It's perfectly legal for many of the products men use daily to contain chemicals with health risks, chemicals that have never been tested for safety, or chemicals that are not on product labels. Not on the Father's Day gift list, but still in men's bathrooms:

• Just for Men hair color gel for facial hair contains P-phenylenediamine, which even the industry-funded Cosmetics Ingredient Review board – a panel that's allowed to make safety determinations because the FDA isn't – classifies as a known skin toxicant, and yet also finds the ingredient safe to use in cosmetics.

• Everyday products like Gillette shave gel and Head & Shoulders shampoo contain ingredients linked to cancer, hormone disruption and nervous system effects.

It's time for Congress to empower the FDA to regulate the cosmetics industry so that products marketed to dads (and everyone else) are free of unsafe and untested ingredients. We want this $50 billion cosmetics industry to be honest about what's in products, and required to make products safe before they hit store shelves.

Avon's Mother's Day gift bag contains two creams, ANEW Alternative Intensive Age Treatment SPF 25 and ANEW Alternative Intensive Eye Cream. We cross-referenced these products ingredients with the Skin Deep cosmetics safety database and found that if Mom were to use both of these creams, she would be exposed to:

• diazolidinyl urea (which may be derived from urine and contaminated with formaldehyde, a cancer-causing chemical);
• propylene glycol (an ingredient with strong contamination concerns);
• oxybenzone (dangers associated with enhanced skin penetration; linked to cancer, hormone disruption);
• undisclosed ingredients in "fragrance" (may include phthalates, linked to birth defects and cancer);
• four different parabens (which have been found in breast tumors and linked to endocrine disruption); and
• dozens of other ingredients with health concerns or that have never been tested for safety.

These aren't the only Avon products that we hope mom will avoid. The Skin Deep database contains 356 Avon products, 84 of which score in the highest hazard range (between 7 and 10 on a scale of 1 to 10) due to ingredients linked to cancer, endocrine disruption, developmental or reproductive toxicity, allergies and contamination concerns (impurities linked to cancer, for example).

Why is the "company for women," the company behind the famous Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, putting unsafe and untested ingredients in products moms use every day? If Avon really wants to support women, it should support their long-term health.

Here's the heartening news: On May 1, a full 25 percent of Avon shareholders voted in favor of a resolution that requested the company report on policies regarding potentially dangerous, unlabeled nanomaterials in products. The vote shows that Avon shareholders are open to improvement – so let's push them to make more commitments to women's health!

Ask Avon president Elizabeth Smith to commit to removing known and suspected carcinogens, mutagens and reproductive toxins from all Avon products, and to prohibit unsafe or untested ingredients in Avon products.

Herbal Essences is now marketed largely to girls and young women, employing intense fragrances, bright packaging and shampoo and conditioner names like “none of your frizzness” and “drama clean.”

With a name like “Herbal Essences” one might think that these products contain natural ingredients, but the brand uses fragrance, sodium laureth sulfate and other chemicals linked to cancer and reproductive problems in its body wash, shampoo and conditioner.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics recommends avoiding products with “fragrance” on the label whenever possible (go for unscented products or those perfumed with only essential oils). Companies are not required to list on product labels any of the chemicals in a fragrance mixture. That means that there could be hundreds of unlabeled neurotoxins, allergens and phthalates — chemicals that have been linked to reproductive harm, early puberty in girls and testicular cancer — in fragranced products like Herbal Essences.

Sodium laureth sulfate is another ingredient to watch out for because it's often contaminated with a carcinogen called 1,4-dioxane, and we did, in fact, find the chemical in a previous formulation of Herbal Essences.

Please tell P&G, makers of Herbal Essences, that you want full disclosure — not ingredients linked to cancer and reproductive harm — in your shampoo!

Researchers warn that triclosan, a chemical used as an antimicrobial and preservative, acts as an endocrine disruptor. Exposure to endocrine disruptors can lead to early puberty, serious reproductive issues and breast cancer. Triclosan's hormone-mimicking behavior could also be responsible for harming aquatic wildlife, since this chemical is washed into our waterways.

A 2001 study published in the American Journal of Infection Control found triclosan (or triclocarban, which is very similar and also used as an antibacterial in cosmetics) in 76 percent of liquid soaps and 29 percent of bar soaps on the market. The study also found that there are few documented benefits of triclosan.(1) Given the possibility for microbial resistance, widespread consumer use is worth questioning.

The Skin Deep cosmetic safety database assigns triclosan a hazard rating of 7 (with 10 being the highest hazard rating and 0 the lowest) because of its links to cancer and endocrine disruption, and its ability to irritate organs and bioaccumulate (meaning build up and linger in humans or the ecosystem). Triclosan is restricted for use in Canada and Japan, and the European Union labels it “Irritating to eyes and skin; Dangerous for the environment; Very toxic to aquatic organisms.” Even the FDA showed concern about the use of triclosan in products that are not immediately washed off the skin in a September 2007 letter to Proctor and Gamble.

So why is triclosan in L’Oreal skin cream, Johnson & Johnson's Kids' Hand Soap, Ahava Aftershave and countless other products used daily by men, women and children in the United States?

Because cosmetics companies can use ingredients that cause harm and/or have never been tested, and retailers can sell products that contain these risky ingredients—and it's all legal, according to the U.S. government.

Our advice for cold season: wash your hands frequently with triclosan-free soap and warm water.

Our advice for long-term health: Ask a mega-retailer to help stem the demand for products that contain triclosan. Even if the U.S. FDA has no real power at the moment, Wal-Mart and its huge buying power do. E-mail the company and ask the retailer to add triclosan to the list of hazardous chemicals addressed under its new Business Sustainability plan.

Take it another step: Add your own comments and contact info to the letter, if you feel comfortable doing so, and deliver it to a Wal-Mart near you. Ask to meet with the store manager to hand-deliver the letter, and request that he or she pass the letter on to regional managers.

(1) Perencevich, Wong and Harris. 2001 American Journal of Infection Control v29 n5 pp281-283

The lead tests were conducted by an independent laboratory in September on lipsticks bought in Boston, Hartford, Conn., San Francisco and Minneapolis. More than half of the 33 brand-name lipsticks tested contained detectable levels of lead, with levels ranging from 0.03 to 0.65 parts per million (ppm).

One-third of the tested lipsticks exceeded the FDA guideline for lead in candy, 0.1 ppm, established to reduce lead exposure among children. Even though lipstick products, like candy, are directly ingested and absorbed into the body, the FDA has not set a limit for lead in lipstick. It’s part of a disturbing pattern of lax safety standards in the $50 billion personal care products industry.

Among the leading brands found to contain lead were: