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Lipsticks Containing Lead: The Top 10 Offenders
How much lead is in your lipstick?
Did you kiss your kids with those lips this morning? Better hope they weren’t adorned with one of ten brands of lipstick found to contain the most lead.
The Washington Post reports that a new study by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) found that among the top 10 most contaminated brands were, “… five L’Oreal and Maybelline lipsticks, owned by L’Oreal USA … [and] two Cover Girl and two NARS lipsticks also landed in top 10 slots, as did one from Stargazer.”
The FDA argues that the trace levels of lead found in the lipsticks do not pose a danger to consumers, while a group called the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics disagrees. They explain on their website that lead builds up in the body over time and easily crosses the placenta, where it can interfere with normal development of a fetus and cause irreversible health effects, and argue that there’s no way to know what amount of lead exposure is truly safe.
So which lipstick was the worst offender? Check your makeup bag for Maybelline’s Color Sensational “Pink Petal” lipstick. ABC News reports that children’s products in the U.S. cannot contain more than 100 parts per million of lead, and Pink Petal was found to contain 7.19 parts per million.
Here are the 10 lipsticks of the 400 tested by the FDA that had the highest levels of lead:
- Maybelline Color Sensational Pink Petal (L’Oreal)
- L’Oreal Colour Riche Volcanic (L’Oreal)
- NARS Semi-Matte Red Lizard (Shiseido)
- Cover Girl Queen Vibrant Hues Ruby Remix (Procter & Gamble)
- NARS Semi-Matte Funny Face (Shiseido)
- L’Oreal Colour Riche Tickled Pink (L’Oreal)
- L’Oreal Intensely Moisturizing Lipcolor Heroic (L’Oreal)
- Cover Girl Continuous Color Warm Brick (Procter & Gamble)
- Maybelline Color Sensational Mauve Me (L’Oreal)
- Stargazer Lipstick 103
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5 Comments
Shell commented on Feb 15 12 at 9:08 amWHAT?????
OMG. I’m totally freaked out now.
One of my boys suffered from severe lead poisoning. So, it’s really no joke at all.
I never thought about lipstick.
mbR commented on Feb 23 12 at 6:35 pmHow about people don’t buy their makeup at Walmart? Cheap crap.
ashley commented on Feb 23 12 at 6:51 pmAnother good reason to buy Mary Kay!
Ann commented on Feb 23 12 at 9:14 pmYou say yourself in the blog that the highest lead content found in the lipstick was 7.19 per million when the FDA allows up to 100 per million in children’s products. There seems to me to be a slight overreaction, no? Besides, most of us don’t wear the same color of lipstick every day.
Tom commented on Mar 14 12 at 10:49 pmWith lead it is direct exposure through dust inhalation or ingestion. It is invidious meaning it tends to accumulate over time and stores in the bones. So why the quantity seems small it is daily accumulation so a persistent level of exposure that women don’t need
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