Are you worried?

Well nellie moser and pollyperkins i would think that anything which comes from nature will, through millions of years evolution, be processed by nature to biodegrade appropriately. An apricot stone is an apricot stone not a man made chemical product and regardless of its effect on humans. We have the capacity to make informed choices on the products we use and simply stop using them unlike the species who are not so intellectually evolved and have no choice. I'm not 'afraid' of chemicals it's not chemicals but the way we cavalier humans use them on stupid unecessary products

Many nasty "chemicals" are extracted from plants, cyanide from stone fruits, curare, opiates etc etc. Many other exist naturally, mercury, arsenic etc.

It's how we use or misuse theses substances that matters, not their existence.

Thanks, Elegran. I'll carry on not putting UNnecessary chemicals in or on my body.

As we all will, GJ

Misuse of chemicals, overuse of chemicals and unnecessary use of chemicals (e.g.beauty/anti-ageing products) and some chemicals in particular are causing problems all over the place but in the campaign to reduce this damaging use let's remember all the benefits too!
It is easy enough to find soothing balms/ cosmetics that are 'natural' and do not contain micro bead etc.

Micro beads are a good example of stuff we could manage without -- unless someone knows different. Not sure what their function is.

I presume you meant DJ, Elegran.

If everybody stopped putting unnecessary chemicals on or in themselves, there would have been no need for this thread.

Wobbly, the function of microbeads is to make profit for their manufacturers.

The trouble is durhamjen, a lot of the time we don't know because the labelling is not clear and price is no indication either.

So - do any of the labels say in the list of ingredients:
The microbeads used in this product are mainly made of polyethylene (PE), but can be also be made of polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and nylon.

No idea. None of the stuff I buy has microbeads in it.
I only buy vegan for toiletries, and household cleaning stuff and no vegan product would have microbeads in it, as they would know they are dangerous to the environment.
Buy vegan, then you'll know.

DJ, microbeads must fulfil some purpose (not necessarily useful or essential), otherwise it would be cheaper to leave them out.

They are meant to be skin scrubbers, like a good old-fashioned rough flannel. Or a pumice stone. Can't say I've ever felt the need to scrub (exfoliate) that much. Exfoliation (dead skin falling off) happens naturally anyway and a good rough towel will help it on its way.

I don't think cost puts people off. People are taken in by promises of improved "beauty".

If you feel the need to hasten the removal of dead skin a bit of salt will do the trick!

As I grow older I am finding that I have bad reactions to more and more "man made" ingredients. You need a degree in Chemistry and made up names when reading the packets and bottles, assuming that you have remembered your glasses for the small print.
Why can't manufacturers make it easier for us to make an informed choice?

We used to have bars of green soap at work that were filled with sand to get grease off, that really would exfoliate.

pitt, I've found that avoiding anything that has perfume in it has reduced my rashy skin reactions and itchiness to zero.

Don't like to add to your worries but this is what you get in a glass of tap water

www.nwl.co.uk/_assets/documents/3124_Web_PDF_-_Whats_in_your_tap_water.pdf

Plus it will have been peed by many others prior to that -- luvly.

We'd all be coming down with water borne diseases if it mattered, wobbly. So long as the harmful stuff is filtered out (which it is unless something goes wrong), we're fine. No worries.

Clean drinking water is one of the wonders of the world and needs to be made available to everybody, along with proper santitation.

TB, I wasn't suggesting it worried me, quite happy with the delicate flavour of chlorine, much better than the alternative. The water in my garden well does not look palatable.

wb,

I think where one lives can make a big difference to the taste of tap water. We used a filter jug in Oxfordshire because the water was so 'metallic'. Here in Scotland it's lovely straight out of the tap.

Makes me wonder how our children ever survived all the additives (plus worms, bugs, lead toys, asbestos etc) they ate because we were not told what was in our food in the 70's.

You want to go back to lead toys, along with the arsenic and cadmium that was found in them?
Personally I think that's one of the good things the EU has done, along with other regulations that are enforced by trading standards.
You can always buy Chinese ones off the back of a lorry.
I think it was on Fake Britain that a Chinese man said that CE meant Chinese export.

Not very nice thing to say about asbestos, either. I know people who have died of asbestosis. It doesn't take too long in some of them once it's been recognised.

Wonder how many of us still have the old lead piping used by our water companies to pipe our water to us. I was shocked to discover we do. We are in a Severn Trent area.