| eeling that modern life is making us sick is now so | | | | come into contact with nitrosating agents. Nitrosating |
| accepted that to express the sentiment is | | | | agents, are of course, highly carcinogenic, and DEA |
| cliché. | | | | MEA and TEA have all been proven to increase |
| Indeed, it is arguable that anxieties about the dangers | | | | instances of liver and kidney cancer. |
| of our synthetic lifestyle have become so accepted | | | | Whilst the use of this terrible trio of nasty chemicals is |
| that they are now as comforting as any other | | | | now restricted, there are other common ingredients |
| recurring symbol within the cultural landscape. | | | | that have been proven to bring bad tidings to the body, |
| Thanks to Hollywood movies and Coupland novels, | | | | and the only reason that they continue to be used is |
| news coverage of the risks of DDT and crop | | | | because they are cheap, thereby allowing the |
| spraying, genetic modification and scares over tainted | | | | companies to spend their money on what is important |
| meat, we now understand that many of the chemicals | | | | in today’s market – branding. |
| that have been enlisted by strangers in lab coats to | | | | When we purchase an SLS infused shampoo for |
| help make our lives easier may have vile side-effects. | | | | example, we are increasing our risk of cancer in order |
| But yet, when an ingredient found in all of our | | | | that the corporation making that product can maximise |
| shampoos and bubble baths gets proven to cause | | | | their profit margin, and pay some advertising company |
| cancers in mammals manufacturers are, normally, not | | | | to come up with a green-washed branding message |
| impeached to remove it. | | | | to disguise the product’s industrial rather than |
| Why? Well, firstly, this information is normally hidden in | | | | homely reality. |
| relatively esoteric journals – the newspapers | | | | SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulphate) is used to decrease car |
| and TV stations are bored of reporting that ingredient | | | | engines, among other things. It can be found in just |
| x or y has been proven to cause skin irritations, or | | | | about every product that foams or bubbles and, as a |
| headaches or dizziness or narcosis or damage to the | | | | nitrosating agent, is carcinogenic. It is not natural, it is |
| liver and kidneys – and with our media reliant on | | | | manmade and its presence in any product that is |
| advertising revenue the decision to not run stories | | | | branded to look natural or ‘gentle’ should |
| exposing products full of poisons is a purely economic | | | | be considered to undermine that message. |
| one. | | | | Of course, one hundred years people were not |
| Occasionally the known health risks of an ingredient | | | | exposed to these risks, but neither were they able to |
| outweigh the corporations ugly scramble for profits, | | | | benefit from the wide range of cosmetics and skin |
| and they get regulated or banned altogether. In Europe | | | | care products that we can today. However, an |
| diethanolamine (DEA), monoethanolamine (MEA) and | | | | increasing number of companies are now focusing on |
| triethanolamine (TEA) have all been restricted because | | | | using their knowledge to produce all natural skincare |
| they have been proven to cause bad allergic reactions | | | | products that avoid containing chemicals like MEA and |
| in the eyes, skin and hair. In addition they are known to | | | | DEA and the other thousands like them. |
| cause amines to react and form nitrosamines if they | | | | |