Are there government standards regulating lead in lipstick?
There are no standards in the United States limiting lead in lipstick. It is legal for lipsticks sold in the U.S. to contain any amount of lead, without any notice to consumers. Lead is banned from all cosmetics sold in the European Union. Lead is listed under Californias Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects, meaning that manufacturers of products containing certain levels of lead must notify consumers of risk. The state has said 5 ppm is the actionable lead level in lipstick. However, the Prop 65 calculations do not include the latest science on neurotoxicity, which shows that lead can cause brain damage in children and fetuses at extremely low levels. Canada has a draft recommendation to allow up to 10 ppm lead in lipstick. This level, which is only a draft and has not been finalized, is much too high. Obviously, manufacturers can do much better than that, and government standards should require manufacturers to make lipstick with the lowest achieva
