health care reform bill were unconstitutional, while other parts were constitutional. The parties appealed to the highest court, which is currently considering whether Congress went beyond its authority by expanding Medicaid and by requiring states to implement that expansion.

The attorney general says the requirements are sound. “The imposition, for instance, of an individual mandate as we do here in Massachusetts, is clearly rational: related to getting everybody covered, making sure everybody's in the pool. For people who are involved in the national healthcare market, it's merely a regulation of that market,” Coakley said.

Democratic Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray says that Massachusetts’ system shows that the president’s plan will work. “I think what we've done here in Massachusetts shows that it works when you can bring together all the stake holders, public and private. You know we've got the highest level of health insurance for kids and for the public,” Murray said.

Health care law supporters say that states can implement expanded Medicaid however they wish. Opponents argue that the fact they have to expand Medicaid in the first place is unconstitutional in itself.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the health care reform bill this March.

New Beauty Exhibit Which Tells the History of the Health and Beauty Industry

Elixers, potions, blushes, and waxes are just a few of the items that you might have found on the vanity table throughout history; a new beauty exhibit takes a look at things just like these that people have bought and used to stay beautiful. The Center for History in South Bend, Indiana, has put together an exhibit that examines the lengths to which people will go to reach perfection, and according to the South Bend Tribune, the show features everything from beauty advertisements to health and beauty contraptions that look like torture devices.

Gizmos and Gadgets Galore

The beauty exhibit is called "Gizmos, Corsets & Concoctions: Our Obsession with Health & Beauty." It features items like 19th and 20th century ads for beauty items, contraptions such as a permanent styling wave machine that the news article calls Medusa-like in appearance. It also displays a replication of a doctor's office complete with elixirs and gadgets. All these items were designed for one thing--to sell beauty.

One of the points of the beauty exhibit is to show the lengths to which people will go to be lovely, including ingesting some pretty deadly items. While recent reports of lead in lipstick highlight this ongoing trend, it certainly isn't the first. An example from the show at the Center for History includes powders that contained lead and toothbrushes laced with mercury, and according to the center's website, some of the items such as corsets show just how uncomfortable people were willing to be in the pursuit of beauty.