Mid Brain muses:
Here’s a cosmetic news story that I really didn’t want to hear – common skin moisturizers may be linked to a higher cancer risk. Here’s the scoop: 
Of mice and moisturizers
According to CosmeticsDesign.com there’s a controversy raging in the beauty industry about a recent study suggesting that moisturizers may increase tumor formation. The research, which appears in the January issue of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, concluded that several commercially available skin creams (including Dermabase, Dermovan, Eucerin and Vanicream) increased the rate of tumor formation in mice that were pre-treated with UVB.
Should you be worried?
At this point there doesn’t seem to be much cause for concern. As you’ll learn when you read the entire article on CosmeticsDesign.com, industry experts are not convinced that the statistics in this study are valid. And based on what the Left Brain tells me, the article doesn’t propose a plausible mechanism of action that could explain these surprising findings. Nonetheless, it wouldn’t surprise us to find the main stream media picking up this story and blindly reporting on it without checking the facts.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
We’re choosing to put our faith in the scientific method – if there’s a real cancer risk associated with skin lotions, this data will be validated by a peer review process and the scientific community will put pressure on the industy and legislature to take the appropriate steps to protect the public. But, if this is a case of research that has produced spurious results that can’t be confirmed, we need to be very careful not to engage in fear mongering based on bad data. The Beauty Brains will keep you posted as this story unfolds.
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