Lynner writes of toxic cosmetics

LYNN – When Stacy Malkan was a 16-year-old cheerleader at Classical High School, she often visited the cosmetics aisle at the local Osco pharmacy. Like most teenagers, she was obsessed with looking good.”Back then I was probably using more than 20 products a day on my hair and skin, containing over 200 different chemicals, many of them toxic,” the Lynn native said Thursday, which marked the launch of her cautionary new book, “Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry”, published by New Society Publishers.These days, Malkan, 39, who lives in Berkeley, Calif. and works full time for the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and Healthcare Without Harm, spends her days trying to convince women to think twice before applying makeup or lathering their hair.”Clairol Herbal Essence is one of the best-known, most popular shampoos in the country, and it’s advertised as organic and healthy,” she said. “But there’s nothing organic about it and it certainly isn’t healthy. Like many cosmetic products, it’s made from a long list of petrochemicals. The problem with the entire industry is the lack of standards.”The daughter of Lynn residents Jim and Diane Roche, Malkan grew up on Boston Street with three brothers and a sister. She read beauty magazines favored among girls her age and adopted Cover Girl tips from models like Cheryl Tiegs.Malkan said she and her friends routinely used Aqua Net hairspray, inhaling its fumes as the chemicals settled on their hair and stiffened the strands. “Everybody was doing it and nobody was thinking that the chemicals in the can might be harmful,” she said. “I graduated from Classical in 1986. It was a time of big hair and you didn’t worry about the propellant gas.”According to Malkan, many of today’s mainstream brand cosmetics contain toxins. “There are lots of cheap brands, but many of the more expensive ones are not that different in terms of ingredients,” she said. “We’ve found lead in lipstick that costs $25 a tube.”The Environmental Working Group has established the Skin Deep database where the ingredients in products can be researched. Online at www.cosmeticdatabase.org, the site contains more than 25,000 products. “You can look them up and match the ingredients to what scientists are saying about these chemicals,” she said.For example, a search of Estee Lauder lipstick turns up its Pure Color Crystal Lipstick in Elizabeth Pink, and earns a score of seven, which indicates a high health hazard.”Some cosmetics contain formaldehyde. We used to soak frogs in that stuff at Breed Junior High, yet we found it in makeup,” said Malkan. “Hair permanent kits, hair dyes and hair straighteners tend to have the most highly toxic fumes, especially perms when you put them under a hair dryer. The Afro-American beauty products also seem to contain more unhealthy chemicals.”Malkan became involved with protecting the public from certain aspects of the cosmetics industry after working at a monthly newspaper, the Summit Free Press, which she founded and published in Breckenridge, Colo. “That’s where I started learning about dangerous chemicals. There was a big controversy to spray pesticides along a popular bicycle path to kill the weeds. This was back in 1998 and a community meeting was called. About 200 people showed up and there was a ruckus. People were so mad at the idea that kids, pets and bikers would be inhaling pesticides as they used this scenic bike path,” she said.The experience sparked an interest in politics. Malkan moved to Washington, D.C. and in 2000 began working for the Ralph Nader campaign. “I had a lot to learn about the political system and what goes on at that level, as well as being introduced to the lack of government regulation and protection. The Food and Drug Administration needs a complete makeover, but these days, there’s not a lot of room for citizens at the negotiating table.”In 2005, Malkan began writing her book, which is available in bookstores and on line at vendors such as Amazo