Monday, October 17, 2011

I don't use Baby Oil.....So why should I care about mineral oil??

So many of us don't realize that what we are using on the outside of our bodies are directly related to our health on the inside. While the FDA does not do much to regulate our health and beauty care, the general public trusts that they have our backs. It is scary to think that  98% of products available contain some sort of harmful ingredients. It is shocking really that in the US there are only a handful of ingredients that have been banned from use in our personal care products, however,  the World Health Organization, has banned at least a couple thousand. 

One such ingredient is mineral oil. First lets get this straight, there is not one trace mineral  in "Mineral Oil". It derives its name from being a by-product from the petroleum industry. It is actually produced as a byproduct of the distillation of gasoline from crude oil. Mineral Oil is what is left over and since there is so much of it, manufacturers can buy it for very inexpensive thereby making it a cheap filler. Ironically, it costs more money to dispose of it. Mineral Oil is also commonly known as liquid paraffin, white oil and liquid petroleum. Mineral Oil is found in a wide variety of health and beauty products but the most commonly recognized are Baby Oil, Vaseline (Petroleum Jelly) and Bag Balm (Petroleum Jelly). Mineral Oil is found in most lotions, creams, liquid soaps, lipstick, lip gloss, chap stick, shampoo, and conditioners, to name a few.  Mineral Oil is also used for a variety of mechanical and industrial uses such as lubricants for machinery, the fluid used in hydraulic machines and heat transfer oil found in space heaters. It is also used by fire breathers.

So what makes mineral oil so harmful? The  skins' main purpose is to serve as one big filter for your body and when products containing mineral oil is applied, it sits on top of the skin's surface and does not absorb into the skin and clogs the pores. This then slows the skin's purging process....it basically prohibits the skins ability to rid itself of the toxins from inside the body through the pores and is then unable to effectively take in oxygen. The structure of Mineral Oil is so large that your pores do not readily absorb it. Even if your product had other therapeutic properties, such as essential oils, vitamins, or other plant based oils, you are not too likely to get those benefits since the Mineral oil acts as a plastic wrap on your skin, other "good" attributes won't absorb either. Mineral Oil has also been linked to a variety forms of cancer, a neurotoxin and the second biggest contributor to the aging of skin, with the sun being the first. Mineral Oil also acts as a magnet so free radicals in the air, dirt and other toxins are also sitting on top of your skin.It has also been proven to exasperate skin conditions like Exzema, Rosacea and sensitive skin.

In my research for this article, I ran across several  bloggers that feel that Mineral Oil is just fine to use. In fact they deem it to be safe just because the FDA has said so. Further, they think that just because it has been refined several times that it is safe to use. I have to wonder what would drive anyone to willingly use the byproduct of gasoline on their baby after a bath or in sunscreen before a day at the beach? I for one would much rather use a plant based product.

I will refer to the precautionary principle and maybe you should ask yourself this, if Mineral Oil were so safe to use, how come there are over 90 different code names for it.....to fool the consumer by any chance?

For more information on mineral oil....see the below links.

Message me if you would like info on products I recommend.

Just a few of the names for mineral oil
Petrolatum
Paraffin
Clearteck
Drakeol
Hevyteck
Filtrawhite
Frigol
Kremol
Kaydol
Albline
Nujol
Paroleine
Saxol
Adepsine
Glymol
Lignite
Carnea 21
Ervol
Gloria
Hydrocarbon oil
Adepsine oil
Albolene
Cable Oil
Baby Oil
Peneteck
Primol
Triona B
Blandlube
Crystosol
Molol
Protopet
Bayol F
Crystol 325
Fonoline
Bayol 55
Kondremul
Neo-cultol
Parol
PenrecoPerfecta
Petrogalar
Primol 355
Primol D
Tech Pet F
Drakeol
Lignite Oil
Paraffin
Mineral Seal Oil
White Oil



http://home.caregroup.org/clinical/altmed/interactions/Drugs/Mineral_Oil.htm
http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/pdf/SCN-Kimalaya.pdf
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/dangers-of-mineral-oil.html

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