Asbestos in Makeup?
Do These Pants Make Me Look Fat?
… No Comment. But Your Asbestos-Containing Makeup Is UGLY
Boy, it seems like, only a year ago, some major news outlet was reporting that Claire’s Boutique stores were recalling makeup products in which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had found asbestos.
It probably seems that way because, only about a year ago, on March 13, CBS News reported that Claire’s Boutique stores were recalling makeup products in which the FDA had found asbestos.
Go right now and check your makeup kit. If you have any eye shadow, powder compacts, or “contour palette” from Claire’s, DON’T use it.
Get rid of it.
Why? Because asbestos is a dangerous substance which, in powder form, is chock-full of microscopic airborne shards of cancer-causing ugliness!
You might get away with using asbestos on your face (on your face!) a couple of times. The human body is amazingly resilient. But then again, you might get away with using hand soap made with radioactive Uranium-235, too, a couple of times.
But I wouldn’t risk it.
And they don’t sell U-235 hand soap at Claire’s.
Asbestos, Ugly As It Is… Deadly As It Is… Is LEGAL
Didn’t the government outlaw asbestos, a long time ago?
Yes, they did. And it was illegal in the United States for a brief, shining moment about 30 years ago.
But then, they lifted those restrictions, also a long time ago.
You still can’t manufacture asbestos-containing stuff in the U.S… but tons of asbestos-laden materials are still imported into our country every year.
Everything from flooring, insulation, and other building materials… to jewelry and yes, even makeup… a staggering array of asbestos-containing products are received into our country all the time, in spite of the fact that the risks of mesothelioma and other deadly maladies are well-known.
Scientists are no less sure that asbestos causes lung cancer than they are that smoking may be harmful to your health, or that exposure to radiation can harsh your whole day.
But while you’re highly unlikely to come into contact with anything radioactive, asbestos is unfortunately QUITE conveniently accessible in everyday products. Even seemingly-harmless stuff like makeup.
We’re Not Telling You To Stop Shopping At Claire’s…
… We’re also not telling you to avoid jumping off buildings, playing in traffic, or going swimming less than an hour after a big meal.
Claire’s Boutiques are easy to single out, because of their well-publicized struggles with importing products that contain asbestos. And the company does merit scrutiny (just ask the FDA).
But we wish we could tell you Claire’s is alone in this scandalous situation.
For instance, thinking beyond makeup, no matter when your home was built, it likely contains asbestos.
Asbestos building materials are probably all around you at work, too.
And if makeup imported to Claire’s contains asbestos… where else can the ugly stuff be found?
Not to be alarmist, but there’s probably an asbestos-breathing dragon sleeping under your bed right now, just waiting to belch deadly cancer all over you.
(Okay, that might’ve strayed a bit from absolute reality. Dragons aren’t real.)
(But asbestos is.)
You want to avoid asbestos in its dry, dusty form. Left undisturbed, the asbestos in your linoleum flooring or pipe insulation is not dangerous. It’s when it gets broken-up – often by unforeseeable problems like burst pipes or even the smallest of house fires – that asbestos is deadly. So know your risks. Get your world tested and abated. It costs WAY less than lung cancer! And it’s a dragon that can be slain.
