Johnson & Johnson Plans To Remove Carcinogens From Products

By Alexandra Spunt for No More Dirty Looks

Last week the New York Times reported that Johnson & Johnson has announced plans to remove a host of questionable ingredients and contaminants from their products—notably formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane—by 2015.

According to the article they also intend to phase out parabens, phthlates, triclosan and other chemicals we’ve long had on our X list, though it was a little bit unclear from the piece whether this was all going to be on the same timeline.

This is notable progress, and even Kenneth Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, told the Times as much:

“We’ve never really seen a major personal care product company take the kind of move that they’re taking with this,” said Kenneth A. Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, one of the organizations that has been negotiating with company officials to change their practices. “Not really even anything in the ballpark.”

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Honey Health: How The Sweet Stuff Keeps You Well

By HuffingtonPost.com

We know that, despite its high sugar content, honey has many healthful properties.

And now, according to the latest research, the sweet stuff has been found to treat mild nighttime coughs caused by upper respiratory infections among children between ages one and five. In a new study published in Pediatrics, researchers discovered that honey worked better than a placebo made from date syrup to maintain sleep and suppress coughs.

The researchers, led by Dr. Herman Avner Cohen of Tel Aviv University, found that among 300 children whose parents reported trouble sleeping do to infection-related nighttime coughs, those given honey improved their sleep and reduced their coughing by twice as much as those who took the placebo, according to reports submitted by their parents.

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Yikes—High Levels of Lead Found in Popular Purses

By Alexandra Spunt for No More Dirty Looks

Excuse the small digression, but I thought this was a topic worth tabling. New research done by the Center for Environmental Health has found significant levels of lead in many mainstream handbags, most certainly available at a store near you.

The Center for Environmental Health pulled purses from 100 top retailers to test—everyone from Target to Neiman Marcus and H&M—and found that out of 300 tested, 43 bags contained significant levels of lead.

Some purses, like one from Tory Burch, contained as much as 580 times the amount of lead allowed in children’s toys, which we can only hope is basically none.

According to California law—prop. 65, the same law that busted the Brazilian Blowout—these purses should come with a big fat warning sign.

Burch, who at least had the decency to comment, unlike Guess and others in the hot seat, said that she’s “appalled” and launching a full investigation. Given how disconnected companies are from the far-away factories that make their products, it’s not surprising that brands don’t always know what they’re putting out on the retail floor. But that’s no excuse, since according to this ABC report “hundreds of manufacturers” had already signed an agreement saying they’d limit lead in their products. In other words: They know it’s a problem.

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Are Any Self Tanners Actually Safe? Making Sense of the New Research About DHA

By Siobhan O’Connor for NoMoreDirtyLooks.com

Fans of fake tans may want to sit down for this.

Dihydroxyacetone—that’s DHA to you— which is the active ingredient in self-tanners (even clean ones) and spray tans (none of which are clean) “has the potential to cause genetic alterations and DNA damage,” according to a panel of scientists in an investigation done by ABC News.

Now before you run to the bathroom and ditch your Chocolate Sun, let’s take a closer look at what we know so far.

What are the news reports saying?

That DHA has the potential to cause genetic alterations, DNA damage, and cancer.

What’s DHA anyway?

DHA is a sugar that interacts with amino acids in the top layer of your skin to produce pigment called melanoidins; that’s the brownish tanned look these products achieve. DHA can be manufactured synthetically, or it can be derived from natural things, like beet sugar or cane sugar. It was approved by the FDA for topical use in 1977 (and many orange tans ensued!) and is widely accepted as nontoxic when applied to the skin.

So is it toxic?

Some research showed that when it’s applied in the form of a lotion, DHA does not migrate past the stratum corneum, the outermost layer of skin that’s also sometimes called the “dead skin layer.” Which sounds gross, but it’s good news, we thought, for your organs and your blood if you’re applying it in a cream as opposed inhaling it in the form of a spray tan or a spray-on self tanner.

Up until now, there’s been the most concern about spray tans, because the application method means you might inhale the stuff. Even the FDA, which is typically mum about all things cosmetics-related, has a warning on its website about them. Which means that for the love of all things good (and good looking) you should not be getting a spray tan!

Fine. But I’m good to go with a self tanner, right?

Not so fast.

FDA reports dating back to the 1990s, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, cited research that some DHA can migrate to the living layers of the skin after all. How much of it—and where it goes from there—is anybody’s guess.

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The Power of Habits (and Foaming Shampoo)

By Alexandra Spunt for No More Dirty Looks

How habits take shape in our brains—and how we can override them with new and (hopefully) better habits—is the subject of an exciting new book called The Power of Habits by New York Times writer Charles Duhigg.

I started reading it a couple of weeks ago and, ever the evangelist, have been talking about it to just about anyone who will listen since. You should all check it for yourselves, but here’s the opening premise:

For an act to become a habit, there must be a CUE, followed by a ROUTINE, and finishing with some sense of REWARD. When we start craving the reward before it happens, the act is transformed into a habit and imprinted so deep in our brains (literally) that even in some cases of severe brain damage, where most everything is forgotten, habits can still survive.

Example of a habit loop in action: If you’re a smoker—and FYI the lines between habits and addiction can often become blurred—talking on the phone might be a cue for you, the routine involves lighting up as you gab, and the feeling of reward could come from the nicotine itself or maybe the association between smoking and socializing.

The book posits—backed by exhaustive research—that if you want to change a habit, you must create a new one in its stead. So maybe instead of lighting a cigarette, you pick up a pencil and doodle while you’re on the phone, and when you’re off you admire your artistic skill and take pride in it. OK, pretty dumb example, but you know where I’m going with this. And if you don’t, Duhigg has created a helpful infographic on his blog (partially pictured above) to help people change their habits.

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Are There Endocrine Disruptors in Your Sofa?

By Alexandra Spunt for No More Dirty Looks

I spend a lot of time on my couch. I’m not above a 5-hour television marathon, or sitting on it all Sunday as I poke around on my computer and my husband watches golf. I’m on it right now.

The couch in question is from Ikea, it traveled from my husband’s previous apartment, and it’s made of plastic—well, faux leather. The model has since been cancelled because people’s couches, ours included, starting looking like they were melting in spots, which is some kind of defect of this mysterious material.

It’s a surprisingly attractive looking couch, not one that makes you think “wow, those people have a plastic couch.” But I think about that often enough, and it bugs be not because I care that it’s cheap (or cheap-looking) but that I suspect the thing carries with it more chemicals than I can count, and probably more than one endocrine disruptor (and bendy plastics tend to).

But apparently everyone’s couch is filled with potentially harmful chemicals, not just my plastic beauty. In a recent New York Times article Nick Kristof (a bigger hero to us by the day) he talks about the flame retardents in sofas, and a new investigative series called “Playing With Fire” in the Chicago Tribune.

The Tribune series is exhaustive, and maybe on Sunday I’ll plop onto my couch and read it through. In the meantime, Kristof highlights some of the infuriating facts about how flame retardants got into our sofas. Instead of paraphrasing, I’ve exerted sections of his article below.

Chances are that if you’re sitting on a couch right now, it contains flame retardants. This will probably do no good if your house catches fire — although it may release toxic smoke.

There is growing concern that the chemicals are hazardous, with evidence mounting of links to cancer, fetal impairment and reproductive problems.

It turns out that our furniture first became full of flame retardants because of the tobacco industry… tobacco companies mounted a surreptitious campaign for flame retardant furniture, rather than safe cigarettes, as the best way to reduce house fires.

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Where Do You Stand On Sunscreen?

By Alexandra Spunt for NoMoreDirtyLooks.com

It’s that time of year y’all! Time for fun and sun, a Bardot pic and the perennial conversation about sunscreen. The EWG has released its 2012 report, and this time they’re focusing on the many myths about sunscreen. Their piece Sunscreen Exposed: Nine Surprising Truth, calls out some assumed facts about these potions, some of which are just plain fiction. It begins:

“Sunscreens prevent sunburns, but beyond that simple fact surprisingly little is known about the safety and efficacy of these ubiquitous creams and sprays.”

It’s true. Read the piece, but here’s a quick recap:

1. There’s no conclusive proof that it prevents skin cancer.

2. In fact, there’s even some evidence that it increases risk of melonoma.

3. While the market loves super-sky-high SPFs, there’s no proof of their efficacy and even the FDA has proposed prohibiting anything over 50 for being “misleading to the consumer.” Plus which, these high numbers actually encourage people to stay out longer.

4. We need vitamin D, and some smart unprotected sun exposure is the easiest way to get it.

5. Retinal palmitate, a type of vitamin A often used in sunscreens, is suspected of increasing the speed of skin cancer development.

6. Because standards around UVA are not stringent, many sunscreens barely protect skin from free radical damage (also known as aging).

7. Chemical sunscreens contain hormone disruptors, among other nasty ingredients, and many mineral versions now contain nanoparticles. Boo.

8. Europe’s ahead of the game on sunscreens. No surprises there.

9. The FDA has delayed the implementation of their new stricter language laws on sunscreen. That means another summer without them.

Oof.

So now to you: Do you use sunscreen? Have you found a great one that’s clean? Where do you stand on the sunscreen spectrum.

I for one almost never use the stuff, preferring to limit my exposure. This past Saturday for example I sat by a pool for a little bit, taking in the rays, and then I put on a hat and moved into the shade. I know, most dermatologists would start crying if I told them that story, and I’m certainly not making recommendations: sun exposure is different for everyone. Siobhan, who has sun-sensitive Irish skin, uses sunscreen regularly and has reviewed many (that series has one of my faves in it too).

In general we encourage a logic approach to the sun: know your skin, respect the sun, and don’t fall for too much dogma on either side of the debate.

Exercising During Pregnancy Leads to Healthier Babies

By Leah Zerbe for OrganicGardening.com

A new study finds that women who exercise while pregnant are more likely to have babies with a healthy birth weight.

Many studies have found that what goes on while a baby is growing in a mother’s belly can affect the health of the child long after he or she has left the womb. And new evidence gives yet another reason for expecting mothers to get active. Women who exercise regularly during pregnancy are more likely to give birth to babies with a lower, but healthier, birth weight, according to a study that will appear in the May issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. That could set up the child for a healthier life, since a too-high birth weight is an indicator of childhood obesity, a growing national problem.

THE DETAILS: In the small study led by New Zealand researchers, about half of the 84 women (average age 30) performed an exercise routine throughout the second half of pregnancy, while the other women did not. The exercising woman participated in at-home, stationary-cycling exercises starting 20 weeks into their pregnancy and continuing throughout. Women were prescribed a maximum of five moderate-intensity, 40-minute cycling sessions per week. Mothers in the exercising group gave birth, on average, to babies 5 ounces lighter than the nonexercising mothers.

WHAT IT MEANS:  As long as your obstetrician gives you the green light, moderate aerobic exercise during pregnancy is a great way to boost the health of mother and child. Researchers already know that exercising during a normal pregnancy can help prevent gestational diabetes and improve the endurance fitness of a mother, which can lead to a speedier, less complicated delivery. The more recent findings pointing to a mother’s exercise leading to a more normalized birth weight show that exercising throughout pregnancy can have lasting health benefits for a child, since larger babies are more prone to childhood obesity.

Here are some tips on exercising during pregnancy from a top expert in the field.

• Get the okay. While exercise during a normal pregnancy is certainly beneficial, it’s not for everyone. Certain complications may make it impossible, so it’s very important to work with your doctor and a certified exercise professional specializing in pregnancy to hash out a routine that benefits mother and child, stresses Jaci Van Heest, Ph.D., professor of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut.

• Factor in your fitness level. Of course, it’s best to be fit before even becoming pregnant. But if you’re pregnant and haven’t really exercised beforehand, you still can start an exercise program while pregnant, contrary to popular belief. Your doctor will most likely recommend low-impact exercises like walking.

If you were active before becoming pregnant, your doctor will likely allow you to continue with the exercise, with the exception of cutting back on heavy lifting. Since you are more likely to feel fatigued and you may need more recovery time, you may have to reduce the number of aerobic workout sessions per week to properly recover, Van Heest explains. Depending on your doctor, your recommended heart rate during exercise may be between 140 and 160 beats per minute, so it’s important to use a heart-rate monitor to keep it in range.

• Don’t force it. As your midsection continues to grow throughout your pregnancy, certain exercises just become uncomfortable or even unsafe. “Your balance changes,” explains Van Heest, who suggests using exercise machines (that you can fit into) instead of free weights during the latter stages of pregnancy, when women become “front-tipsy.”

Starting later in the second trimester, twisting motions also land on the do-not-do list because women are naturally restricted by the extra bulk that’s in the way. But before that point, Van Heest does encourage crunches and other abdominal exercises that target muscles that are involved in delivery. Kegel exercises, which strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, are also a great way to get your body in gear for delivering your baby.

The Fragrance Contest! (Winner)

The lucky winner is Hannah from Egypt. You’ll be receiving Travalo Excel Pink.

Congratulations Hannah. Have an aromatic joy.

BPA exposure leads to obesity, says biologist

Used to harden plastics, BPA can be present in water bottles, soup cans, cash-register receipts, toys and a host of other products.

By Well+GoodNYC

By Elizabeth Nolan Brown for Blisstree.com 

Even limited exposure to bisphenol-A can program a developing fetus for childhood or adult obesity, says Frederick vom Saal, a biologist who has been studying the plastic additive for two decades. The results of his latest research mirror that of other recent studies, which have given new credulity to the link between BPA and obesity.

“During the development of the fetus, BPA exposure alters the development of stem cells,” vom Saal told The Daily. “Think of it as tripping a switch in the DNA. BPA turns out to be a major factor in the number of fat cells that a person will have later in life.”

BPA is a controversial chemical. Used to harden plastics, it can be present in water bottles, soup cans, cash-register receipts, toys and a host of other products. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 93% of Americans have levels of BPA ranging from .1 to 9 parts per billion in their bodies.

An ‘endocrine disruptor,’ BPA mimics the hormone estrogen. Independent scientific reviews consistently find BPA to be toxic. Exposure to BPA has been linked to breast cancer, heart disease, male sexual dysfunction, depression, infertility and miscarriage in adults, and poses special risk to children and developing fetuses. Some U.S. states have passed laws prohibiting its use in baby bottles. Even Campbell’s Soups has announced plans to phase out BPA in product packaging.

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