Would you bathe in petroleum? Check the labels

It's important to maintain a healthy lifestyle, right? We all know that we should eat wisely, get regular exercise and generally avoid things that are harmful to us. No one in their right mind would knowingly get up in the morning and begin the day with a dose of toxic chemicals. Well, if you're like most folks in our society, the keyword is "knowingly" since a very large percentage of personal care products used in the U.S. contain ingredients that are unregulated and often dangerous.

Most Americans believe that personal care and cosmetic product safety is handled by the FDA. Why have a Food and Drug Administration if they aren't looking out for our best interests? Unfortunately, the FDA does not require safety testing before a product is sold in stores and there's no mechanism requiring manufacturers to provide safety information on their products' ingredients.

This has led to thousands of personal care products that contain known carcinogens, endocrine disrupters and other harmful chemicals. Most often, these ingredients are chosen because they are inexpensive or add some perceived benefit to make a product look, feel or taste better. It's not likely they are used for their health-giving properties. As often happens in our economic system, corporate profits take precedence over common sense.

Here are just a few common examples of what may be lurking on your bathroom shelves:

FD&C and D&C colors are common ingredients in hair dyes, shampoos and cosmetics. Derived from bituminous coal, nearly all "coal tar" colors have been found to cause cancer in animals and most have never been tested for human safety.

Other ingredients or by-products that can put one at risk for cancer include formaldehyde, DEA, TEA and MEA. Often found in shampoos, body washes and soaps, these compounds are easily absorbed by the skin.

Endocrine disrupters are chemicals that interfere with the body's hormone system. These chemicals can have alarming effects including infertility, miscarriage, birth defects, breast and other forms of cancer, and can also cause damage to organs such as the lungs, thyroid, heart and kidneys. They are often not listed by name on a product's label but include surfactants, parabens and softeners such as phthalates.

There is a very long list of chemicals and other ingredients that most people with common sense would happily steer clear of, if we only knew they were there.

How many guys have walked into a beauty salon to pick up their wife or girlfriend only to be assaulted by the nearly overwhelming odor of nail polish, hair dye, shampoo and rinses? I have had this experience and the smell is the first thing I notice.

As much as half the volume of nail polish can consist of toluene, a very powerful petroleum derivative used as a solvent. The EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics warns of adverse effects on the kidneys, liver and heart that can be caused by breathing large amounts of toluene, even for short periods of time. It has also been linked to asthma. No wonder I'm grateful for a breath of fresh air once I'm out the door.

Even the so-called good smell of perfume should be questioned. Once distilled from flowers, modern perfumes are complex mixtures selected from more than 4,000 chemicals, about 95 percent of which come from petroleum.

If this information is alarming to you, that's a good sign, since awareness is the first step toward reducing your exposure to these dangerous substances. As in most things in life, it's about personal responsibility, informed choice and right action. Fortunately, there are a growing number of healthier personal care products that we can choose from.

The first thing to ask is whether you actually even need the product in the first place. For example, I admire women with natural fingernails. Nude nails can be quite beautiful. Who started the whole idea that women's fingernails covered with toxic paint is attractive? Until there is a healthy option available, you may wish to reconsider its practical use.

Avoid the chemical cocktails found in most perfume products. If you still want to send olfactory messages to those around you, consider using good quality, organic essential oils that do not use chemical solvents in the extraction process. Then use them sparingly.

For those products we need to keep ourselves clean and fresh, look for natural, organic ingredients. Read the labels. If you see something you don't understand, find out what it is before putting it on your body. Trust your common sense. In general, plant oils are preferable to petroleum derivatives. Natural scents are the clear choice over artificial ones.

In choosing healthier personal care products, we support businesses that care about their customers while improving our health at the same time. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure ... and a ton of green living is worth a lifetime of good health.

Steve Rypka is a green living consultant and president of GreenDream Enterprises, specializing in renewable energy, green building, alternative transportation and lifestyle choices for both residential and commercial clients. The company is committed to helping people live lighter on the planet. Rypka can be reached via e-mail at steve@greendream.biz. More information relating to this column is posted at www.greendream.biz.