A Great Vaccine Debate On CNN

In case you missed it, CNN hosted a fun debate last night (Thursday, January 29).¹

Dr. Armand Dorian gets my vote for Man of the Year for calling out “Dr.” Jack Wolfson over his unscientific positions on vaccines and the current measles outbreak in California and 13 other states.  I’ve linked the video below.  Even though CNN sneaks in a 30 second commercial at the beginning, it’s well worth sitting through just to hear Dorian deliver the truth: it’s hard to believe that Wolfson has a medical license.  The man is literally doing harm to his patients.

Dorian and Wolfson debate. Click to launch video.

Dorian is a doctor and debunks Wolfson far better than I ever could, so please watch the video, linked here.  But I can’t resist commenting.  Some of Wolfson’s more ridiculous statements are that:

(1) We’re injecting chemicals in our children’s bodies (when we vaccinate).
Well, duh.  Our bodies are made up of chemicals.  Everything we eat and drink is a chemical.  Everything we see, touch, taste, and feel is a chemical.  Dr. Wolfson, here’s a beautiful online version of the periodic table of the elements.²  You should have studied this in grade school.  Chemicals!  Oh my God, they’re everywhere!

According to the CDC, measles is the leading cause of vaccine-preventable death in children.³  Doctors agree that’s a really good reason to inject those chemicals.  They’re saving lives.

(2) Measles results in “typically benign childhood conditions”
Death is not a benign condition.  The CDC says for every 1000 children who get measles, 1 or 2 will die.⁴  One out of every four who contract the disease will be hospitalized. There is no cure for measles. Getting the vaccine is safer than coming down with the disease. Measles can lead to swelling of the brain and severe respiratory problems.⁵  And, oh yeah… did I mention death?

(3) “Our children have the right to get infections”
The “right” to get infections?

Sometimes you encounter a statement that’s so utterly stupid there’s just no response.  I suppose our children have the right to die in car crashes, but I’d like to prevent that.

Speaking of car crashes…

(4) “Bad things can happen to anybody.  We can be in a car accident.”
When host Erin Burnett points out to Wolfson that unvaccinated people are in fact dying from measles, he responds with “Bad things can happen to anybody.  We can be in a car accident.”

Yes doctor.  And that’s why we wear seat belts.  There’s some good science behind the seat belt concept, just as there is behind the measles vaccine.  Before the vaccine was invented in the 1960s, there were up to four million cases of the disease in the USA each year, with an average of 48,000 hospitalizations.⁵  Thanks to the vaccine, measles was eliminated in this country by the year 2000.⁶  Now, thanks to anti-vaccination campaigns and quack doctors, measles is making a comeback.

(5) “They [our children] need to get appropriate chiropractic care.  Actual healthy doctors […]”
Chiropractors are not doctors.  They have no medical training.  There’s nothing about chiropractic training or care that remotely begins to address handling a virus, which is what causes the measles.

For this statement alone, I agree with Dorian: Wolfson should not be practicing medicine.  He’s violating the Hippocratic oath.

 

Image Credits
CNN screen snapshot is used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

References
(1) Watch Doctors Have Heated Debate Over Vaccination
http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/01/30/erin-panel-anti-vaccination-debate.cnn

(2) Periodic Table of the Elements
http://www.ptable.com/

(3) CDC Global Health – Measles, Rubella, and CRS
http://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/measles/

(4) CDC: Measles: Make Sure Your Child Is Fully Immunized
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/Measles/

(5) CDC/American Academy of Pediatrics Bulletin
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/measles/downloads/dis-measles-color-office.pdf

(6) CDC: Frequently Asked Questions about Measles in the U.S.
http://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/faqs.html

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Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Avalon Organics Repair Milk

You’d think it would be hard to stick your foot in your mouth when writing an innocent article on hummus.  But this is Food Babe (Vani Hari), so you’d be thinking incorrectly.

She says this about packaged hummus:¹

Food Babe waxes poetic on ingredients found in packaged hummus.

 

If you’ve been following my series on debunking Food Babe then you know the yellow highlighting is a clue she’s said something she’s going to regret.

For those of you taking notes at home, write this down:  Vani claims that (1) potassium sorbate causes skin allergies and (2) sodium benzoate combined with vitamin C can cause leukemia.

Wow.

Let’s flash back to August, 2011, where the Babe goes into excruciating detail about her daily routine–including her nightly face cleaning regimen:⁴

Food Babe washes her face every night with COQ10 cleansing milk. Every time YOU wash YOUR face via this link on her web site, she earns a sales commission. (Click image to enlarge.)

 

Note that I’ve highlighted the Amazon.com affiliate ID embedded in Food Babe’s web page.  She cashes in every time you buy via her site.

Let’s put on our official Food Babe Product Investigator Hats^TM and see what’s in this facial repair milk:

Unfortunately Avalon Organics doesn’t list the ingredients on Amazon.com,² but they do on their own web site.³  You can click on the following image to enlarge the list of ingredients, or I’ll zoom in for you in a moment.

Avalon Organics Facial Cleansing Milk ingredients.  (Click to enlarge.)

 

Here’s a closer look:

 

Wake the kids and phone the neighbors!  Potassium Sorbate?  Sodium Benzoate?

 

Vani said they caused eczema and leukemia!¹

 

 

Here’s the gem on potassium sorbate:

“[…] This ingredient has been known to cause skin allergies with prolonged use. Ever wonder why you can’t get rid of that eczema? This could be the culprit.” –Food Babe ¹

But she puts it on her face every night?  And she earns a sales commission when you buy it via her web site!

But it gets worse.  Much, much worse.

Remember that chemistry expert Hari says the following about sodium benzoate (please note the vitamin C combo warning and brace yourself):

 “[…] when combined with Vitamin C this can produce benzene that has been known to cause Leukemia and other cancers.” ¹

But… but… there’s sodium benzoate in the cleansing milk she’s selling–and guess what else is in there?

COQ10 ingredients include vitamin C-laden lemon

Lemon.  Lemon!

Food Babe, did you study grade school biology and chemistry like the rest of us, or were you absent the [expletive deleted]ing day we learned that lemon and other citrus fruits are rich sources of vitamin C?^5,6

Lemon peel oil is loaded with vitamin C.  (Click image to enlarge.)

 

So let’s review… Vani says:

“I ALWAYS wash my face before going to bed.  I use Avalon Organics CoQ10 Facial Cleaning Milk” ¹

… and she says:

“Sodium benzoate […] when combined with Vitamin C this can produce benzene that has been known to cause Leukemia and other cancers.”⁴

… and CoQ10 Facial Cleansing Milk contains sodium benzoate and Vitamin C.  Oh!  And Food Babe earns a sales commission when you buy this cleansing milk via her web site.

Questions?  Anyone?

 

Conclusion
When you make extraordinary claims you need to bring extraordinary evidence to the table.  Food Babe disappoints in a major way, never listing a single source to back up her asinine comments on sodium benzoate and leukemia.  As far as potassium sorbate… there are a few reports of contact dermatitis.⁸  But if it’s so bad, why is this woman washing her face in it every night and earning a sales commission in the act?

In science, the burden of proof lies upon the person making the claim.  If Vani Hari believes these ingredients are dangerous, it’s up to her to prove they are.  The fact that she makes money selling items with those same ingredients is unconscionable.

If you’d like to read more about the non-dangers of sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate, you might start with the toxicity summaries in the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s PubChem database entries for these two compounds.^7,8  If you’re a Food Babe Army member looking for gloom and doom, you’re going to be very disappointed.

Here’s what you’ll find…  nothing about Avalon Organics Facial Cleansing Milk appears dangerous in any way, despite what Vani Hari claims about its ingredients.

Buy it by the gallon.

Use it on body parts that would make your grandmother blush.

Just please don’t buy via the affiliate links on Food Babe’s web site.

 

You May Also Be Interested In
Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Tarte Lights Camera Action Mascara
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/01/14/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-tarte-lights-camera-action-mascara/

Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Tarte Blush
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/01/09/food-babe-selling-dangerous-items-tarte-blush/

Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Shampoo
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/29/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-honeysuckle-shampoo/

Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Naturally Fresh Deodorant
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-naturally-fresh-deodorant

Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Physician’s Formula Organic Wear
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/01/08/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-physicians-formula-organic-wear/

The Food Babe Ban List
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/17/the-food-babe-ban-list/

 

Image Credits
Amazon.com and Tarte product, and Food Babe screen snapshots are used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

Lemon peel nutritional/chemical breakdown courtesy USDA.  Image is in the public domain as a work of the U.S. government.

“The Scream” by Edvard Munch.  This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: Public domain.  The author died in 1944, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or less.

 

References
Please note: To prevent increasing search engine exposure for objectionable web sites, I use the DoNotLink service to obfuscate their URLs. I promise you are not being redirected to porn.

(1) Food Babe: “Why Aren’t You Making Your Own Hummus?”
http://www.donotlink.com/d5fh

(2) Avalon Organics on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001ECQ41M

(3) Ingredients: COQ10 Repair Facial Cleansing Milk (AvalonOrganics.com)
http://avalonorganics.com/coq10-repair-facial-cleansing-milk

(4) Food Babe: “So Fresh and So Clean–Skin Care Tips”
http://www.donotlink.com/de6w

(5) USDA Basic Report: Lemons (whole)
http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/2302

(6) USDA Basic Report: Lemons (peel)
http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/2306

(7) PubChem Compound ID CID #517055 (sodium benzoate)
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/517055

(8) PubChem Compound ID CID #23676745 (potassium sorbate)
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/23676745

Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Tarte Lights Camera Action Mascara

Cyclopentasiloxane is an ingredient Food Babe says is toxic and cancerous.  But it’s found in the Tarte Lights Camera Action mascara she’s selling.

Vani Hari (the “Food Babe”) heavily censors all commentary on her web and social media sites.^1,9  On Facebook those who legitimately question her statements are banned, with their commentary deleted.  On her web site no comments can be posted without their first being approved by Hari or a moderator.  Criticism–no matter how factual and polite–is not allowed.

With this in mind, I think it’s only fair that we hold Vani responsible for the content of commentary that she does approve.

Let’s look at this example from “Amber”, a regular contributor on FoodBabe.com:²

Commentary on the article “Throw this out of your bathroom cabinet immediately.”

 

The topic being discussed is cosmetics. (So that I’m not accused of taking a quote out of context, you can read the entire Food Babe article here.)

The dire warnings from FoodBabe.com on cyclopentasiloxane are interesting because of a guest piece Vani Hari wrote for the online magazine Well+Good.  In “My Five Beauty Obsessions”,^3,4 Vani recommends Tarte Lights Camera Action Mascara:

 

Let’s have a look at the ingredients in this mascara, courtesy Vani’s encrypted Amazon.com affiliate link:⁵  (click image to enlarge)

Tarte Cosmetics Lights ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)

 

You can click that ingredient list to enlarge it.  Or, let me zoom in for you:

 

Now back to Vani’s web site:

 

Wait!  Let me get this straight:  FoodBabe.com has a moderated post that says cyclopentasiloxane is “toxic, persistent” and has “the potential to bio-accumulate”… but Food Babe recommends Tarte Cosmetics Lights (which contains cyclopentasiloxane), and earns a sales commission when you buy it?⁶

Food Babe’s encrypted Amazon.com affiliate ID. You buy the mascara with “dangerous” cyclopentasiloxane, and she cashes in. (Click image to enlarge.)

 

I can hear the Food Babe Army (FBA) protesting already–“Vani didn’t say this! It was one of her commentators!”

On a heavily censored, moderated web site, I would strongly disagree.  But to be honest, I just like yanking the Food Babe Army’s chain.

You see, Vani said it too (click image to enlarge):¹¹

Food Babe warns us to avoid any cosmetic with an ingredient ending in “-siloxane”.  Vani, please look at this ingredient in the mascara you’re selling and tell me what it ends in: cyclopentasiloxane.  (Click image to enlarge.)

 

Where does this wild claim come from?  It’s always interesting to see where Vani does her so-called research:⁷

 

She uses a database produced by the Environmental Working Group (EWG).  I wonder what EWG has to say about cyclopentasiloxane?  Well, it’s not good:⁸

EWG data on cyclopentasiloxane.

 

Mon Dieu!  The mascara from which Food Babe earns a sales commission contains an ingredient that, according to the source she recommends, is “classified as expected to be toxic or harmful,” “persistent, bioaccumulative in wildlife,” and <GASP!> “one or more animal studies show tumor formation at moderate doses.”

I just… I mean… I… I…

Conclusion
As the Facebook group “Banned By Food Babe” has so thoroughly documented,^1,9  Food Babe and her moderators heavily censor all posts on her web and social media sites, so it is more than reasonable to hold Vani Hari responsible for statements that she does approve–including those about cyclopentasiloxane.

But her “army” is really only echoing her ignorance–Food Babe makes the original statement about the compound.  Her followers only expand upon it.  That’s why I led off with a quote from a minion rather than the Babe herself in this article.  Disinformation is dangerous.  It snowballs–as you can see from the additional “dangers” Vani’s commentator heaped upon cyclopentasiloxane.²

So Vani Hari earns a sales commission from a cosmetic that contains this compound, says it’s dangerous, and urges her “army” to use a database that links it to tumors in animals.⁸  Brilliant.

But… is Tarte Lights Mascara really dangerous?

I don’t think so.

I am not a professional chemist.  But, like you, I can use my university education as a foundation,  read and evaluate information (from experts) on cyclopentasiloxane,¹⁰ and make an informed decision.  Spend some time reading the scientific references in the “Toxicity” section of the PubChem writeup on cyclopentasiloxane,¹⁰ and I predict you’ll be unafraid. Very unafraid.

There’s just nothing there.

Vani seems to have once again cherry picked scary looking quotes to terrify you about other products–in order to sell you her own.

So, please buy Tarte Lights Mascara.  Just don’t buy it via a FoodBabe.com affiliate link.

 

Image Credits
Decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (cyclopentasiloxane–compound ID 10913) courtesy PubChem (compound ID 10913)

Amazon.com and Tarte product, and Food Babe screen snapshots are used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

Well+Good and other web site screen snapshots are used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

Facepalm montage created from WikiCommons images by the following authors, used in accordance with the licensing specified by their names.  Image owners do not necessarily agree with or endorse the views presented in this article:

–Vesa Linja-aho, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license
— i_hate_sult, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license
–daveoratox, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
–Joe Loong, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
–Joachim S. Müller, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
–Alex E. Proimos, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

 

You May Also Be Interested In
Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Tarte Blush
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/01/09/food-babe-selling-dangerous-items-tarte-blush/

Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Shampoo
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/29/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-honeysuckle-shampoo/

Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Naturally Fresh Deodorant
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-naturally-fresh-deodorant

Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Physician’s Formula Organic Wear
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/01/08/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-physicians-formula-organic-wear/

The Food Babe Ban List
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/17/the-food-babe-ban-list/

 

References
Please note: To prevent increasing search engine exposure for objectionable web sites, I use the DoNotLink service to obfuscate their URLs. I promise you are not being redirected to porn.
(1) Banned By Food Babe (Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/BannedByFoodBabeOpen/

(2) Food Babe commentary on cyclopentasiloxane
http://www.donotlink.com/cbka

(3) Food Babe: “My Five Beauty Obsessions”
http://www.donotlink.com/d6q2

(4) Well+Good: My Five Beauty Obsessions
http://www.donotlink.com/d6q1

(5) Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002XOQSPC

(6) Food Babe: “How To Find The Best Natural Mascara That Actually Works”
http://www.donotlink.com/cl9t

(7) Vani on the EWG
http://www.donotlink.com/cl9t

(8) EWG on Cyclopentasiloxane
http://www.donotlink.com/d6q0

(9) Cyclopentasiloxane (compound ID 10913) on PubChem
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/10913#section=Top

(10) Banned by Food Babe (with examples of censorship, banning, preemptive banning)
http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/

(11) Food Babe: Be A Beauty Store Dropout
http://www.donotlink.com/cxvy

Food Babe Ava Anderson Article [retracted]

This article has been retracted due to an error (mine) in the ingredient list.  While I work hard to ensure accuracy, I’m also human. I got this one wrong.  I’m grateful to the two readers who contacted me to notify me of the error.  Your diligence is appreciated.  I also apologize to Ava Anderson.  This is a company with a great reputation for providing safe cosmetics. This fact was pointed out in the original article but bears repeating here.

Regular readers of my Food Babe “Dangerous” series know that I always stress that the product being discussed is actually completely safe, and that was certainly the case for any Ava Anderson product mentioned.  Readers unfamiliar with the style of these articles might not have made it to the conclusion section where I reveal that experts in science and chemistry agree everything in the product is safe.  But tying this company’s product to a list of ingredients that was not their own could lead to confusion.  So I’ll reiterate–there’s nothing to fear from this company’s product.

Because I criticize certain other blogger/activists for quietly deleting the evidence when they’re shown to be wrong, a deletion of the page itself would be uncalled for.  In place of the original, retracted content, I’m leaving this apology.

Admit your mistakes.  Apologize.  Work harder next time.  That’s my plan going forward.

Food Babe Selling “Dangerous” Items: Tarte Blush

(Updated 22 Oct 2015 10:30pm)  When caught in the act, Vani Hari occasionally quietly pulls a product from her lineup without explanation.  She appears to have done that with the Tarte Blush described in this article.  Below is a screen snapshot of her shopping page, taken today, with a big red “X” marking the spot where the Tarte Blush was removed.

Compare it to the shopping page snapshot in the article, below, and ask yourself what happened to Food Babe’s new policy on transparency?  Where’s her retraction?  She’s been selling this product for years… 😦    (click photo to enlarge)

Food Babe quietly deleted this product from her lineup sometime after being called out on its sale in my . She continues to sell other items mentioned in that article. (click/enlarge)

 

Begin original article:

We’ve already once caught Vani Hari (the Food Babe) falsely claiming that vitamin A (retinyl palmitate) causes cancer while at the same time earning a sales commission on a skin care product that contains vitamin A.¹

Would she make the same mistake twice?

Yes.  And this one is mind boggling.

First, let’s refresh our memories on Hari’s vitamin A claims.  Here’s a telling Facebook post:²

 

And from her web site, we have this:³

 

With that out of the way, it’ time to go shopping at Food Babe’s online store.

Oh, that Tarte Blush looks nice!⁴

Tarte Blush on FoodBabe.com. Note the encrypted Amazon.com affiliate link. Click image to enlarge.

 

You can see from the encrypted Amazon.com affiliate link that she earns a sales commission if you buy this item.

But… I wonder what’s in the blush?

The answer isn’t on Amazon.com.  Tarte doesn’t list the ingredients there.⁵  But some digging on the company web site eventually provided an answer:

My apologies, but Tarte goes at this a little awkwardly.  They’re so proud of their ingredients that they list them first.  You must choose an ingredient from a list to see all the products that contain it.  In other words, you can’t just click a product to see what it’s made of.  You must scan a web page for “vitamin A”, then click “vitamin A” to learn where Tarte uses it.  Geez!

Anyway, sure enough, Tarte has products that contain vitamin A.  Unlike Food Babe, they LOVE this ingredient…⁶

The official Tarte Cosmetics web site sings the praises of vitamin A (retinyl palmitate).  Tarte is so proud of their ingredients that you START with an ingredient, then drill-down to a list of products that contain it.  (Click to enlarge.)

 

… but how about the specific product recommended by Food Babe–the Tarte Blush?

One more mouse click gives us a list of the company’s cosmetics that contain vitamin A–the ingredient that Vani Hari falsely claims causes cancer.  And sure enough:⁷

Tarte Cosmetics products containing vitamin A.  Yes, there’s the blush Food Babe recommends. (Click image to enlarge.)

 

Only $26 for a product that Food Babe repeatedly says will give you cancer.

What percentage of that $26 goes to Vani Hari when you purchase via her web site?

Conclusion
Vani Hari falsely says that retinyl palmitate (vitamin A) will give you cancer if you apply it to your skin and go out in the sun.^2,3  But she’s earning a sales commission on a cosmetic that contains vitamin A.

So Hari is hypocritical.  If you buy this blush from her web page and wear it in the sun, she, by her own standards, is making you cancer-prone.

But are you really?

No.

In a previous article on Food Babe’s vitamin A hypocrisy, I pointed what experts say about the safety of vitamin A.¹  A 2010 study published by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology concluded that there was absolutely no evidence that retinyl palmitate (vitamin A) was implicated in cancer.⁸

Experts say there’s no proof whatsoever that Tarte Cosmetics Blush–or any other product containing retinyl palmitate–will give you cancer.  Buy from Tarte with wild abandon, and feel safe in doing so.

But please don’t buy via affiliate links on Food Babe’s web page.

 

You May Also Be Interested In
Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Shampoo
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/29/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-honeysuckle-shampoo/

Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Naturally Fresh Deodorant
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-naturally-fresh-deodorant

Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Physician’s Formula Organic Wear
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/01/08/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-physicians-formula-organic-wear/

The Food Babe Ban List
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/17/the-food-babe-ban-list/

 

Image Credits
Amazon.com and Tarte product, and Food Babe screen snapshots are used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

 

References
Please note: To prevent increasing search engine exposure for objectionable web sites, I use the DoNotLink service to obfuscate their URLs. I promise you are not being redirected to porn.

(1) Food Babe Selling “Dangerous” Items: Kiss My Face Moisture Shave
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/01/06/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-kiss-my-face-moisture-shave/

(2) Food Babe Facebook Post on Vitamin A
http://www.donotlink.com/d5e2

(3) Food Babe web site vitamin A
http://www.donotlink.com/p-x

(4) Food Babe Online Shop: “For Your Beauty” (Tarte Blush)
http://www.donotlink.com/d1vg

(5) Tarte Blush on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Tarte-12-Hour-Amazonian-Blush-Fearless/dp/B00BFCY8BE

(6) Tarte Cosmetics: Benefits of Vitamin A
http://tartecosmetics.com/skinvigorating-ingredients#skinvig:1

(7) Tarte Cosmetics: Products Containing Vitamin A
http://tartecosmetics.com/tarte-shop-vitamins-a-c-e

(8) Safety of retinyl palmitate in sunscreens: A critical analysis
http://www.jaad.org/article/S0190-9622%2810%2900850-9/abstract

 

 

Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Physician’s Formula Organic Wear

In “How To Find The Best Natural Mascara That Actually Works,”¹ Vani Hari (the “Food Babe”) serves up her usual plate of scare tactics, smearing market leaders in the cosmetics industry while offering up a buffet of “safe” alternative mascaras.

Of course, with all of these alternatives, she earns a sales commission.  Take, for example, Physician’s Formula Organic Wear mascara:

You click, and Vani cashes in — Physician’s Formula Mascara and Food Babe’s encrypted Amazon.com affiliate ID (click to enlarge).

 

But how safe is this mascara?  As in the other articles in this series, we’re going to make that judgement according to Food Babe rules: we’ll scan the list of ingredients² (click the image below to enlarge), and if anything looks dangerous we’re going to cry “foul!”

–Physician’s Formula mascara ingredients (click to enlarge).

 

FOUL!!!
No… “Foul”, not “Fowl”.

Sorry.

Did you see the titanium dioxide?

Sherman, set the Wayback Machine³ for August 25, 2014, and let’s look at this Food Babe post about Caramel IV coloring⁴ in Starbucks’ Pumpkin Latte:

So… “4-Mel” might possibly cause cancer in humans and is known to cause cancer in lab animals.  Scientists call these type of chemicals “group 2B carcinogens.”  Please keep that term in mind.  It will be important later.

Food Babe wants us to avoid group 2B carcinogens.  Do you know what else is in this group?

Drum-roll please…

 

Yes, titanium dioxide!  (Agents Classified by the IARC Monographs, Volumes 1–111.⁹)

Remember Vani told you 4-Mel (in Starbucks’ latte) caused cancer in lab animals and possibly caused cancer in humans?  Here’s a quote on titanium dioxide from the U.S. National Library of Medicine Toxicology Data Network’s database.⁵   Food Babe appears to do a lot of quote mining of this very database, so I think it’s rather striking:

 

Read it with me, Food Babe:  “Titanium dioxide is possibly carcinogenic to humans.”  And “there is sufficient evidence in experimental animals for the carcinogenicity of titanium dioxide.”  Didn’t you just say the same thing about Starbucks?

It gets worse: in an article on sunscreens, Hari strongly recommends seeking out and buying products that contain titanium dioxide.¹¹  You probably won’t be surprised to learn she’s more than happy to sell you titanium dioxide-laden products via her web site.

If you’re a Food Babe Army member thinking “wait a minute, I’m drinking the Starbucks but only putting the titanium dioxide in my eyes and on my skin,” I’m afraid you’re out of luck.  In upcoming article, we’ll be looking at how Food Babe disparages a group of chemicals known as parabens, commonly used in cosmetics.  She says such cosmetics are dangerous to use on your skin, but she recommends eating parabens.  Seriously.

So, a question: why is it wrong to buy a group 2B carcinogen from Starbucks but OK to buy it from a link on Food Babe’s web page?  I’d invite you to ask Vani Hari that, but she deletes such questions from social media and bans the people who ask them.

Before you panic, please read the exciting (?) conclusion.  There’s something about “group 2B carcinogens” you really need to know.

 

Conclusion
How dangerous is titanium dioxide–really?  Consider this: other group 2B carcinogens include coffee, pickled vegetables, nickel, talc body powder, and the professions of carpentry and firefighting.¹¹

Yes, really.

According to experts,⁷ group 2B carcinogens are:

“[…] agents for which there is limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and less than sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals.  [the term] may also be used when there is inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans but there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals. ” —International Agency for Research on Cancer  ⁷

Emphasis in the above quote is mine.  “Limited evidence”…  I’m not an expert in the field, but I’m not really too worried about titanium dioxide.  Or Starbucks’ latte.  And Vani Hari is a hypocrite.  If she’s going to wage war against Starbucks, she needs to toss the mascara in the garbage can.

And while we’re at it… there are also “group 1” carcinogens.  Far more dangerous than group 2B (4-Mel, titanium dioxide, etc.), group 1 members are known to cause cancer.  Why do I mention this?

Alcoholic beverages are group 1 carcinogens.^9,10

I’ll just leave you with some screen captures of Food Babe enjoying and/or raving about this group 1 cancer-causer:

Food Babe and Group 1 carcinogen alcohol (click to enlarge).

 

 

Image Credits
Amazon.com and Food Babe screen snapshots used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

Fowls from WikiCommons user “Rex“, used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.  Image owner does not necessarily agree with or support the views expressed by the author.

 

You May Also Be Interested In
Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Naturally Fresh Deodorant
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-naturally-fresh-deodorant/

Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items:  Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Shampoo
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/29/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-honeysuckle-shampoo/

 

References
Please note: To prevent increasing search engine exposure for objectionable web sites, I use the DoNotLink service to obfuscate their URLs.  I promise you are not being redirected to porn.

(1) Food Babe: How To Find The Best Natural Mascara That Actually Works
http://www.donotlink.com/cl9t

(2) Physicians Formula Organic Wear on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ID39I0

(3) Wayback Machine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WABAC_machine

(4) Food Babe Caramel IV Archives
http://www.donotlink.com/d1ir

(5) U.S. National Library of Medicine Toxicology Data Network
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search2/r?dbs+hsdb:@term+@rn+@rel+13463-67-7

(6) PubChem Compound Summary for CID 26042 (Titanium Dioxide)
http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/26042#section=Medical-Surveillance

(7) IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans
http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Preamble/currentb6evalrationale0706.php

(8) FDA UCM215717.pdf (contains Group 2B summary)
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMeetingMaterials/TobaccoProductsScientificAdvisoryCommittee/UCM215717.pdf

(9) Agents Classified by the IARC Monographs, Volumes 1–111
http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Classification/ClassificationsGroupOrder.pdf

(10) National Cancer Institute: Alcohol and Cancer Risk
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/alcohol

(11) Food Babe: The Ingredients in Sunscreen Destroying Your Health
http://www.donotlink.com/p-x

 

 

 

 

Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Kiss My Face Moisture Shave

If you read the first and second articles in this series, you know the drill by now:  I present an article by Vani Hari (the “Food Babe”) in which she slanders a product; she then pushes an alternative for which she receives affiliate commissions.

In turn, I use her very same “safety” rules to show her own substitute products are dangerous.  The alternatives usually contain the same ingredients.

With introductions out of the way, let’s get started on article #3, in which we’ll “prove” she’s pushing another “cancer causing” product on her Food Babe Army.  (Please note the quotation marks!)  Today’s target is Kiss My Face Moisture Shave, conveniently available via a shill link from the Food Babe shopping page:¹

“Kiss My Face Moisture Shave” (aka “kiss your money goodbye”)

 

Let’s look at the ingredients in Kiss My Face Moisture Shave:²  Click the image to enlarge if necessary…

Kiss My Face Moisture Shave ingredients. (Click image to enlarge.)

 

Now I’d like to go back to May 2013, where Food Babe tried to scare the [expletive deleted] out of us with this gem in an article about sunscreens:³

 

Skin cancer from vitamin A?!?  Hey, wait a minute… what was the first ingredient in the Kiss My Face Moisture Shave again?  Here, let me zoom in on it…

 

Why yes, it’s vitamin A (retinyl palmitate)!

But… but… Vani Hari told us that putting vitamin A on your skin and going out in the sun could speed the development of skin tumors and lesions!  Wouldn’t you at least expect a warning from her to not go out in the sun after using Kiss My Face Moisture Shave?

So something is clearly going wrong here.  Either:

1. Hari doesn’t investigate the products she’s selling as closely as those she slanders, or
2. She does investigate those she sells–but hides the facts to earn money, or
3. She just doesn’t understand what the [expletive deleted] she’s talking about

I’m voting on (3), but you draw your own conclusions.  Speaking of conclusions:

 

Conclusion
Food Babe doesn’t link to any scholarly resource when making her cancer claim.  Her source is “The Environmental Working Group” (EWG) who, not surprisingly, has a “Sun Safety Store” on Amazon.com.  Look, folks, if you’re going to fall for this type of shill activity, please contact me for instructions on sending me your life savings.  Seriously.

The cold hard facts:  a 2010 study published by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology concluded that there was no evidence whatsoever that retinyl palmitate was implicated in cancer.⁴

The point remains: Food Babe claims vitamin A causes cancer if you rub it on your skin and expose your skin to sunlight.

And she’s trying to sell you a product loaded with vitamin A.

“Kiss My Face” is as safe as any other product on the market.  Buy it with wild abandon.  But please don’t buy it via a link on Food Babe’s web site.

 

Image Credits
Amazon.com product and Food Babe screen snapshots are used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

 

References
Please note: To prevent increasing search engine exposure for objectionable web sites, I use the DoNotLink service to obfuscate their URLs. I promise you are not being redirected to porn.

(1) Food Babe “Kiss My Face” Shopping Page
http://www.donotlink.com/d1vg

(2) Kiss My Face product page on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001E0SP20

(3)  Food Babe: Sunscreens
http://www.donotlink.com/p-x

(4) Safety of retinyl palmitate in sunscreens: A critical analysis
http://www.jaad.org/article/S0190-9622%2810%2900850-9/abstract

 

You May Also Be Interested In
Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Shampoo
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/29/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-honeysuckle-shampoo/

Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Naturally Fresh Deodorant
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-naturally-fresh-deodorant

The Food Babe Ban List
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/17/the-food-babe-ban-list/