News
''Lipstick causes cancer''
Posted on March 09, 2006

Sophos technical support has received an increasing number of reports of the Lipstick chain letter from concerned computer users in the last few days. The emails claim that some brands of lipstick contain a dangerously high level of lead which can cause cancer.

The email appears to be one of the many hoax emails claiming that a variety of everyday products can cause cancer. We've had anti-perspirant, shampoo, washing up liquid and now lipstick.

This particular email says that a number of well known brands of lipstick contain lead. It claims that the longer your lipstick stays on, the more lead it contains. The email goes on to tell you how to test if the lipsticks you wear contain lead. It suggests that you put some lipstick on your hand scrape a gold ring across it and if the lipstick stripe turns black then it has lead in it. None of this is true.

The main ingredients in lipsticks are wax and oils. Then, of course, you need a dye to give the lipstick color. This is where the real, but minuscule risk of lead comes in. According to the FDA, some dyes used to make some cosmetics do contain trace amounts of lead. However, the manufacturing process in the United States and many other nations is stringently monitored and each batch is tested to make sure that any lead content is well below that considered dangerous to humans.

Will scratching a stripe of lipstick with a gold ring reveal lead? No. This claim appears to be drawn from an old alchemist's trick of testing the purity of gold by rubbing ore on a dark stone (often containing lead) and comparing the streak with another of known quality. However, the process does not work in reverse. Even if it did, there would not be a large enough concentration of lead in a strip of lipstick to produce a visible change.

Real, reliable detection of lead in a product requires rigorous scientific testing, and cannot be achieved "on the cheap" using normal household products.

"Chain letters like this are too easily forwarded to friends, family and colleagues without people using their common sense. Stories like this become urban legends, constantly being repeated without anyone bothering to check the facts," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Hoaxes and chain letters like this are not harmless - they waste time and bandwidth, and can be a genuine headache for support departments. Users need to be more skeptical, and ask themselves whether everything they are told by email can be believed."

Users should simply delete the email, and not forward it onto their friends and colleagues.

The email reads as follows:

Subject: Lipstick Alert!!!

If there is a female you care anything about, share this with her. I did!!!!! I am also sharing this with the males on my email list, because they need to tell the females THEY care about as well! Recently a brand called "Red Earth" decreased their prices from $67 to $9.90. It contained lead. Lead is a chemical which causes cancer. The Brands which contain lead are:

1. CHRISTIAN DIOR
2. LANCOME
3. CLINIQUE
4. Y.S.L
5. ESTEE LAUDER
6. SHISEIDO
7. RED EARTH (Lip Gloss)
8. CHANEL (Lip Conditioner)
9. MARKET AMERICA-MOTNES LIPSTICK.

The higher the lead content, the greater the chance of causing Cancer. After doing a test on lipsticks, it was found that the Y.S.L. lipstick contained the most amount of lead. Watch out for those lipsticks which are supposed to stay longer. If your lipstick stays longer, it is because of the higher content of lead. Here is the test you can do yourself:

1. Put some lipstick on your hand.
2. Use a Gold ring to scratch on the lipstick.
3. If the lipstick colour changes to black then you know the lipstick contains lead.

Please send this information to all your girlfriends, wives and female family members. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center Dioxin Carcinogens causes cancer, especially breast cancer.
SOURCE: Sophos; BreakTheChain.org