Is It True That Lipstick Can Cause Cancer?

The notion that lipstick can cause cancer has arisen recently because of an e-mail hoax that has been perpetrated since May 2003. The e-mail, when it first surfaced, caused a lot of concern among women. However, since then, there has been no reliable data to support this claim. There is no mention of any such thing even in the website of the US government's regulatory agency - the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration Agency. Their database too has no information on this claim.

The message, which claims that high levels of lead in lipstick is the cause of cancer among users of lipstick is an inaccurate claim, because while lead is suspected to be a cancer causing substance, the amount present, if at all, in lipstick is too minute to actually cause any damage.

There is, however, one article on the Internet that talks of the presence of a cancer causing dye called Sudan in lipstick being sold in Guangzhou, China. Other than this article, there is nothing on any of the official and reliable sources on the Internet to suggest that the claim of lipstick causing cancer is true.

Add Comment

Report