Organic Skin Care vs Nanotechnology
Today I’m featuring a guest post by Joshua Landon from Mesothelioma.com. It discusses nanotechnology and how it can potentially affect our health. As far as I’m concerned, it is another great reason to go for purely organic skin care!
Do You Know What’s in Your Makeup and Skincare Products?
Most women cannot answer “yes” to the question above. But consider this, ladies: what you don’t know could hurt you!
We all want to have beautiful, healthy skin, and most of us are committed to a skincare and makeup regimen that utilizes our favorite products. That’s great, but have you ever read the label on your favorite cleanser or eye cream? Do you know what your favorite anti-wrinkle cream is made of? If not, it is imperative that you do some digging.
Consider sunscreen – we should all be wearing it! However, it is important to use the right sunscreen to avoid potential health and safety issues. Sunscreen is a perfect example of a skincare product that may contain carbon nanotubes, or small particles that are manufactured using nanotechnology, which allows them to deeply penetrate the skin. In other words, skincare products that utilize nanotechnology can deliver active ingredients into the skin much faster than other products. In a society where faster is better, nanotechnology-based skincare products are the latest and greatest.
But did you know that carbon nanotubes – the single-walled version of super-tiny mechanisms that deliver active ingredients deep into your skin – have been found to cause mesothelioma cancer in laboratory testing? Dr. Andrew Maynard, who is considered to be one of the foremost experts on nanotechnology, stated that there is no immediate danger for individuals who use products (including sunscreens and makeup) containing carbon nanotubes, but that further research into a possible connection between nanotubes and mesothelioma cancer is definitely necessary.
Nanotechnology is an emerging area of science that produces compounds known as nanomaterials, which are developed with specific targeting properties. Carbon nanotubes, for instance, are extremely tiny – often less than 100 nanometers, or less than 0.00001 centimeters – and are said to be stronger than steel. Nanomaterials are highly reactive, which indicates an increased likelihood of potential side effects from using a product that was manufactured using nanotechnology.
Products such as refrigerators, golf clubs, tennis rackets, air conditioners, cleaning products, skin care products, makeup and nail polish, chemotherapy drugs, and hearing aids may contain carbon nanotubes or other nanomaterials. One specific skin care company, Beyond Skin Science, utilizes a technology in their Eternalis Anti-Aging line that they have coined “NanoChem,” which allows the product’s active ingredients to reach the skin’s cells quicker than other products, thus rendering a faster and more effective result.
As a general rule when choosing skincare products, it’s a smart idea to consult the label. If you can’t pronounce it, you probably don’t want to put it on your skin! Now that the “green living” craze has swept the nation, most skincare companies offer products that meet green standards – that is, they contain organic ingredients that are easily pronounceable and are all hyper-allergenic, not tested on animals, etc. Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require manufacturers to include a label on their products that indicates that the product was manufactured using nanotechnology, but because consumer awareness of this technology is quite low, several consumer activist groups are pressing the FDA to reconsider.
If you’re stuck on a particular brand of skincare product, you may also want to call the manufacturer (there is probably a telephone number on the package) and ask them to explain the product ingredients. This way, you’ll feel good knowing that what you are putting on your skin is safe and will not present any health or safety issues in the long run.
For additional information about carbon nanotube exposure and the potential connection to mesothelioma cancer, please visit “Mesothelioma.com News| Study Says Effects of Nanotubes May Lead to Cancer.”
3 comments
I have read this entire article, and find it appaling to say the least. The author of this article clearly lacks even the basic understanding of chemistry, or skin physiology. To begin with, all chemistry reactions are achieved at a nanoscale, just as most chemicals, including the “100 percent organic” kind, are measured in sub-micron and nanoscale units. Carbon nanotubes have NEVER been used in cosmetic skin preparations; -this is an ignorant statement directed at promoting the “natural” agenda of the author, who incorrectly states the FDA’s position on nanotech, and leaves out that the same agency does not endorse, nor it has any guidelines to support or regulate “organic” materials. The “organic” movement is self-regulated and, just like the Global Warming alarmists, it cannot promote itself by its own merits, but seeks to gain traction by misinforming the public about “the other, less-natural” products.
All bio-assymilation of nutrients and natural processes to support life happen at a NANOSCALE (think photosynthesis), and to insinuate that this principle cannot be used to produce skin care products that are more bio-available than the unpurified formulas used to produce these conventional, “natural” or “organic” labeled products is simply a lie.
Thank you for this great info. I am in process of building a list of organic products I can feel secure about recommending. I am very aware of nanotechnoloty! It appears that some scientist do not know the effects of what they have/are creating will have on the human race! I will follow your links to gain additional knowledge.
Once again, thank you!
Lillian Wallis
Living in Wellness through
Whole Food Nutrition
George, while there may be a few factual errors in the blog entry, the essential gist–that various products are now being sold containing minute quantities of materials such as silver whose health and environmental impacts in such micro-quantities have not been studied–is true. EPA has abdicated responsibility, again, in allowing industry to market untested products that have a high likelihood of causing harm, if not to the target organism, then to downstream organisms such as soil and water microflora and fauna. Finally, organic in the U.S. is not “self-regulated,” it is highly regulated by federal law. And if you think we needn’t worry about global warming–there goes your credibility right there.
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