US cosmetics "full of" ingredients banned in Europe

There's a long list of chemicals you can't put in cosmetics in Europe that are found widely on American store shelves-often from the same companies. Oliver Milman reports on "enfeebled" U.S. regulators' inability to do anything about ingredients considered potentially harmful.

The disparity in standards between the EU and US has grown to the extent it touches almost every element of most Americans' lives. In cosmetics alone, the EU has banned or restricted more than 1,300 chemicals while the US has outlawed or curbed just 11.

It's possible to find formaldehyde, a known carcinogen banned in EU-sold cosmetics, in US hair-straightening treatments and nail polish. Parabens, linked to reproductive problems, are ruled out in the EU but not the US, where they lurk in skin and hair products. Coal tar dyes can be found in Americans' eyeshadow, years after they were banned in the EU and Canada.

"In the US it's really a buyer beware situation," said Janet Nudelman, director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. "Cosmetics companies can use any raw material that they like and there's no way to know if they are safe before they reach the shelves. The contrast with the EU is stark and troubling."

One thing that recently shocked me was how recently lead paint was banned in the U.S.-- anything slapped on the walls before the 1980s is suspect. America, land of the free and asbestos makeup for children.