2009 President Obama’s Cancer Panel

In 2009, President Obama compiled a panel of experts considered to be the “Mount Everest of the medical mainstream” to report to him their findings on environmental contaminants, inadequate research of chemical safety and the impact on the boom of cancer in our population, especially the growing segment of childhood cancers.

If you can’t read the entire report we have available for download here, then check out New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof’s concise overview of the report and a summary of the panel’s recommendations to help people prudently manage their exposures which includes choosing organic whenever available.

July 2010, Top 5 Suspected Everyday Carcinogens

A new report from the American Cancer Society rounds up their top 20 “suspected carcinogens” that the organization feels needs to be studied extensively and soon. ”The objectives of this report are to identify research gaps and needs for 20 agents prioritized for review based on evidence of widespread human exposures and potential carcinogenicity in animals or humans,” Elizabeth Ward, the co-author of the report, said.

We have linked to the AMA’s press page where you can read the entire list. Of note, #4 on the list is Titanium Dioxide considered one of the least well studied on the list as to human carcinogenic effect, but has been long established as a cancer causing agent in animal exposure studies. Titanium Dioxide is used in many conventional and even “semi-organic” cosmetic powders, creams, as nanoparticles in mineral sunscreens and makeup, so be sure to read labels and avoid this ingredient whenever possible.

May, 2009 How Safe Are Cosmetics & Body Care Products?

Scientific American’s May issue featured an in-depth report on the science of beauty. This collection includes an article on product safety. The byline reads “The government knows just about as much as you do about what you’re putting on your skin – this is to say, not much.” We found this simple, well supported article to be a great overview on cosmetic safety in the U.S.

2010 Breast Cancer Fund’s Guide to Choosing Safe Cosmetics

Simple, clear and concise tips on how to choose safer cosmetics and bodycare products.

May 2010 The Health Risks of Chemicals in Fragrance

A rose may be a rose. But that rose-like fragrance in your perfume may be something else entirely, concocted from any number of the fragrance industry’s 3,100 stock chemical ingredients, the blend of which is almost always kept hidden from the consumer. This report on “fragrance” from The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the Environmental Working Group tested 17 fragrances to see what ingredients they contain. This is quite revealing since a loophole in the Federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1973 explicitly exempts “fragrance”, thus anything making up the products fragrance is proprietary and need not be listed on the ingredient label.