Anyone who’s ever googled “Food Babe Airplane” knows the snowball effect that can happen when a blogger puts information out there without checking the facts. Though Vani Hari, the woman behind the Food Babe movement, has long since removed her infamous post about airplane pressure shrinking your organs, it lives on through the internet as many blogs and even scientific sites have reposted it in an effort to discredit her entirely. Unfortunately, when misinformation is posted, it not only discredits the blogger, but it hurts the whole movement and community behind them. I’m not hating on Vani- One has to applaud the strides she’s made in bringing awareness to both consumers and those marketing unhealthy foods, alike. But sensationalism aside (which is her tactic), bloggers have a duty to do as much research as possible. Not only to ensure they’re spreading truth, but also because when they don’t, it can cause other people to get hurt as collateral damage. Which is why I always try to have my little duckies in row and research the hell out of something before I post about it. But I’m only human. I make mistakes, we all do.

Which brings us to nail polish. This week it was brought up that some of the nontoxic polish brands I use and love contain Benzophenone-1 and a popular blogger alleged that these brands were knowingly marketing a toxic product as nontoxic and that Bensophenone-1 has links to cancer, endocrine disruption, developmental and reproductive toxicity, organ system toxicity, irritation, ecotoxicity and more. Then I got a ton of messages from people about it, since I’ve talked about two of these polishes often. I have no problem in calling out brands who are greenwashing and we absolutely need to be holding these companies accountable, but we all need to be sure our information is accurate first. I’m not here to take sides on what was said this week (it got a little heated). I’m on the side of truth for my readers. And as a nail polish addict, with a rather large collection of “nontoxic” nail polishes and as someone who’s recommended some of these polishes to my readers, I really needed to get to the bottom of this and see if these brands were knowingly misleading us and just how toxic Benzophenone-1 really is. SO into the rabbit hole I fell.

label

You guys know I’m pretty strict about researching product ingredients before I ever use them. The two polishes I use and have recommended are Aila and Treat. Both brands clearly state Benzophenone-1 on their labels and websites and when I was initially researching their ingredients, I looked at Skin Deep which rates Benzophenone-1 as a 4 (I usually stick to products that rate no higher than a 2 or 3, but a product containing one ingredient rated as a 4, that is far down in it’s ingredient list is not a major red flag for me). The rating was based on mild to moderate health concerns of possible skin irritation or allergic reaction (immunotoxicity). Not exactly toxic. So do these brands know something I don’t? Did they willingly pull the wool over my eyes and try to deceive me?

If you give a blogger some nail polish, she’ll probably want some facts to go along with it..

The initial blogger who called them out used this site as their sole reference. This is a site I know and trust, however you can’t take one site at face value. Typically, I like to see results from at least 2 or 3 different sites and I actually read the studies cited. So I’ve spent the last few days reading one mind-numbing study after another listed on the website and searching for (and struggling to find) other websites to support the information provided. Where to start? So some of the studies cited weren’t even studies. They were anything from blank search pages on european sites, such as this one or just general information saying: “This is an ingredient used in cosmetics” without offering much safety data like this one. Ok, get ready to geek out here… Pretty much all of the studies talked about different derivatives of Benzophenone (as in Benzophenone-8, oxybenzone, etc), but not Benzophenone-1 specifically, and yes there is a difference. Gonna be honest, I had to call in help to decode the studies on the Benzophenone derivatives. Luckily, my brother is a nuclear physicist (or commonly referred to as a rocket scientist.. I know, such a smarty pants. What happened to me?) and happens to have extensive knowledge of chemistry as well. As he explained, ‘Each derivative could possess similar properties and many times do, but they could also react completely differently, as it is it’s own molecular chain with a distinct electric field. So, it’s inaccurate to cite a study about another derivative and make a blanket statement that all the other derivatives follow suit. How they react depends a lot on the manipulations made to them.‘ So to be clear, none of the studies cited by this site actually show that Benzophenone-1 specifically causes any harm, however, a reader did find one study that linked it to ovarian cancer in mice models.

What are the facts?

According to the data provided by Campaign For Safe Cosmetics and from other studies I could find, I’ve found absolutely nothing that shows that Benzophenone-1 is an endocrine disruptor, has organic toxicity, etc. There is one study I’ve found linking it to ovarian cancer in mice models, without giving information how much would be needed to cause this. So can we allege a company using this ingredient is knowingly marketing toxic products as nontoxic? Semantics, semantics.. Look, truly anything can be toxic in the right amount, even Kale. And in all likelihood, benzophenone-1 may carry some risk, but due to the fact that apparently little to no studies have been done on it’s use in cosmetics, it’s hard to say what the risk may be and in what amount would you have to use it to experience the effects. And that’s a problem. A problem we need to take up with congress, the FDA, the EPA, anyone else who would have the power to test this and require safety testing be done across the board on ingredients being used by cosmetics companies. This is not something that we need to beat up small companies who are already trying to make safer products over. Let’s keep some perspective. Am I going to keep on using my nail polishes? Yup, although I may use them a little less. I’ve found the cleanest versions I can that actually work. Will I use them on my daughter? No. I have painted her nails with real nail polish exactly 2 times her whole life (once with Aila and once with Treat). Ironically, both times I put it on Instagram, so I misguided my followers and for that I’m sorry. I represented something that actually differed than my true beliefs, because long before this whole nail polish scandal ever happened this week, I’ve known that no polish can ever be 100% natural and I’ve always been cautious about using them on or around my children. But twice she caught me painting my nails and begged, so I gave in. I thought it looked cute, so I took pictures. And then put them on Instagram. 

Check yourself before you wreck yourself

One last thing to add to this totally long winded post. I am not an expert. I did call in an expert (my brother), but like most bloggers, I’m not a chemist or a formulator. I always want to encourage you to do your own research. And it REALLY bothers me to see people taking a blogger’s words as being an expert opinion, when in reality, they’re just a concerned consumer with a computer who may or may not have done a little more research than you. Please don’t take everything you read on the internet at face value, do your own research. And if you’re a blogger reading this, you have a responsibility to research and make sure you’re writing the truth. What are your thoughts? Any studies I missed or favorite polishes that don’t contain Benzophenone-1? Did you google “Food Babe Airplane” before even reading this? haha. xoxo

**Update: After some back and forth, the blogger previously referenced provided the following studies, which support the claim of it being a possible carcinogen and endocrine disruptor http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25849766http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25682003http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26773395, and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26440554. While these don’t cover all the claims, it’s a start. 

Also, Treat added the following to their website: http://www.treatcollection.com/blogs/look-deeper.