Lipsticks heavy on lead

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If you use lipstick, you should know that Food and Drug Administration tested 400 varieties of lipstick in 2010 and found lead in all of them.

Lead is dangerous if it’s ingested, but no federal standard exists for an acceptable amount of lead that’s in lipstick, because lipstick isn’t meant to be ingested. As a comparison, however, the federal standard for lead in candy is 0.1 parts per million (PPM), and only 20 lipsticks that FDA tested contained less than that.

We know of no reports of lead poisoning that resulted from lipsticks, but if you wear a brand or shade that has a high lead count and are nervous about putting that much lead around your mouth, you might consider a switch to a product that contains less lead.

Food and Drug Administration

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