Finding parabens in breast tissue is scary, but many paraben free products have other even more worrisome preservatives substituted for the parabens. Some of these non-paraben preservatives come from chemical families that cause me even greater concern than parabens. As I 'grew up' in my dermatology training, I learned that parabens were the kinder,gentler preservatives. The best products contained parabens instead of formaldehyde releasers etc. Very conscientious chemists add them in only small amounts to products; as little as they can in order to do the job. It's becoming very difficult to functionally preserve skin care products without including scary and potentially toxic chemicals. Do you have a practical list of functional skin product preservatives that are effective and of low toxicity risk; a list that can be used to help guide companies in formulating products that are PROBABLY safer than what we have available now?

You highlight some important issues, Dr. Bailey; thank you. In speaking with my colleague Olga Naidenko, she highlighted the following: We recognize that commercial sales of cosmetics products are impossible without preservatives - but also that many preservatives are toxic to human health and the environment.

EWG has not developed a list of preservatives we would recommend; what we do is compile information that is available in the public domain. The problem is that for many preservatives there is a very large data gap. This is something that the cosmetics industry needs to address, by generating those studies and making them publicly available, so that both personal care product shoppers and scientific experts would be able to decide for themselves on what preservatives are "safest" or "most acceptable." At the moment, data insufficiency concerns remain.

It is so troubling that finding cosmetic products that are free of these toxins is very difficult. Why should it be so hard to find "safe" cosmetics, shampoos, soaps, and body products? Why are we not protected, as consumers, from this poison!? Most people do not know about this problem, and many do not have ability to search out alternatives --so most people buy these unsafe products. This is so saddening. This affects babies, little kids, teens, their moms, and so on.

You have raised very important questions. My health - it is our life. Taking care of your body and health gives us longevity.

These are important issues, indeed. I am curious, do you think the Cosmetics Safety Act of 2010 is the answer to protecting consumers? I am not against the bill completely, but I am against it as it is written as it places unrealistic requirements on the very people who are currently making the safest personal care products on the market today - small businesses!

What do you think?