WOMEN are being warned about using some lipsticks after concerns were raised several big-name brands could contain lead.
The warnings come in the wake of last week's ruling that a class action in the United States against luxury goods giant LVMH - the manufacturer of Dior Addict Positive Red lipstick, which has been found to contain lead - could proceed.
The blood-red Dior lipstick, sold at beauty counters across Australia, was among dozens of lipsticks found to contain lead, after US lobby group Campaign for Safe Cosmetics commissioned an independent laboratory to test lead levels in 33 brand-name lipsticks.
The results, made public in a report last October, revealed 61percent of the lipsticks tested had detectable lead levels. One-third of the lipsticks exceeded the US Food and Drug Administration's accepted level of lead (0.1 parts per million) for products that are ingested. The Dior lipstick was found to contain 0.21ppm of lead.
In Australia it is mandatory for cosmetics to list all ingredients on their labels and for cosmetics containing lead to carry warning statements and safety directions.
Cosmetics containing more than 250 milligrams per kilogram of lead are prohibited unless permission is granted by the Minister for Justice and Customs. The Dior lipstick does not list lead as an ingredient or carry a warning.
Peter Dingle, an environmental toxicologist from Murdoch University and author of the Dangerous Beauty booklet, has called for regulatory change to ban lead from cosmetic products to protect consumer health.
"It is ridiculous that we have any lead in our cosmetics at all," he said. "For the last 50 years we have campaigned to get lead out of everything and here we are putting it in lipstick. It's crazy."
Full Story: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/poison-kiss-lead-alert/2008/07/19/1216163229734.html
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