Analysis Of The Body Toxic By Nena Baker

Safety Standards for Cosmetics

In her book “The Body Toxic,” Nena Baker reveals alarming facts and statistics about consumers exposure to toxic chemicals found in toys, cooking ware, baby bottles, personal care products, cosmetics, and many other products we use and inhale every day. The author uses her investigative skills as a journalist to educate the public about the phthalates in plastics, bisphenol A in food and beverage containers, including flame retardants in furniture and perfluorinated chemicals in food wrappers, to name a few. Are we exposing ourselves to harmful chemicals on a daily basis from the use of cosmetics and personal care products? Women go to great lengths to look young and beautiful but according to author Nena Baker,

The Environmental Working Group decided to analyze the ingredients of 23,000 personal care products in 2007 and the results showed 400 products contained chemicals that were prohibited from other developed countries like the United States. Another astounding result that Baker noted “is 1,300 products contained ingredients for which the industry’s Cosmetic Ingredient Review expert panel said there is insufficient data to determine whether they are safe in cosmetics and more than 22,500 products contained one or more ingredients that had not been assessed for safety by the FDA or the industry’s review panel” (Baker, 2008, p.

Reading labels and getting the facts from websites such as www.safecosmetics.org can save lives. Another alternative to consider when purchasing cosmetic products is to purchase products from organic cosmetic companies. Today, more organic companies are now gaining momentum in their profits due to more sophisticated consumers that have technology to rely on for their safety instead of the FDA. According to above mentioned website on the page titled, “FDA Shortcomings” lists a total of ten things that the FDA cannot do, to name a few is as