The Kiss of Death! Lead Lipstick can cause ADHD in children!

If you’re like me you love your lipstick!

Listening to the car radio one evening, I tuned into a program about the association between lead and memory loss.

The one thing I clearly remember from that talk is that most lipsticks still contain lead!

I knew that lead was one of the causes of ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Two of my children have ADHD. The thought that through my kisses, I could have unknowingly caused ADHD in my children made me feel sick!

As soon as I got home, I grabbed a new package of lipstick and began reading the ingredients. It did not mention any lead, but I was still not convinced the cosmetics company was listing lead in a consumer-friendly way.

I dug a little deeper and found that it was even worse than I thought. Cosmetic companies who had high levels of lead in their products were not listing lead in the ingredients at all!

The Link between ADHD and lead

A study published in Dec 2015 by Psychological science explains the exciting findings of researchers from the Oregon Health and Science University at the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.

They found that exposure to minuscule amounts of Lead can now be directly linked to ADHD or Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

In a study of approximately 400 children, they found that those who had a specific gene mutation of the HFE gene were more hyperactive.

It’s possible that the gene protects against damage due to lead exposure, and when it mutates, that protection is lost.

‘’We examined the association between ADHD symptoms in children and blood lead level as moderated by variants in the hemochromatosis (HFE) gene.’’ quote from Psychological Science

Lead is a neurotoxin that can cause seizures, coma, or even death if you are exposed to it at high levels.

Although lipstick is probably not going to cause death on its own. Lead exposure from several different sources can quickly add up to a dangerous dose.

Even lower lead levels compromise the health of pregnant mothers and young children.

There have been documented cases of small children becoming critically ill after swallowing a toy containing lead, and children’s growing bodies absorb more lead than adults.

The children’s lead levels in the study were probably due to exposure to very low lead levels over a longer period.

Lower levels of lead exposure can cause problems such as ADHD or other learning impairments.

‘’One of the myths about ADHD is that this is just a genetic condition,’’ Nigg explained. ‘’While we know genes play a role, we’re proving that environmental pollutants are part of the story.’’

Hidden sources of lead

Even though most western countries have tried to reduce lead in the environment as well as in products, we can still be unknowingly exposed to lead.

If you live in an old house built before 1978 in the USA or before 1929 in Sweden, you may want to check if you have lead paint inside or outside the home.

Peeling paint chips can contaminate the soil around your house. If you live on an old working farm, there could be the remains of spilled gasoline containing lead in the soil.

Drinking water pumped through lead-lined pipes can be another source of lead poisoning. If you live in an older property, you may want to have it tested for lead.

When buying toys or jewelry for your kids, stick to well-known brands. Extremely cheap toys and jewelry at low-budget stores have a high chance of containing lead.

In other words, you get what you pay for.

Mothers should be careful when buying cosmetics. If you’re kissing your children and rubbing your cheek against theirs and your lipstick or powders contain lead, BEWARE!

That may be enough to cause heightened ADHD symptoms in your child if your child has the gene mutation that causes the protective gene against lead to stop protecting.

Lead in small amounts over time can lead to memory loss in older adults as well as problems of attention and hyperactivity in children.

Do yourself a favor and make sure you’re not poisoning your family with your favorite shade of lipstick!

Kids who had the combinations of lead exposure (in tiny amounts), the mutated gene, and ADHD were seen to have more extreme ADHD symptoms.

‘’These kids are more hyperactive and more impulsive,’’ Nigg explained ‘’They’d be more likely to fidget in their seats or blurt something out in class and more likely to seem immature in their self control.’’

Just because you have the gene, it doesn’t mean that you will automatically have ADHD. Just like with all genetics, there are many factors involved.

Niggs advises parents of ADHD children to get their lead levels checked.

‘’The longer-term hope is that we will be able to prevent ADHD,’’ Nigg said. ‘’This is a piece of that picture.

Finding a safe Lipstick

Make sure you know what’s in your lipstick!

I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that the lipsticks I usually use are not on the FDA’s list of lipsticks with the highest lead levels, but I need to do some more research on my lipsticks from Wet and Wild and Yves Rocher.

They can contain traces of lead even if they are not high on the list and even if I can not find the mention of lead anywhere on the packaging!

It’s insane that lipstick manufacturers of both high-end and cheap lipsticks can get away with Lead and heavy metals in their products, and they are not required to put it on the labels!

‘’Lead is not the only concern in Lipsticks.
A study by University of California researchers found nine toxic heavy metals, including chromium, cadmium, aluminum, manganese, and lead in testing of 24 lip glosses and eight lipsticks.’’
quote from Safe cosmetics.org in their article called campaign for safe cosmetics.

Lipstick manufacturers claim that there are not enough heavy metals in their products to harm anyone. Thus they refuse to make a better, safer product.

The more research we do on lead, the clearer it becomes that even traces of lead exposure over a long period can be harmful.

DO NOT let your child play with lipstick and DO NOT give your child any lip gloss or chapstick that is not made of all natural ingredients from a reputable company.

I let my children use Lip Balm from Deep Well Botanicals and Young Living. These are both American-based companies.

In Sweden, we use Försvarets Hudsalva, which my husband has been known to fry food in when he runs out of oil on camping trips.

We also make our own lip balm by heating coconut oil and beeswax. Approximately ¾ coconut oil and ¼ beeswax. You can add some essential oils if you like. We put this in small glass containers.

Try taking a break from lipstick until you can make sure you’re not poisoning yourself and others. The FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administrations) found lead in all samples of lipstick they tested.

‘’…levels ranging from 0.09 to 3.06 ppm’’ Quote from SafeCosmetics.org about the lead amounts in lipstick from their article called campaign for safe cosmetics.

The FDA found that lipsticks from Procter & Gamble, L’Oreal, and Revlon had the highest concentration of lead. These manufacturers make common brands such as Cover Girl, Body Shop, and Maybelline.

‘’The FDA’s 2012 test found less than one part per million of lead in Wet n’ Wild, Bobbi Brown, and Shiseido brand lipsticks.’’ Writes Mother Jones Magazine. https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/05/study-lead-metals-lipstick-top-20/

This was the smallest amount of lead found in the sampling.

Madesafe.org has a list of safe cosmetics. It shocked me to find that there was not a single lipstick on the safe list!!! They have many other safe cleaning products and foundations/eye makeup that they recommend.

Cosmetics

The Environmental Working Group has lists of safe products as well. They have rated many lipsticks and lip products. I recommend that you look on their sight to pick your next lead-free lipstick! I hope they have a shade that suits you.

Click the link below to read about how the EWG rates the products.

https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/understanding_skin_deep_ratings/

Use the link below to check out what lipsticks they have rated. Click on a lipstick to see exactly what The Environmental Working Group thought of it.

Each lipstick has easy-to-understand charts and fun graphs that tell you what you need to know at a glance.

https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/browse/category/Lipstick/

The link below will take you to The Environmental Working Group’s ratings for Lip Balm

https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/browse/category/Lip_balm/

https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/browse/category/Lip_balm_with_SPF/

And last but not least, the link below will link you to The Environmental Working Group’s ratings for lip gloss

https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/browse/category/Lip_gloss/

Niggs is the author of the book Getting Ahead of ADHD and What Science tells us about the Autism Spectrum disorder.

I have personally read the book Getting Ahead of ADHD. The book is full of helpful advice about what may or may not help your child.

He advises parents not to spend their money on some of the newer ‘Products’ to help kids increase attention spans, and he helps parents get a handle on what products are out there and what they can actually do for children.

If you’re interested in reading about Lead and how it affects your child, please read my blog posts about Lead in Paint and ensure that you don’t have lead in your home.

My posts about lead paint in homes are also about making your own paint. If you are not interested in making paint, that’s ok. Just read the first half.