Let me tell you a joke. A bunch of scientists are sitting around a lab developing long lasting lipstick formulations, and one says to the other, “you know what would be really fun? Let’s throw some poison in there!!!”
Not so funny, huh? Well, sadly, in the US, lead is not one of the 10 ingredients that are banned by the FDA in beauty regulation, and is readily available to be purchased by women shopping for lipstick in everything from local pharmacies at $3.50 to exclusive high end boutiques at $79.00. 
Did you ever think a product from the “natural” and “healthy” brand Burt’s Bees would be banned in Europe? Neither did I, but the lip shimmer in Toffee which the average woman would not think twice about reapplying constantly in order to moisturize her lips while adding a little color contains more than 4 parts of just pure lead aka poison. Burt’s Bees just launched their new summer line, which contains a higher SPF, which is a problem on it’s own that I’m not going to get into now (stay tuned for next blog entry!) and surprise, surprise… It’s completely banned from being sold in Europe!
Feel safe? Feel cared about? Well you should know this as well- the FDA does not even test the pigments that are put into these products at all. Instead, they leave that task up to the manufacturers in order to decide if the product is okay. Right, because the manufacturer is really looking out for the health and safely of the consumers instead of seeing where he/she can cut costs! Thanks FDA, that makes so much sense!!
Women pretty much eat up their lipstick… And in our great country, there’s nobody to stop the big corporations from literally putting poison in our bodies. The difference is, in the US, products need to be proven to be harmful before they are banned, which can take decades and by that time the damage can already be more than done. In the UK, the EUDC has a preventative system, where the products need to be proven safe in order for it to be sold on the market.
Sorry Burt’s Bees lip shimmer in Toffee… You’re gorgeous and you smell nice and I’d love to throw you in my handbag and give you a good shmeer every now and again. But unfortunately… You’re just not worth the poison!
America, home of the poisonous lip-balms!
And this is how something as simple as a lipstick can tell you so much about politics. It’s actually kind of scary.
heygirlwhatsonyourface 
Good to know! Burt’s Bees “greenwash” – which means they highlight their natural ingredients, and write 97% natural/organic etc… to make the consumer think the ingredients are all natural and healthy yet fail to really eliminate the toxins in their products.
LikeLike