Women & Toxin Exposure
I have touched a little on some of the toxins in our everyday routines. As women, we tend to use numerous beauty products daily (and sometimes, several times daily.)
The average woman uses 12-17 products in her daily hygiene, beauty, and home routine!
LADIES — You would not believe the number of chemicals and toxins you are exposing yourself to!
Daily Toxin Exposure
I have touched a little on some of the toxins in our everyday routines. As women, we tend to use numerous beauty products daily (and sometimes, several times daily.) LADIES! You would not believe the number of chemicals and toxins you are exposing yourself to!
Many of these products have the same or even more dangerous ingredients than cigarettes, yet they do not come with a Surgeon General’s warning regarding the myriad of risks to your health and safety. Side effects from chemical and toxin exposure include:birth defects, weakened immune system, advanced aging, hormonal and fertility problems, disruption of endocrine system and an increased risk of cancer.
Now, I am not naive to think this is something that has just begun to happen, however, one would think in a developed and regulated country such as the United States, more legislation would exist to control exposure from food, water and personal care and cleaning products.Toxins and chemicals are sneakily slipped into ingredient panels on product packaging or sometimes not even required to be listed at all if determined a “trade secret”.
Legislation
Despite the ever-growing number of products in the cosmetic industry, there has been no federal legislation on cosmetic safety since 1938! The United States has only 11 banned chemicals while Europe has more than 1,300 toxins and chemicals that have been banned for use in consumer products. State legislation is making better strides on the local level though, with 211 bills banning toxins in water and consumer products pending in 32 different states. You can check pending legislation in your state by clicking here.
Educte Yo’self!
Education is the key! Learning more about the ingredients in the products you and your family use is a great way to have some control over chemical exposure. Here are some ways you can educate yourself:
- Read articles online, magazines, books and blogs.
- Follow EWG on social media. EWG’s website also has an abundance of information on all topics environment related.
- Use an app. EWG’s Healthy Living app contains 128,000 products and is growing daily. I use this app and LOVE it! Use the app to scan items and see ingredients’ potential toxicity. If you are not able to find your product in the app, you are asked to participate in helping EWG grow its database by snapping photos of the front and back of the product and barcode so the product can be added. Other apps include Think Dirty, Yuka, and INCI Beauty Analysis.
- Read/scan ingredient panels and labels.
- Listen to green and eco related podcasts. Some of my favorites are The Toxin Terminator, The Green Dudes and Green Divas, and Talking Clean with Irene.
- Engage with other like-minded people by getting involved in local community groups, online communities and attending events both online and in person. Facebook is growing with so many groups for every interest. Offer information, ask questions and show support. I have made some awesome connections this way!
Bonus!
Educating yourself is an essential step to greening your home and lifestyle. I am sure you’ve heard it before, knowledge is POWER. By educating ourselves on these issues we can make better and cleaner choices. We can also use our consumer buying power to help drive the industry in a toxin-free direction by supporting and purchasing cleaner alternatives.
