Go organic in the bathroom

Before you even leave for work in the morning you have put over 200 different chemicals on your skin. Bright tropical flowery packaging advertising beneficial herbs' and names that sound like mother nature picked them herself mean that most products now sell themselves on how fresh' or natural' they are.

However, to make these claims only 1 per cent of their content needs to come from a natural source. The rest of the so-called natural ingredients are a cocktail of chemicals that have recently been linked to a range of health problems from skin allergies to cancer.

To increase awareness of what we are putting into our bodies, charities such as the Women's Environmental Network (WEN) are running an Ending the Cosmetics Cover-Up campaign.

Liz Sutton from WEN said: "Our concern is that conventional cosmetics and toiletries, most of which are complex mixtures of synthetic chemicals, may contain ingredients that impair fertility, increase the effects of ageing, disrupt hormones and are linked to cancer, allergies and other health problems. Individual products contain very small amounts of chemical ingredients, but we're worried about the cumulative and combined effects of daily exposure to tiny doses of many different chemicals."

It is estimated that over 60 per cent of what we put onto our skin is absorbed into the bloodstream - products such as moisturisers sell themselves on being easily absorbed'.

Richard Bosley from the Organic Food Federation said: "It is as important to care about what we rub into our skin as what we consume as food. Chemicals also reach blood and internal organs through skin absorption and the concerns regarding their effects are as real, however they are consumed."

Although labels can look confusing, they are required by law to inform the consumer of ingredients. The cosmetics industry is self-regulated and this has been a source of concern over the safety of some chemicals used.

Due to commercial secret laws some ingredients do not need to be listed in order to protect a company's brand. Sometimes hundreds of chemicals are lumped together under one general name such as parfum', which could be any number of unknown and potentially harmful chemicals.

EU directives decide which chemicals are safe to use. Some substances are banned or restricted, so they either have to be used below a defined concentration or specifically labelled.

Tests are carried out by safety assessors who must be either a registered pharmacist, GP, chartered biologist or chemist. Dr Chris Flowers is director general of the Cosmetics, Toiletries and Perfumery Association, that represents those industries. He said: "The cleaning agents used in products like shower gels are perfectly safe in the present concentrations as these products are rinsed off when used. If applied concentrated to the skin and not rinsed off, they would undoubtedly prove irritant."

However, if a chemical was put on the market before 1981 - and 90 per cent of them were - the companies did not need to provide any safety data on them. This is set to change with a directive from the European Commission known as REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals), which will perform safety tests on over 30,000 chemicals and force big companies to provide relevant data. Substances that are found to be carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction systems will be banned from use. At present if the industry says that a chemical is safe then it is marketed as safe, with no regulatory body or third party assessment. REACH went through the European Parliament after objections and pressure from the cosmetics and chemical industries, who claimed it would cause businesses to leave the EU and trade from elsewhere. It was put into action from June 2007 and will mean that both old and new chemicals have to be tested and could potentially be banned over a timetable of 11 years. Meanwhile, Liz Sutton of WEN advises: "Become a savvy shopper - think about the products you use and learn more about what the labels actually mean. Try to use less and choose products with as few synthetic ingredients as possible. As a first step ask yourself if it doesn't sound good enough to eat, do I want to put it on my skin?'"

One solution to this chemical cocktail is to go organic as these beauty products list all of their ingredients and use only natural extracts.

Richard Bosley of the Organic Food Federation said: "At present the certification of cosmetics is voluntary and because of this consumers are being denied the benefits of independent third party assessment. All sorts of claims are being made, many of which have little foundation and are not backed up."

If you're making sure you baby's food is organic and taking care of what is going into their mouths, check what is going on their skin as well.

Behind the labels

Parabens - a synthetic version of a compound found naturally in blueberries and cinnamon, parabens have been used for years as food preservatives but there are now concerns about the cumulative effect they might have when left on the skin. They are found in 90 per cent of beauty products currently on the market.

Sodium Lauryl Sulphate - is a detergent that creates the foaming' effect in shampoo and bubble bath and is a known-irritant.

Natural - there are no guidelines to control what can be called natural, so a natural' beauty product could contain only one per cent natural ingredients.

Organic - to be certified organic it must be at least 95 per cent organic and if it is certified by the Soil Asoociation it must avoid ingredients and processes that are toxic or detrimental to the environment (for example, if they are not biodegradable). They don't allow petro-chemicals, GM ingredients, hydrogenated fat, sodium lauryl sulphate or parabens.