FDA Report: 400 Lipsticks Contain Lead

Sometimes, I really feel like the things that make a girl a girl -- heels, makeup, hair care -- leaves us damned if we do and damned if we don't.

So you know that feeling went up 1,000 times when I read about an FDA report that more than 400 shades of lipsticks contain lead. So you mean now the lipstick I apply can make me sick? Really?

Lead levels were checked by a private lab, and included niche brands as well as drug store brands, accoding to a story in the Washington Post.

The FDA said this about the results:

“We do not consider the lead levels we found in the lipsticks to be a safety concern,” the FDA said in its online comments. “The lead levels we found are within the limits recommended by other public health authorities for lead in cosmetics.”

However, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is sounding the alarm.

It found that lead in Maybelline's Pink Petal is double the level founds in the previous FDA report and nearly 300 times what is found in the least-contaminated lipstick, according to a letter the group wrote to the FDA.

Not surprisingly, the least contaminated product - Wet 'n' Wild' Mega Mixers Lip Balm -- is also the least expensive.  Should we throw out Mac and Nars lipsticks?

No level of lead is safe for children. I can't think of a reason why lead applied on your lips would ever be a good thing, especially considering that some 9 and 10-year-olds wear lipstick.

“Lead builds in the body over time, and lead-containing lipstick applied several times a day, every day, can add up to significant exposure levels,” Mark Mitchell, co-chairman of the Environmental Health Task Force for the National Medical Association, said in the group’s statement.

This isn't the first time that lipsticks have come under fire. In 2008, the Calfornia Attorney General's Office launched an investigation to determine if cosmetic companies broke California law that requires business to warn consumers if they knowingly expose them to chemicals that can cause cancer or reproductive damage.

The state found that the amount of lead in lipsticks was too law to break the law -- which is five parts per million.

The FDA found that tested lipsticks fell below that amount, but Maybelline's Pink Petal and L’Oreal’s Colour Riche Volcanic tested higher.

What do you think? Are you afraid to wear lipstick now? Will you think twice before applying it?