Lipstick and Lead? The FDA has agreed to investigate claims made by the group Campaign for Safe Cosmetics than many commercially available lipsticks contain high levels of lead. Previous analyses, the FDA notes, have not supported similar claims. Campaign for Safe Cosmetics reported that 1/3 of the lipsticks it tested had lead levels higher than that allowed by the FDA for candy, and that three L’Oreal lipsticks, two Cover Girls, and one from Dior had the highest levels. The cosmetic companies all told ABC News that they stand by the safety of their products. An industry trade group weighed in: “The average amount of lead a woman would be exposed to when using cosmetics is 1,000 times less than the amount she would get from eating, breathing, and drinking water that meets Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standards.”  Stay tuned…

Thyroid and Pregnancy: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is not recommending routine thyroid screening for pregnant women, as has been suggested by some researchers who have noted an association between preterm birth and impaired brain development in babies whose mothers had sub-clinical hypothyroidism. The ACOG finds that routine screening does not appear to improve outcomes for mothers and babies.

Asthma and Cleaners? The current issues of the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine reports an association between occasional use of spray cleaners and the development of asthma in adults. Air fresheners, furniture cleaners and glass-cleaners appear to have a particularly strong impact on the development of adult asthma. “The relative risk rates of developing adult asthma in relation to exposure to cleaning products could account for as much as 15 percent, or one in seven of adult asthma cases,” wrote Dr. [San-Paul] Zock.