Skin deep/do you know what you put on your skin?

[VeloVT]

Both cosmetics and "dietary supplements" are regulated differently than drugs by the FDA. While FDA requires fairly rigorous pre-market testing for drugs (though maybe not rigorous enough, given some of the recent problems with Vioxx, etc), the FDA has no authority to regulate supplements and cosmetics pre-market unless they make medical claims. They can only pull things off the shelf if they make unproven medical claims, are contaminated/don't follow labeling requirements, or are connected to a large incidence of adverse events (like ephedra was) and therefore can be construed to present a public health risk. Unfortunately this can't be proven until these events are reported in sufficient number to the FDA...

This is a huge loophole that Congress needs to fix in my opinion.

However, I also think we need to take "science" we find on the internet with a grain of salt. I am not a scientist, and some of these claims are pretty extreme, and I can't really evaluate them. History has certainly shown that we sometimes approve dangerous chemicals for public consumption, but there are lots of quacks out there I can't evaluate too...

[Jolt]

However, I also think we need to take "science" we find on the internet with a grain of salt. I am not a scientist, and some of these claims are pretty extreme, and I can't really evaluate them. History has certainly shown that we sometimes approve dangerous chemicals for public consumption, but there are lots of quacks out there I can't evaluate too...

Definitely! There's a lot of good info out there but a lot of garbage too. That said, I've come to the conclusion that as far as all these chemicals go, it's probably a good idea to go by the precautionary principle (i. e. if you're not sure whether they're safe stay away from them where possible). A lot of the stuff (cosmetics etc.) is really rather unnecessary anyway.

[OakLeaf]

However, I also think we need to take "science" we find on the internet with a grain of salt.

That's true in general, but EWG is a very reputable organization, and they give abbreviated citations for all their summaries.