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1

if a word is unpronounceable then i think by law it should be listed as an ingredient; the higher the word's concentration of consonants, the larger the font.

Posted by infrequent | February 5, 2008 12:09 PM
2

Who knew baby oil had more than one ingredient? I assumed it was made from 100% babies.

Posted by flamingbanjo | February 5, 2008 12:15 PM
3

No, it's made from baby seals and baby whales, @2.

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 5, 2008 12:21 PM
4

Regulating the cosmetics industry is one of the issues that might just possibly be possible with a Dem in the White House. Once again California leads, the politicized EPA fails to follow.

I think phthalates are in most drink bottles, too.

Posted by Fnarf | February 5, 2008 12:21 PM
5

Is this like a breakthrough? I mean, unexplained fertility has increased tons in the last couple of decades. Is this what they're attributing it to?

Posted by Amelia | February 5, 2008 12:25 PM
6

@4 - Phthalates haven't been in drink bottles or plastic food containers in the US for years now, although they were once.

Posted by tsm | February 5, 2008 12:27 PM
7

Totally depressing. I recently found out that a lot of the organic stuff that I have buying at premium price for my family is not really organic(ie. Horizon, Safeway & Costco "organic milk").
Sodium lauryl sulfate, which is found in a number of shampoos and soaps, is also thought to be a cancer causing agent. Now that I have switched to products w/o it I am much healthier.
Incredible really that consumers have no protection or even knowledge of dangerous agents which are lurking in our food and personal care products. Is blind, unregulated capitalism the culprit? I feel like a victim of advertising hype now that the organic food movement has gone mainstream.
I heard Charles Handy on NPR yesterday speaking about modern day capitalism and was quite intrigued by what he had to say. Great slog post Erica :-)

Posted by Z girl | February 5, 2008 12:34 PM
8

as an anti-overpopulationist, shouldn't this come as *good* news to you, erica? you were just complaining about tax breaks for people with kids a week or 2 ago. more infertilty = less people!

Posted by brandon | February 5, 2008 12:36 PM
9

Ooh! From wikipedia: "Phthalates are also frequently used in [...] sex toys made of so-called "jelly rubber." Some vendors of jelly rubber sex toys advise covering them in condoms when used internally, due to the possible health risks. Other vendors do not carry jelly rubber sex toys, in favor of phthalate-free varieties.[1] The Dutch office of Greenpeace UK sought to encourage the European Union to ban sex toys that contained phthalates.[2]"

There's also an assload of phthalates in your iPod and iPhone.

Posted by Fnarf | February 5, 2008 12:39 PM
10

personally, i blame obama.

Posted by konstantConsumer | February 5, 2008 12:49 PM
11

High levels of lead in hundreds of children's products; poison in pet food; fire retardants in mother's breast milk; waterways full of fertizers and pesticides; dangerous levels of mercury in our fish; MAD cows; and they want me to give up my cigarettes. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Posted by Anna Montana | February 5, 2008 12:51 PM
12

As I understand it (I am a chemist, but not a toxicologist), research on phthalates suggests the following:

1. It is an endocrine disruptor (not extremely potent, however). Pre-natal exposure may cause a very slight change in male genitalia indicative of feminization (decreased ano-genital distance in humans, hypospadius in rats).

2. After birth, effects of continued exposure are less certain, but there are some implications that they may interact with fat cells, and this has implications regarding obesity and diabetes rates, as well as breast cancer. Bear in mind that these effects are probably minor compared with other factors in these diseases.

In general, I think that regulatory systems in this country are lax and that we are unknowingly turned into a giant epidemiological experiment as companies only have to show lack of danger in the short term and at very high dosages. We do the experiment on long-term exposure at lower dosages. Still, I think there are more dangerous things for pregnant women to worry about re fetal exposure, like mercury, PCBs and now PBDEs (brominated flame retardants).

Posted by Tlazolteotl | February 5, 2008 1:21 PM
13

@7

"Sodium lauryl sulfate, which is found in a number of shampoos and soaps, is also thought to be a cancer causing agent. Now that I have switched to products w/o it I am much healthier."

HA! That's fucking hilarious. You switched from some "OH NO CARCINOGEN" shampoo to more natural crap and you're "much healthier"? I'd like to see one metric in support of that.

I'm happy you got bitten by actually non-organic organic products. Maybe someday you fucking hippies will realize that:
(a) It's an unsustainable production model, and
(b) Just because you're too stupid to pronounce it doesn't make it bad.

Fucking dipshits.

And yes, phthalates are questionable, but as posted above me, there are better fights to pick. Like how Bush refused to increase standards for mercury in tap water a while back.

I can pronounce mercury; does that make it an ok ingredient?

Go back home and choke on your Nalgene bottles (yeah, there's evidence that they leak ingredients that are metabolized into phthalates).

Posted by Jason Petersen | February 5, 2008 2:28 PM
14

Here's what the American Council on Science and Health says:

"...there is no evidence whatsoever -- not even a hint -- of health problems from phthalates in any consumer products used by children or adults. That is the conclusion of esteemed scientists from the Food and Drug Administration, Consumer Product Safety Commission, and universities around the world -- and a blue ribbon panel on phthalates and health chaired by former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop."

http://acsh.org/healthissues/newsID.1675/healthissue_detail.asp

Posted by Jaketron | February 5, 2008 2:31 PM
15

I recently switched from baby oil to extra virgin olive oil. It works just a good for after the bath and is probably a lot better for you!

Posted by lilblackcat | February 5, 2008 2:42 PM
16

@15 try sweet almond oil as well.

Posted by amazonmidwife | February 5, 2008 2:54 PM
17

Yeah, nalgene bottles, that's what I was thinking of.

Posted by Fnarf | February 5, 2008 2:58 PM
18

Masturbating with shampoo burns my dick. Is this why?

Posted by Creep in the Cellar | February 5, 2008 3:31 PM
19

OMG, a substance that stops breeders from breeding, ALERT THE MEDIA. Oh wait, someone already did.

Posted by Christianflikr | February 5, 2008 3:36 PM
20

So, if everyone in the population has been exposed to this for several generations, what problem again is this the cause of that all of Gen X has been suffering from since we were born?

Posted by GDC | February 5, 2008 4:49 PM

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