What 's in Your Lips Stick

[Guest guest]

The red dye carmine, used in everything from lipsticks to Coca-Cola, can only be obtained by crushing huge quantities of the insect Dactylopius coccus, or cochineal. That's right--those lovely red lips you see in fashion magazines? Covered in dried, smeared bugs. Yum.

 

 

Burt's Bees has luminescent and sheer color in the World's Best Lip Balm! Found in grocery stores. Even it says May contain carmine, so muscle-test your choice. My Watermelon and Merlot testes NO carmine.

[Guest guest]

I'm not surprised that Burt's Bees uses carmine in some of their products. Their main claim to fame is the use of bee derivatives in most of their items, particularly honey and/or beeswax, much like the Body Shop. I've sometimes been shocked in the past when I've found items in health food stores whose labels claim no animal derivatives, but concede in their ingredients that they contain certain bee derivatives and various other hidden animal ingredients (ie. glycerin, sodium stearate, sodium stearoyl lactylate, cetyl alcohol, etc.) that may come from either plants or animals, but often the latter. Many of these substances are specified in a booklet published by the Vegetarian Resource Group about hidden animal ingredients. The safe consumer rule of thumb (as per caveat emptor) is that if the label doesn't specify "vegetable" or "plant-derived," then it's definitely from animals. If you need a chemistry degree to understand ingredients' sources, then abstinence from purchase is generally the best policy. It also shocks me when I occasionally speak to a naturopath in a health food store (such as the Village Market, now known as Sunsplash, in Pikesville, MD) who adamantly claims that insects aren't animals, so any company using insects or their derivatives in their products can still honestly claim to contain nothing animal-derived. Unfortunately, there's no FDA regulation against this deceptive policy to my knowledge. Caveat emptor, regardless of educational level, is truly the of the essence.

 

Namaste,

David

 

The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than blacks were made for whites or women for men." --Alice Walker, Forward to "The Dreaded Comparison" by Marjorie Spiegel"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country."--Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, 1908

Namaska7To: VegSoul ; ; 12StepstoRawFood Cc: Sent: Mon, 7 Nov 2005 22:55:08 EST What 's in Your Lips Stick

 

The red dye carmine, used in everything from lipsticks to Coca-Cola, can only be obtained by crushing huge quantities of the insect Dactylopius coccus, or cochineal. That's right--those lovely red lips you see in fashion magazines? Covered in dried, smeared bugs. Yum.

 

 

Burt's Bees has luminescent and sheer color in the World's Best Lip Balm! Found in grocery stores. Even it says May contain carmine, so muscle-test your choice. My Watermelon and Merlot testes NO carmine.

 

[Guest guest]

Im no expert, but anything named Burt's Bees, Im not buying. Ick.dapperd72 wrote:

 

 

 

I'm not surprised that Burt's Bees uses carmine in some of their products. Their main claim to fame is the use of bee derivatives in most of their items, particularly honey and/or beeswax, much like the Body Shop. I've sometimes been shocked in the past when I've found items in health food stores whose labels claim no animal derivatives, but concede in their ingredients that they contain certain bee derivatives and various other hidden animal ingredients (ie. glycerin, sodium stearate, sodium stearoyl lactylate, cetyl alcohol, etc.) that may come from either plants or animals, but often the latter.

[Guest guest]

That's a cute joke, Tara. Frankly, IMHO Burt would be more intellectually honest to rename his company, Burt's Slaves. It may not be as catchy or politically correct, but at least it'd address the fact that the bees upon whom his profits are based are enslaved for his own bottom line. I'm in no mood to "preach" about the notion that every species, human or otherwise, exists for her/his own purposes, as Alice Walker has written, but it's a fact of nature that bees make their various bodily fluids for their own esoteric reasons, just as our bodies make various fluids for our own healthful homeostasis. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once said, "Walk a mile in another man's shoes." If we wouldn't want aliens from another planet landing on Earth to enslave us to steal our bodily fluids for their own uses, why should we do the same to bees or any other animal just because we like the flavor, texture or aroma of such? (One need only watch the 1980's TV series "V," no matter how dated it may seem now, to understand this scenario of humanlike aliens coming here to enslave us in such a manner.)

 

Namaste,

David

 

The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than blacks were made for whites or women for men." --Alice Walker, Forward to "The Dreaded Comparison" by Marjorie Spiegel"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country."--Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, 1908

Tara <peechysweett71 Sent: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 13:30:04 -0800 (PST)Re: Re: What 's in Your Lips Stick

 

Im no expert, but anything named Burt's Bees, Im not buying. Ick.

 

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[Guest guest]

Something tells me David, that if you were a woman, you wouldnt be a big makup wearer. Makup is going to have to be my last frontier on discovery. I bought the fancy chapstick at MOMS that is not animal tested and such, then I realized it had lanolin in it, ugh. So they dont test on amimals, but they put animals in it, and call themselves organic.

 

any suggestions David? I have to put something in my lips they get to dry.

 

Tara

[Guest guest]

Thanks david, I was really hoping you would invent a raw organic, lip balm for me in your dehydrator. lol, just kidding. I'll definately research this further. thanks for the info, it was helpful.

 

Have a good evening.

 

Tara