Are natural colorants safe?

Here’s an interesting discussion that started in response to our post on Burts Bees Shimmer lipstick. Grape skin extract as a colorant In that post we mentioned that carmine, one of the colorants used in this product, comes from crushed insect bodies. Emma, one of our astute Facebook fans, commented that the product should not be considered vegetarian since it includes insect parts. Another reader, Katrina,  then recommended using grape skin extract as a colorant instead of carmine. We did a quick check on grape skin extract and saw that it is approved as a colorant for food and beverage so we assume it’s acceptable for use in cosmetics (although we’ve never seen it used in any beauty products as a colorant.) Lead in grapes? But here’s the interesting part: while checking the details in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) we discovered that grape skin extract (even when used in food!) is allowed to contain up to 10 ppm of lead and one part per million of arsenic. How, you might ask, can a natural material contain these deadly poisons? Because lead, arsenic, and other metals are present in the environment – even in the soil which grows grape.  And, as we discussed in our post on lead in lipstick, lead is only dangerous at higher levels. The point that we’re trying to make is that natural doesn’t automatically mean the product is free from all the “bad stuff.” Just like synthetic doesn’t necessarily mean an ingredie...
Source: thebeautybrains.com - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Questions Source Type: blogs