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

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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