Well, there are levels of toxicity and while I am sure if I diluted half a capful of bleach to my gallon jug of cranberry juice it wouldn't kill me, but would more than likely be somewhat harmful over time. I doubt most chemicals are converted to fat so I can't see them making you fat, but I have read enough about whales and mercury to think it is possible that fat may store toxins in the body and it had just made me curious. That coupled with the fact that statement like the following make me a bit pissed:


"Telegraph.co.uk June 22, 2007

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

Putting chemicals on your skin is actually far worse than ingesting them, because when you eat something the enzymes in your saliva and stomach help break it down and flush it out of your body.

When you put these chemicals on your skin, however, it is absorbed straight into your blood stream without filtering of any kind, so there's no protection against the toxin. The five pounds of toxic chemicals per year you may be absorbing from the use of toiletries and beauty products are largely going directly to your delicate organs."

I ger really frustrated that people with the "Dr." in their byline make statements like this which is why I am trying to dig to the source and determine what kind of testing or science backs up this claim. I have a medical issue for which I take a fantastic array of frightening drugs. I also elected to eat a bag of candy corn for breakfast today. Some things I don't have a choice to put in my body, some I do whether they are bad for me or not, but I at least like to be aware - and inflammatory scare tactics I am totally fine with as long as people can absolutely back up their statements.

I have seen a handful of people on the eco-beauty bandwagon grab the above statement and run hog wild with it, seemingly blind with enthusiasm, because it promotes their choice of products (if it is remotely true). I am sure the world will never be without more than its share of prevalent fish stories. I just like to know if I should throw one of my good organic tomatoes at them, or one that was grown treated with pesticides.

Alex

I am. They say to wear gloves because many cleaning products are irritating to the skin, not that they are absorbed. We are not sponges. If we were, we'd all be dead by 30.

Here's what we wrote on the subject a little while back...
Tracy is troubled… I saw this newspaper headline that says women absorb up to 5 pounds of damaging chemicals a year from their beauty products. I’m amazed, astonished, and perplexed. Can it be true?
The Left Brain responds:
Being a skeptical Brain, I figured the article was just a typical “scare” piece designed to spook us into fearing chemicals, but they actually provide a reference to their headline and quotes from a biochemist. So, this Beauty Brain was intrigued. Are we really absorbing pounds of chemicals through our skin? I had to see their proof. The actual quote from the article is as follows:

“The average woman absorbs 4lb 6oz of chemicals from toiletries and make-up every year, the industry magazine In-Cosmetics recently reported.”

Newsworthy sources
Here’s where it gets interesting. First of all, In-Cosmetics is not a peer-reviewed scientific journal, it’s a magazine published in conjunction with an annual trade show where companies that sell cosmetic ingredients go to show off their newest products. Secondly, the quote appeared in this article “Trends in natural and organic cosmetics and toiletries.”
It turns out, the notion that women absorb 5 pounds of chemicals from cosmetics comes from a scientist who runs a natural company called Spiezia Organics. According to Dr. Mariano Spiezia and his wife Loredana “everything we need to be fulfilled and healthy is provided by nature. Today’s research suggests that the human body will absorb most of what is applied to the skin, meaning that up to 2kg (5 pounds) of chemicals a year from toiletries and skincare preparations used daily.”
There is no other reference provided. No studies are cited. Dr. Spiezia makes this assertion without any data at all. Then the reporter completely believes the statement and quotes it as fact. It is not fact. It is nonsense. It is the kind of junk science that some Natural or Organic companies try to dupe you with so you won’t feel bad about spending your hard earned money on their over-priced products.
Do you absorb 5 lbs of cosmetic chemicals through your skin?
Based on our knowledge of the barrier properties of skin, this claim seems ridiculous. It suggests skin is a sponge that absorbs any chemical it’s exposed to. In fact, skin is the opposite. It is actually a barrier that prevents chemicals from getting inside your body.
It’s not a perfect barrier because some compounds do pass through the skin like some sunscreens (eg. benzophenone-3) and drugs like Nicotine. Even caffeine can enter your blood stream through your skin. So scientists are concerned about chemicals on the skin. But safety studies are conducted chemicals all the time and the vast majority don’t behave as such.
For the most part, cosmetic raw materials do not penetrate the skin so deep that they are absorbed into the blood stream. They typically absorb into only the top layer of skin (stratum corneum) and are naturally removed over time.
Beauty Brains bottom line
No, your cosmetics are not poisoning you. While chemicals can absorb into your skin, but it is true of only a small number of them and these have not been shown to cause problems. You certainly don’t absorb 5 lbs of chemicals through your skin; we’ll try to assess how much you really do absorb and report back after a bit more research. But the important thing is when you hear claims like this in the media, be sure to check the source Occasionally, it’s backed up by science, but usually it is propaganda by a biased source. Proof is found in scientific studies not in the opinions of natural-product selling “experts”.

The Brains addressed the EWG's claims here:
thebeautybrains.com/2008/11/05/ewg-misleads-consumers-about-parabens/
and the possiblity of a link  between breast cancer and antiperspirants here:
thebeautybrains.com/2007/09/13/why-antiperspirants-do-not-cause-breast-cancer/
Ultimately, everyone has to decide which products that they're comfortable using based on the information that's currently available. Different groups can put a completely different spin on the same set of data and draw vastly different conclusions. It's hardly surprising that a site called "Organic consumers" would  come to the conclusion that chemicals are bad for you. If you read the article carefully, what it says is, "We don't know how the chemicals got into the tumors or even if it's a bad thing that they're there but better safe than sorry."