Natural translations: the truth about synthetic personal care products.

It's official: Americans want natural products more than ever. But with these desires comes a new vulnerability to the seduction of "natural" imposters, which all too often wind tip standing in for the real things. Front synthetically scented "aromatherapy" candles, to poetically packaged "herbal" body care products, the ingredients used in many of today's most prominently advertised and beautifully presented "botanical" mainstream products are barely distinguishable, in terms of ingredients, front the fruity, candy-colored concoctions of the '80s.

Natural Know-How

What, then, is natural? In the course of interviewing experts on cosmetics ingredients over the years, I have come across no more knowledgeable source than Diana Kaye, a cosmetic formulator who's been featured in The New York Times and other major newspapers. Her personal experience in overcoming near-fatal Hodgkin's lymphoma fueled her insatiable pursuit of information about cosmetic ingredients. "At one point in my life, my very survival depended on eliminating every possible toxic challenge to my body, and so I have spent nearly every waking moment since 1989 investigating environmental and cosmetic chemicals, reading cosmetic formulation texts, chemical dictionaries and patents," says Kaye, who is, admittedly, a highly motivated purist.

Hidden Allergens

"Most chemicals used in cosmetics have had no toxicity studies [which can be performed without using animals] done, and none of the current testing standards take two of the most important concerns of today into account-trans-dermal absorption of substances into the bloodstream (as opposed to just topical skin reactions), and endocrine, or hormone, disruption," says Kaye. Skin absorption is now widely known to be a significant way for substances to enter the body. Some scientists estimate that as much as 60 percent of what we apply to our skin winds up reaching the bloodstream--parts of it accumulating in our livers, breasts, and other fatty tissues.

Some confirmed estrogen mimics, such as phthalates, which are found in everything from medical tubing to nail polish to perfume to hairspray as well as the environment, were found in women aged 20-40 to be 45 times the levels previously estimated in a 2000 study published in Environmental Health Perspectives. In statewide telephone surveys conducted by health departments in California and New Mexico between 1995 and 1997, investigators found that 16 percent of randomly selected adults reported an "unusual sensitivity"' to a variety' of common, everyday chemicals.

A startling one-third of persons surveyed in other states called themselves "especially sensitive." Chemicals such as formaldehyde can reside in fat tissue for decades, never causing acute symptoms. Chemical levels can then reach a saturation point at which we are suddenly sensitive to even minute amounts. Equally disturbing is the fact that when synthetic chemicals mingle in even small amounts, they sometimes react to create effects thousands of times as potent as what might occur from a single, sometimes harmless, chemical.