regulation of cosmetics [not]....

This is a link to today's jezebel.com which talks about how the cosmetics industry gets away with putting bad stuff into cosmetics because the regulations are 70 years old...this includes formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.

To try to improve things, Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Tammy Baldwin, (D-WI) have introduced a Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011.

Unfortunately the bill won't cover chemicals like parabens because they're not considered damaging, and the industry won't even admit that they're able to be absorbed through the skin.

Here are some sites to read about parabens:
http://www.gonando.com/parabens.html

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/health/science/toxics/chemicals-in-your-cosmetics---parabens/ 

http://www.alive.com/6951a17a2.php?subject_bread_cramb=59

http://www.maxgreenalchemy.com/images/ParabenReportDarbre.pdf

deodorants, antiperspirants, parabens and breast cancer

deodorants, antiperspirants, parabens and breast cancer

Here's a very interesting read about the link between sales figures for deodorants and breast cancer....in particular, cancer in the UOQ [upper outer quadrant] of the breast.

In a nutshell, parabens mimic oestrogen in the body, so when they're absorbed into the breast, the tumors that are sensitive to oestrogen levels will thrive.