Health Hotline Magazine | February 2022

What's in your bathroom cabinet? It may be much more than you bargained for! Consider these stats from data compiled by the Environmental Working Group (EWG)—women use an average of 12 personal care products daily, exposing them to 168 di erent chemicals! Men, using an average of six products, encounter approximately 85 chemicals in their hygiene routine. i The problem is that the FDA doesn't require these chemicals to be tested for safety before they go to market. The Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act hasn't been updated since it was created in 1938, and it's been left up to the industry to verify the safety of the ingredients they put in cosmetics over the last 80 years. Unfortunately, this continues to mean that those possible carcinogens, neurotoxins, hormone disruptors, and chemicals that impact fertility are included in products from deodorant to shampoo. Take a look at some of the ingredients found in everyday hygiene essentials that you’ ll never find in Natural Grocers’ ® “bathroom cabinet.” INGREDIENTS WE DON'T CARRY

Carcinogenic hydrocarbons shouldn’t be in your moisturizing routine! Winter weather leaves skin thirsty for moisture, but make sure you’re not quenching the thirst with these byproducts of the petroleum industry—mineral oil and petrolatum. Here’s the scoop—when these substances aren’t refined correctly, they may be contaminated with polycyclic aromatic carbons (PAHs), a toxic set of chemicals that include possible carcinogens. The European Union restricts petrolatum in cosmetics, requiring a full refining history and proof that it isn’t made from carcinogenic substances. v Unfortunately, the U.S. has no such restrictions or disclosure requirements. Considering the petroleum industry's negative environmental impact and the fact that these ingredients also interfere with our body’s natural hydrating mechanisms— at Natural Grocers, we choose cleaner, safer ways to moisturize.

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