Is there asbestos in your make up? Estee Lauder, Bobbi Brown, Clinique

[Blackcats7]

Has anyone seen the article in the Guardian today about asbestos in talc used in make up causing cancer? Mesothelioma to be precise. It quotes scores of women who have been affected in the UK now suing Estee Lauder and the other brands they own in US courts. An out of court settlement was recently agreed by Estee Lauder for one woman who sadly has terminal cancer and others are still fighting their cases.

Yes I saw this! I only use a CC cream and can't see talc on the ingredients list. It's good to be aware though and I'll make sure to check ingredients of anything I buy. We've got loads of bottles of talc that we were given when DD was a baby (why?! What are you supposed to use it for?) I should throw them out.

Apparently there is/ was a huge case over Johnson’s baby powder in the US too.
I have never used talcum powder because I hate the feeling of it. Remember getting lots of it in gift sets years ago when it was more popular and I always passed it on or chucked it but I didn’t realise talc is in many foundations, blusher, eye shadow eye too.
I am surprised this story isn’t getting more press here. Without wanting to sound like a conspiracy theorist it makes me wonder if money is changing hands to suppress it.

Does it talk about how much you would need to use in order for it to be an issue. The only talc in my makeup products come from a MAC blush, but I do use that almost everyday. Another thing, you can't always go off of the ingredients listed online. I bought eyeshadow from Tom Ford about a year ago, the online ingredients say Talc free but when I looked at the ingredients on the packaging, it listed Talc. Apparently ingredients can change depending on what is available at the time of production.

@pepperminticecream well having read this I wouldn't risk it at all personally. It isn't as if it is essential and there must be an alternative like a cream blush or cheek tint. I got the impression the main woman in the article had used the products for years but who knows when the damage was done?
My friend's dad died of mesothelioma and it was a horrible end.

Turns out, smothering our faces and bodies in loads of chemicals every day is bad for us.

Yes, it’s not rocket science.

Yes I've seen this op it's deeply worrying. As a baby talc was used on me, I remember huge puff things always given as presents and putting that on my face...

There are no safe limits for asbestos.

I am appalled that the UK cosmetics association state there is no detectable asbestos in cosmetic talc when in fact this only means their testing method does not identify it but the truth is another testing method can and does. Not being detectable is not the same as no asbestos. Highly misleading.
These women only found out what had caused their cancer because they had the ability and means to employ top solicitors and do their own forensic testing. This is undoubtedly not an option for most even if they were aware of a link to test for at all.

Cancer Research UK is on record as saying there is no good evidence for talc causing cancer.

I suspect the UK Cosmetic Industry (whose standards are not the same as those in the US) are saying this because there isn't any, not because their testing is crap.

That’s not true. It’s been known about for years and years. It’s been linked to ovarian cancer.

Actually if you read the article it says that cancer research uk says no proven link with talc causing cancer but that is only in relation to overian cancer not mesothelioma.

Besides, there IS a proven link between asbestos and cancer and it's also been proven that asbestos is present in many products that contain talc. Therefore it follows that there is a link between talc and cancer. Not the talc causing the cancer necessarily (though I think that's also up for debate) but the fact that talc is often associated with asbestos.

it's terrible and in so many products. I checked my products the other day and talc was in every eyeshadow and two types of foundation (all number 7 by Boots). Difficult to buy eyeshadow without (not impossible but difficult). I have vowed to replace these products.