We dab on moisturizer, soothe our lips with balm, and slather ourselves with sunscreen. Few of us think twice about what gets under our skin as we douse ourselves with lotions and potions as part of our daily routine. But we should. The average adult uses 9 personal care products a day—in the process applying more than 100 ingredients to his or her skin.
Although it’s easy to assume that these products are perfectly safe, that’s not always the case. The cosmetics industry uses more than 10,500 chemicals, some of which have been linked with cancer, birth defects, and other harmful effects on human and environmental health. There are no federal safety standards for this $35 billion industry.
