Sacha Walters, Staff Reporter

Ever got an email warning you that nine brands of lipstick contain lead which can cause cancer?

Well I have, repeatedly, and to add to the anxiety one of the brands I used, Clinique, was numberthree on that list.

After the financially savvy side screamed, 'Are you telling me to dump at least five tubes of lipstick?' 'No way, that stuff is expensive!'

Thoughts of the big C got me cringing and if that meant I would have to give up sugar bean then bye-bye mocha brown lips and hello what God gave me.

But wait a minute, unwilling to simply hit delete and dismiss the information once again as false without expert advice I searched for some.

"Lead is bad for everybody but it's especially detrimental for children," said Mitko Vutchkov, senior research fellow at the International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences (ICENS), at the University of the West Indies.

He added that if cosmetics contain high levels of lead one should stop using them.

According to the email, a simple test which involves rubbing some lipstick against your hand and in turn rubbing the spot with a gold ring would determine if it contained lead. A black spot, that your lipstick contained lead, but has no scientific basis. So he would do the correct test.

Waterviolet, the brave colour in the bag, would do the honours and made her way to the lab to satisfy my curiosity.

Natural elements

But why is it still used? The research fellow who has done extensive work on lead poisoning in Jamaica said natural elements like lead and mercury are often used in cosmetics because their unique properties have yet to be replaced by technology.

Through his research he has identified cosmetic items like a hair dye which contains lead. But he doubted that my lipstick contained any lead.

"It is more common in cosmetics coming from less developed countries where the regulations are not stringent." However, products coming from areas like the United States and Europe, are under strict regulation by the Cosmetic Directive and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Some days later the results returned.

"Lead is below the detectable level which means that if any lead is present, it will be at trace amounts," he explained.

Whew, that was a relief but did this mean that there was no lead in any other brand? Well, that I wouldn't be able to determine from testing one brand.

Vutchov reiterated, it's safer to read the labels.

So for now, my lipsticks will be sitting pretty.