Did you know that Ralph Nader has said that “Over the last 100 years, the rate of cancer in the U.S. has sky-rocketed from 1 out of 800 people diagnosed, to 1 out of 3 today.” Do you have any idea why? Of cause there is no definitive answer however there is a reasonable chance that one of the causes may be dangerous ingredients in personal and beauty care products such as skin care and anti aging products and cosmetics and more.

There’s many ingredients found in products that we may be using everyday that are potentially dangerous and are even known carcinogens. And this includes products that we may eat as well.

Here’s an example. One ingredient that you should avoid in anti aging and skin care products. Mineral oil.

Mineral oil comes from crude oil and is a byproduct of the distillation of crude oil. Baby oil is pure mineral oil, often with a fragrance added. (And even fragrance can be suspect too).

You’ll find mineral oil in many personal, anti aging and skin care products and cosmetics and other products. It used in anti aging products as a moisturiser however mineral oil has no moisturising properties. It’s there because it forms a thin film of oil on your skin and that film prevents moisture loss. This works to some degree.

You may be familiar with Material Safety Data Sheets. A Material Safety Data Sheet is a document that lists everything that a user of a particular chemical ought to know about that chemical, for example for safety reasons. A Material Safety Data Sheet on mineral oil says that “mineral oils are suspected carcinogens of the skin and scrotum, larynx, lung and alimentary tracts”. On top of this it also says it “may cause eye, skin and respiratory tract irritation” and also that “pre-existing skin disorders may be aggravated by exposure”.

In other words mineral oil can cause cancer of various parts of your body including your skin, it irritates your skin and makes skin conditions worse.

That’s only one of many different ingredients that you’ll see listed on the label of anti aging skin care products that may be dangerous. Look on the label of products you might have used this morning. How is it possible that products like these contain potentially dangerous ingredients?

The truth is that the FDA is not required to test products such as anti aging products for either their safety or for how well they work. Big business is not known for its ethics and concern for the customer, (just see the cigarette companies for an example). If they are allowed to use suspect ingredients in their products and it pays then to do so then they will.

These ingredients are commonly used because they’re cheap. Cheaper ingredients means more profit. There’s excellent ingredients that they could use which are well known to promote better skin health but they’re more expensive.

However some clever people have seen an opportunity here and have started small skin care and anti aging companies that produce excellent quality products, however because they put their money into product quality they cannot afford to advertise and compete on price. So you’ll most likely never hear about them.

I seek to inform readers via my website of the sorts of ingredients they should avoid when buying anti aging skin care products and others and point them in the direction of companies that make safe and effective alternatives.

If you’d like to find out more then visit my website.

Visit Restore My Skin for more about the best Anti Aging Skin Products or more about the Best Natural Anti Aging Skincare.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 7:28 am and is filed under Alternative Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.