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September 2012

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Wellness By Haley Shapley Tamela Thomas, Wellness Manager tamelat@wac.net 206.464.4639 Product safety insights he skin is the largest organ of the body. As evidenced by the growing number of medications delivered to us in transdermal patches, the skin is also very capable of delivering chemicals from outside the body into the bloodstream. Therein lies the concern with the vast number of unregulated, untested ingredi- ents found in our daily personal care products, items we slather all over not only ourselves but also our beautiful children. T Unless there is an immediate reaction—rash, redness, pain—we don't think the ingredients in the plethora of personal care products we use could actually harm our health. We aren't thinking about the cumulative effects of using these products for years or the potential chemical interactions that can occur between products applied at the same time. Well, as the following article points out, beware—it's time to start thinking about it. Keep it clean T How to choose personal care products that help, not harm already been exposed to dozens of chemicals. In fact, if you're the average woman, you'll end the day having used 12 personal care products with 168 chemicals. And men, don't think you're immune. The average man uses six products with 85 chemicals, according to a study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). So what gives and why does it matter? Put simply: Your health is at stake. You may think your moisturizer is safe—after all, the label says all natural— hink about your morning routine. Does it involve shampoo, conditioner and soap? How about toothpaste, lotion, shaving cream, perfume, cologne, aftershave and makeup? The list goes on and the day is young—yet you've but the truth is many personal care products have ingredients you'd no doubt rather avoid. "Eighty-five percent of us think the government reviews products before they're put on the shelf, but that's just not the case," says Jennifer Taggart, a consumer product safety attorney and author of Smart Mama's Green Guide: Simple Steps to Reduce Your Child's Toxic Chemical Exposure. Taggart long has been interested in living a green lifestyle, but it wasn't until the birth of her son—in the wake of two miscarriages—that the cause became more personal. "When you have kids, you suddenly want to do anything you can to protect them," she says. "For me, that included protecting him from chemicals that could cause him harm." Children merit special consideration when it comes to the products parents buy for them because their bodies are still growing and they have a greater proportion of skin surface-area to weight. "Kids are not just mini adults," explains Leeann Brown, spokesperson for the EWG. "Kids have their own separate system that's developing at a much more rapid pace than an adult body, and they're much more sensitive to a chemical exposure." Although federal regulations inhibit the use of certain colorants and a handful of ingredients in personal care products, those rules aren't nearly as strict as you might imagine. "The FDA can't require companies to do pre-market testing," Brown says. "Companies do not have to prove ingredients in their products are safe." That means the best way to protect yourself—and those you care about—is to know exactly what you're using and what's inside. READ LABEL BACKS Don't rely on the front of product labels for much more than marketing-speak. Instead, check out the label on the back. There, you can see what a product is really made of—although it might seem less like a list of ingredients and more like a nightmare spelling bee list. "The easiest thing to do is look for certified USDA organic products," Taggart says. "That's going to rule out a whole host of potentially harmful chemical ingre- dients in the products." Although not every good product on the market is certi- fied—and some, such as mineral-based products, can't be—this is a handy litmus test for when ingredient listings leave you baffled. 18 | Washington Athletic Club Magazine | SEPTEMBER 2012

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