Environmental Working Group Skin Deep ® - How You Can Utilize This Tool and More

Winnipeg Environmental Medicine

While I was in school, we had environmental engineer and founder of Green at Home, Emma Rohmann lecture on ‘Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and Environmental Health.’

I was quite horrified when she informed us that in most provinces/states of North America, manufacturers do not have to demonstrate product or ingredient safety, before introducing it to the market. Health Canada technically has a ‘Hot List’ of ingredients that are known/suspected to be harmful, but this isn’t a regulatory-binding document for manufacturers.

As someone who wears makeup almost daily, this is incredibly concerning. Having dealt with acne since the dandy age of 15, I had consistently covered my skin with products that contain parabens, phthalates and other scary chemicals.

Enter the Environmental Working Group (EWG) Skin Deep ® Cosmetics Database. The EWG launched Skin Deep ® in 2004, creating a database of cosmetics and personal care products, along with their potential hazards and health concerns. The EWG assigns a score and lists health concerns of the ingredients, within listed products. The amount of detail is astonishing, but also terrifying.

As of a few years ago, I finally made the switch to EWG Verified products. These products have met the strict standards of the EWG, and I can rest easy when recommending products from this list.

Go check out the EWG Skin Deep ® Cosmetics Database and figure out how your products score. If you need to swap anything out, check out the EWG Verified section of their website.

While you’re at it, go subscribe to Green at Home to get more helpful insight on environmental health!

Note: since posting this blog to my Instagram, I’ve had a number of following suggestions:

  • Portia Ella - for makeup and personal health products.

  • Sweet Spirit Apothecary - for makeup and personal health products.

  • Pure Anada - for makeup and personal health products.

  • Emma Rohmann has also recommended using the ThinkDirty (Canadian) app, which has more Canadian products listed. She recommends using ThinkDirty hand-in-hand with the EWG Skin Deep ® Cosmetics Database.

 

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