An important choice to make as parents is skin care. There is an increasing body of evidence suggesting that a lot of what we put on our skin is absorbed into the blood stream, so we need to be as vigilant about skin food as we are about the food we put into our children’s mouths. An article published on Down to Earth is headlined Your Skin: It Absorbs! It is compelling reading.
I know that parents are bombarded with bewildering choice and confusing and conflicting advice and messages about just about everything, so I propose a very simple guide:
Answering yes, and only yes, to all of the above really ticks the boxes for a healthy future for our children. After all, ”it’s only natural you should know what’s in it…”
Debra
]]>A recent Facebook post by prominent Melbourne Make Up Artist, Wanda Waller, has stirred up a lot discussion and controversy about an iconic Australian brand. Wanda told her followers that the base ingredient of the product is petroleum jelly, sparking surprise, dismay and widespread sharing of her post. How is it that so many people didn’t know this?
The answer lies in the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989. Under the Act, goods listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods are required only to name the active (therapeutic) ingredients and their quantity on the product packaging. There is no requirement to list all ingredients, other than a limited list of excipient (filler) substances, of which petroleum jelly is not one. Follow this link for more information.
I did some market research today and am pleased to see that the company is now listing their ingredients on their website. I am not sure if they plan to extend this policy to their product packaging.
Whilst out and about I took the opportunity to have a look at the baby care section in shops. Wow, there is a mountain of choice for parents out there! But mostly choices to be made with little information about the ingredients a product contains because they only need to list the active ones.
It is not my purpose to examine the merits or otherwise of individual ingredients, rather to explain the process for finding out what the ingredients are. Here is a simple 5 step strategy:
The good news is that cosmetic (ie. non-therapeutic) labelling regulations in Australia require that all ingredients for a product are listed on packaging in descending order of quantity. It is simply a matter of pronouncing and interpreting the bewildering lexicon - Dimethicone, BHT, DMDM Hydantoin, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Decyl Cocoate as examples.
A three step strategy for understanding the ingredients in your cosmetics is:
Never in history has there been such an abundance of variety and choice in what to eat, what to wear, where to travel, and what to put on our skin. It is sometimes overwhelming and imposes a great responsibility on each of us to make informed choices for our own good, the good of our family and the health of our world.
Debra
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Unfortunately there is no one single problem for the honeybee that, if cured, would relieve their stress. Rather, they are facing a myriad of stressors that is causing an alarming decline in populations worldwide.
This highly informative TED talk by Marla Spivak presents a summary of the major stressors to bees, but also likens the experience of honeybees to being a mirror for human experience. Much like the canary in the coalmine, the demise of the honeybee can tell us that all is not right for people in the world.
At the time of writing, we are also seeing the plight of the honeybee receiving widespread coverage in the mainstream media. On May 31 Channel 9 screened “Bee Scared” on its 60 Minutes program. I think this is a must watch.
Our local bee hero, Dr Denis Anderson, is the person who identified and named the deadly Varroa Destructor mite as a bee researcher with the CSIRO. Though he no longer works with the CSIRO, he continues to champion strategic bee research through Beesdownunder. Short promos of the documentary featuring Denis, Honeybee Blues, are available for very informative viewing.
So what are our opportunities to do something about the plight of the honeybee? There are many:
I am constantly impressed by the number of people who approach the de’bee stall at markets with questions and commentary about bees; “Do you keep bees?" “My grandfather was a beekeeper and I love bees” “I want a beehive – how do I get started?” It confirms to me that the world of the honeybee colony is fascinating and that the system of order, efficiency and collectivism, seemingly unchanged over millennia, is captivating and enchanting.
I do not want to imagine a world bereft of the honeybee. I would miss the beauty, the buzz, the golden honey and wax, and the tireless work to deliver food to our table. So I will continue to share enormous enthusiasm, support and respect for the bees, and hope to learn more about them everyday.
Debra
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