red or dead

The debate rages on. Should cosmetic companies remove lead from lipstick?
Posed as a simple question like that it seems the answer should be yes - we no longer have lead in our household paints, pencils (I hate to think how much I ingested as a child learning to write and gnawing on my pencil), or on children's toys, so why is it in our lippie? However it's not as simple as that.
In America a lobby group called, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, has filed a class action suit against luxury goods maker LVMH who make Christian Dior cosmetics. They found, through their own independent testing, that Dior Addict Positive Red had higher than most amounts of lead. The group first filed the suit in November and LVMH retailated with a request to not proceed. A judge in Chicago has just rejected this request and the action shall go ahead.
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics also campaigned the Californian senate for a new bill 'Senate Bill 1712' which would require that all cosmetic companies make lipstick with the lowest amount of lead possible. They claim the bill was heavily lobbied by leading cosmetic companies resulting in its defeat. You can read more about both cases on their website
The amounts of lead in lipstick varies. Ranging from .07ppm to .84ppm (with one registering 6.7ppm). PPM stands for parts per million.
Sure lead is a proven toxin that accumulates in the body and can cause learning problems, infertility and even miscarriage in pregnant women, but does it lead to cancer as some claim? How many people have been reported as dying from ingesting lead through their lipstick? None.
Another website reports that a FDA compliance officer told them that the amount of lead in lipstick was so small there are no adverse effects for consumers. All dyes used in food and cosmetics must be approved by the FDA for safety and products sold in the USA must only be made with FDA certifiable colours, otherwise they will not be allowed at all. So stringent is the FDA that it often leads the rest of the world - some products sold in Europe and Asia are not allowed in the US. While the FDA currently do not have any guidelines on the amount of lead used in cosmetics, it has said the current amounts are non-threatening.
Something else to consider - lead is also in candy. The FDA limit of lead in candy is 0.1ppm - apparently it was five times higher until only recently.
The biggest problem is knowing which lippie contains lead as there are many that don't - even fire engine red ones. And I guess that's where the lobbyists come in handy - by making all cosmetic companies follow the same guidelines and rules we can be assured in knowing that ANY red lipstick is lead free. It will be interesting to see the results of the class action suit.
Incidentally - John Campbell recently discussed this on his show Campbell Live, he said he asked a number of cosmetic companies and they said there's no lead in their products.
What do you think? Does this make you think twice about applying red lipstick? Or do you think it's a whole lot of scaremongering?