Forest Secrets Skin News

Petition for animal testing ban starting soon!

Who wants rabbits, guiney pigs, monkeys killed for safety testing of cosmetic ingredients? Yet we are in 2011 and the industry is still trying to postpone the proposed March 2013 ban date. The aim of this date was to give time to to industry to develop alternatives to safety evaluation tests based on animals. Scientifically I am aware it is a big challenge, however they had several years to work on this and BUAV thinks that it takes far too long to approve new methods. There are new methods available, but it takes 2-3 years to approve them, why? the organization responsible for this, ECVAM, does not have enough resources to deal with the bureaucratic burden of it all!

What to do? Sign the BUAV petition (coming out in 2 weeks) where they ask to stick to the original ban date of March 2013, to save animals lives and to get governments to invest much more in the approval process.

Forest Secrets Skincare is cruelty free and approved by the BUAV

Let's be united and act: time to sign for our right to natural Health

My dear freind Meher has just sent me a petition to sign to stop a new European Directive that would compromise our right ot use herbal remedies and alternative remedies to take care of our health. I have just signed and I invite you strongly to do the same, let's be united on this because together we can make a difference.

See the details of the Joining hands in Health campaign and sign

"Did you know...  new EU Laws secretly approved behind closed doors, threatens to destroy your health, rights & freedom of choice?  Therefore, you will no longer have access to thousands of  'safe' natural products & foods used successfully for centuries to heal illnesses such as Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Disease or to  maintain overall health."

and please spread the word, as the more the better, the more out there the louder and stronger the message.

Synthetic Hidden ingredients you need to know about

Propylene Glycol (PG) is a very common cosmetic known to be prone to give skin sensitization (it has been found to cause skin sensitization and irritation at concentration as low as 2%). It is loved by the industry because it is cheap, effective at keeping bacteria at bay and gives nice skin feel. All natural companies claim to be propylene glycol free. So far so good, you read the ingredients list and you decide if you want it on your skin or not. Now that choice is undermined by the introduction of its twin, ie 1,3 PROPANEDIOL, simply called propanediol on the cosmetic ingredients list. Why are they twins? The PG chemical name is 1,2 propanediol, but its name on the cosmetic ingredients list is Propylene Glycol. Chemically speaking, 1,2 propanediol and 1,3 propanediol are both propylene glycols, like 2 lego constructions with exactly the same components where one of them is in a slightly different spot. Do you see how by giving it a completely different name you loose the connection between the 2? What is the problem? Well this propanediol is claimed to be natural as it is produced from corn via fermentation. Natural Propylene Glycol? How can it be? Well I tell you in my opinion this propanediol is not natural, it is like PVC window frames made to look like wood. They simply managed to make a synthetic molecule with a synthetic structure from corn, calling it natural....

How did this come about? A big chemical company thought there was a need for the cosmetic formulators to use an ingredient that retained the properties of PG but from natural sources and here we go "propanediol" was born! They took GMO corn and developed microorganisms that can transform the corn molecules into PG...

If you do not know what propanediol is, you loose your freedom of choice and the freedom of deciding what is best for you.

I will give you an example of how much contradictive and misleading this is:

Nude Skincare,a premium brand promoting itself as natural , has just launched their Advanced Cellular Renewal Serum and guess what is in it:

water (aqua), bifida ferment lysate (milk), glycerine (plant sources), propanediol (corn sugar), simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil, oryza sativa (rice) hull powder, xanthan gum (fermented sugar), sodium hyaluronate (lactic acid and wheat), chondrus crispus (Irish moss), undaria pinnatifida extract (Japanese sea kelp), lactose (milk), alpha-glucan oligosaccharide (corn and beet), whey protein (lactis proteinum), arginine (plant sources), galactaric acid (apple pectin), tocopherol (vitamin E), lactic acid (sugar and beet), helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, natural fragrance (parfum), phenoxyethanol, potassium sorbate, sodium dehydroacetate, sodium benzoate, linalool (essential oil), limonene (essential oil).

Would you ever thought that a natural brand could contain Propylene Glycol?

And organic certified products? Ecocert has approved this ingredient in their beauty standard, therefore also organic beauty products certified with Ecocert are not immune to Propylene Glycol! ICEA and Soil Association have not approved it because it is GMO.

To recover you freedom of choice you just need to read the ingredients list before you buy, keeping in mind Forest Secrets is a truly natural and reliable choice for you.

 

 

The Gin Lady shares her views on parabens

The Gin Lady is a green, independent and natural place to gather information, products reviews and to buy ethical products. We would like to share with you her latest article on the most controversial topic at the moment: parabens. The article is worth reading as it gives the views of the pro and against parabens parties..

Fancy revealing your beauty secrets?

We are looking for a brave lady between 40 and 55 years of age to supply her photo with glowing skin and age who is happy to be interviewed by a leading health title. We know that our products give dramatic results so we thought this would be a fantastic opportunity for us and the beautiful lady to be featured on a magazine sharing the secret behind Forest Secrets. We would be very happy to supply a full size set as a thank you. If you are interested please get in touch with Barbara (barbara at organatural.co.uk)

Non irritating iRejuvenate

Glad to announce that iRejuvenate was dermatologically tested in Italy and on every person it scored as non irritating!

Forest Secrets to be auctioned for Hope Rescue

Some time ago I received an email from Andrea, with the photo of a very cute dog

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Andrea was looking for goods to go on the auction for a dogs charity called Hope Rescue. When I saw the photo I could not resist the idea of helping this organization so I ended up donating a few Forest Secrets products. If you would like to help Hope Rescue to help these cute dogs in desperate situations you can take part to the auction (please visit their website here.) Starting on Saturday the 17th of April at 9 am and ending on Sunday the 25th of April at 9PM.

Happy doubting Thomas

For all the doubting Thomases that were wondering if the Japanese honeysuckle contains parabens, they can be reassured, no traces at all. Just had the lab results and it is totally free of all parabens (methyl, butyl, propyl, butyl, benzyl). Plus of course the parahydroxy benzoic acid (see my previous post). We are very lucky to have the level of technology that allows us to see and measure these chemical compounds and to clear misbeliefs and false bad reputations with no shadow of a doubt..

Exclusive interview with Green My Style

If you like to know more about how the Forest Secret brand was born and what I do read my interview on

 

Parabens: new evidence you can see

I would like to share with you the results of an in vitro test performed recently by Dr Philippa Darbre at Reading University. The test is very simple: breast cancer cells incubated for 4 days with and without 0.00019% isobutylparaben. See below the breast cancer cells before the incubation (1) and after the incubation without (2) and with isobutylparaben (3)

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

I am aware that this is an vitro test, so all the complexity of the human body is taken out of the equation, however I believe they are still valid in showing there is reason to be concerned about this compound. You can clearly see that after 4 days the breast cancer cells do grow more than the ones without. I believe that the major cancer trigger is emotional stress, however environmental factors like this can promote the cancer cells growth making it bigger.

If you add the fact that parabens do get absorbed through the skin and that they are found in urine, we need to think about their journey through the body as well as their interaction on their journey with other parts of the body. Once they are in the blood stream they are in...

Parabens are not only used in cosmetics but also in many drugs such as cough mixtures (usually they are not declared on the label), however when they get ingested they get exposed to the stomach juices and get transformed into something considered to be safe. This indicates that the parabens found in urine do come form the skin absorption rather than ingestion.

What to do as a consumer? Well my suggestion is to read the ingredients list before you buy your cosmetics in order to avoid them.

At a regulatory level isopropylparaben and butylparaben are under review and the European scientific committee has asked for more data to fill the data gaps. The industry might reply that there is no money to invest in the new research, so what might happen is the ban of these substances based on the lack of the evidence requested.

I shall keep you posted..

References:

"In vitro skin permeation and retention of parabens in cosmetic skin formulations", Pedersen, Marra, Nicoli and Santi, International Journal of Cosmetic Science 2007, 29, 361-367; "Assessment of principal parabens used in cosmetics after their passage through human epidermis-dermis layers (ex-vivo study", El Hussein S, Muret P, Berard M, Makki S, Humbert P, Exp Dermatol. 2007 Oct;16(10):830-6;
“Parabens as urinary biomarkers of exposure in humans”, Xiaoyun Ye, Amber Bishop..., Environ. Health Perspect, 114, 1843-1846