Cosmetic Ingredients:
"Natural” and Otherwise
Consumers are given a sense of false security by advertisements and labeling gimmicks. Over the years, almost everyone who has watched TV for any length of time has seen endless commercials which insinuate that true health and happiness can be found if only we will purchase this or that product. With today’s emphasis on health, there seems to be an inexhaustible supply of everything from diet pills, vitamins and skin care products to clothing, flea collars, and air fresheners—all claiming to be “natural.” But what does that really mean?
“NATURAL: Occurring in nature, whether of animal, vegetable, or unrefined mineral origin. There is no accepted standard for the word ‘natural…only what the manufacturer intends them to means.”
Webster’s encyclopedia, unabridged Dictionary Of the English Language
That could get scary! Let’s take a close look at a few commonly used “natural” ingredients which most label readers will recognize—UREA (carbamide) and URIC ACID. Used as a preservative, these ingredients can be found in a wide range of cosmetics, dentifrices, deodorants, shampoos, conditioners, hand and body lotions, etc., not to mention garden fertilizer because of their high nitrogen content.
UREA: “Urea is present in urine and other body fluids”
“A product of protein metabolism excreted in human urine. Derived from ammonia and liquid carbon dioxide.”
A Consumer’s Dictionary Of Cosmetic Ingredients 315
URIC ACID: “Uric acid is one of the waste or excretory products of the body, resulting from the working of the living cells. As other waste products, it is poisonous to living tissue.”
“Definition #1 Biochem; a chemical C3H4N2O3, present in human urine, and the principle nitrogenous component of the excrement of reptiles and birds, that in the form of its salts is found in the joints in gout and as the major constituent of kidney stones. Definition#2 Chemical: a white, crystalline, odorless, tasteless, very slightly water-soluble powder form of this compound, synthesized, used chiefly in organic synthesis.”
Webster’s encyclopedia, unabridged Dictionary Of the English Language
This is talking about the primary component of urine! It can be found on your label as urea. I found it in:
1. Styling Gels (alcohol free)
2. Vitamin E Creams
3. Hand lotion from the heath food store
One “pure botanical (plant) essence body wash” from the health food store had this on the label: For external use only. May cause skin irritation. Test before use.
Have you ever seen these items in your powder, hair-care, deodorant or creams?
1. Sodium Stearate
2. Zinc stearate
3. Stearic acid
4. Butylstearate
“Serum protein—Derived from the blood of cows or pigs and used as a moisturizing ingredient. It may be a water binding agent, but isn’t some miracle for the skin despite its exotic sound.”
Kathy Piess
“Animal Extracts—Animal extracts include the following; spleen, matrix, neutral lipid, epidermal lipid, thymus and animal tissue. These are dead fat or skin tissues from the thymus, testes, ovaries, udder, placentas or other parts of a cow, pig or sheep. The cosmetic industry would like you to believe that they have some rejuvenating effect on the skin. There is no evidence that these extracts can do anything for the skin, especially make it look younger. There is some evidence that these ingredients may be water binding agents, however, which is good for the skin but hardly unique or unusual.”
Begoun
Many ingredients in cosmetics can be animal, human, vegetable, or synthetic. This in cludes vitamins. But that’s another story. When searching for product that contain ”no animal by-products,” I learned quickly that this was no protection from the putrid or disgusting substances in some cosmetics. We’ll get to that in a moment. Cosmetics might contain human products or by-products.
What other skin-care cosmetic ingredients may be harmful to our skin
Triglycerides
Amniotic fluid
Protein or hydrolyzed animal protein
Glycerine
Collagen or elastin
Talc
Human or Human By-Products
“I found it almost comical that one company was using human by-products while boasting the claim on their label, “No Animal Testing: All of our products are environmentally friendly, harmful to no one and produced without animal testing or animal by-products.’
“When I saw ‘placenta’ as an ingredient listed on the label, I immediately called to learn their ’non-animal’ ‘natural’ source. When I expressed my shock and disgust at learning it was human, I was assured that the ‘by-products’ were indeed ‘natural’—having been transported immediately from the hospital after the ‘natural’ childbirth procedure had been completed. What could be more ‘natural’? (This is no joke!)
“In yet another instance, I was informed (by hospital staff and confirmed by a physician) about other ‘natural’ human by-products which can be salvaged, such as post-conception material (aborted baby parts), placenta and other childbirth related fluids and substances, and various leftover or ‘used parts, cysts, tumors, hair, nails, bones, tissues, etc., removed during surgery (as long as they have not been treated with radiation). (Check label for keratin, collagen, and hydrolyzed protein, just to name a few.) I wonder if patients ‘donating’ their ‘by-products’ read all the fine print!?—Signed CTUSA”
The cosmetic industry uses four basic tests on animals. The first test is for eye irritations—the Draize test—in which shampoos and cosmetics are put into rabbits’ eyes which are fastened open. The chemical causes blistering, swelling and blindness. The pain often becomes so intense that the rabbit breaks its back trying to get away from it. The second test is the skin irritation test, in which the test animal has an area of its back stripped of fur, and the test product repeatedly rubbed in to the bare skin area, causing rash, pain, and swelling. The third test is the LD/50 test. LD/50 means “lethal [deadly] dose, 50%.”) In this test, cosmetics are force fed to test animals to determine the amount necessary to cause 50% of them to die in severe agony from such things as organ blockage, toxic reaction, and convulsions. Fourth is the inhalation test, in this test, animals are sprayed repeatedly in the face for a two-and-a-half hour period, then killed and their tissue examined.
Remember this when you purchase and use products (cosmetics, toothpaste, shampoo, mouthwash, talcum, hand lotion, eye makeup, face creams, hair conditioners, perfumes, colognes, etc.) which have been tested on live animals.
Every year scientists use 17-22 million animals for experimentation. Believe me, you don’t want to see the pictures or hear any of the documented account of unimaginable cruelty being perpetrated upon defenseless animals—something God expressly condemns, calling it satanic.
See Patriarchs and Prophets, pp 442-443
Gwen & Rick Shorter