Have you ever counted how many cosmetics or personal care products you use in a day? Chances are it's nearly 10.

And chances are good that they include shampoo, toothpaste, soap, deodorant, hair conditioner, lip balm, sunscreen, body lotion, shaving products if you're a man, and cosmetics if you are a woman.

And what about your children? On any given day you might rub, spray, or pour some combination of sunscreen, diaper cream, shampoo, lotion, and maybe even insect repellent on their skin.

Most people use these products without a second thought, and believe that the government must certainly be policing the safety of the mixtures in these myriad containers. But they're wrong.

The government does not require health studies or pre-market testing for these products before they are sold. And as people apply an average of 126 unique ingredients on their skin daily, these chemicals, whether they seep through the skin, rinse down the drain, or flush down the toilet in human excretions, are causing concerns for human health, and for the impacts they may have to wildlife, rivers and streams.

So go ahead, take 2 minutes and 29 seconds to get the story behind cosmetics. Then take the important step to find out what's lurking in YOUR cosmetics, and find safer options in EWG's Cosmetics Database - it's easy to search.

PS - Grab the embed code and post it on your site.

When I shop for furniture, I usually think of what NOT to get - no sprayed-on stain protection, no flame retardants, no unsustainable wood, and the list goes on.

So it's a relief to find out that there is at least one furniture maker who frees you from having to ask all those questions or fret over all those worries, because they're thinking about your health and the environment for you.

Introducing the Q Collection, a furniture line out of New York City that EWG President Ken Cook likes to joke he'd be happy to eat with a little mango salsa.

The Q Collection has a mission
This company's mission has to do with your home and the environment (how refreshing): Be people safe and planet safe. How? By designing and manufacturing long-lasting furniture that doesn't rely on harmful materials typically used in furniture and fabrics. That means making eco-healthy choices like:

• No formaldehyde
  Formaldehyde is used in most furniture adhesives, but the Q Collection uses only water-based adhesives.
• No polyurethane, no dacron
  Polyurethane, a known carcinogen, is used as a topcoat and in the manufacturing of foam and dacron (part of foam padding) contains toluene. This company uses only water-based stains, topcoats and natural latex foam rubber.
• No brominated flame retardants
  Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are banned in Europe but are still being used extensively in US upholstery manufacturing.
• No heavy metals
  Leather tanning is the most harmful of all fabric production processes because it relies on harmful heavy metals like chromium 6.
• No toxic stain resistant chemicals
  Fabrics often contain dioxin (typically as a byproduct of the dyeing and finishing processes), a powerful carcinogen that is also known to damage the human immune system. Dioxins are also on the "dirty dozen" list of persistent environmental pollutants (POPs).
• Sustainably harvested wood, 100% certified
  The source of most wood used to make furniture today is unknown. Unfortunately, it can come from some of the world's most threatened ecosystems, such as old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest or the Amazon rain forest. The U.S. is by far the largest importer of virgin timber from the Amazon.
• Organic or European ecological cotton
  Cotton is the world's most polluting crop because of enormous levels of pesticides and herbicides used in growing it.
• Non-toxic, low-impact fabric dyes
  Fabric dyes often contain toxic chemicals that are suspected to cause cancer, reproductive or developmental damage.

Where to get Q Collection furniture
The Q Collection Junior (see nursery photo, right) is available online and in these stores in the US, Canada, Australia and the Cayman Islands. The studio line (all ages!) is available online or in their NYC Flagship store.

Beyond the sheer joy of knowing that it really is possible to find safe furniture for you and your children, there's a larger, important message here: making safe, environmentally friendly furniture is possible, and it doesn't have to break the bank. Thank you, Jesse Johnson & Anthony Cochran, for showing the way with the Q Collection.

[Gorgeous photo is of the Q Collection Junior line.]

By Alex Formuzis, EWG Director of Communications

Driving the ladies wild just became more expensive.

Conopco Inc. d/b/a Unilever, the company that makes the popular male body spray AXE, has been fined more than $1 million by California for releasing volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, every time a young man sprays himself down before hitting the club or heading off to school.

I remember it was Drakkar Noir and Obsession for Men back in my day; too bad neither did a thing for me. Could it have been my liberal applications of both that had the girls running flat out in the opposite direction? Who knows?

Fast-forward from the cologne-fueled mid-80's to today. Millions of young men now keep a bottle of AXE body spray in their rooms, lockers or glove boxes. That's where I kept mine. Again, maybe part of my problem.

You propel your A-X-E with W-H-A-T?
A can of AXE uses volatile organic compounds (aka VOCs) as propellants. In fact, VOCs are used in most spray products, including hair spray and paint. VOCs force the substance from the can into the air and onto whatever surface it's meant to coat. In the case of AXE, that's the body.

VOCs, which are significant contributors to low-level air pollution, can be naturally occurring or synthetic. They are numerous and varied; i.e., they're everywhere. For that reason, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates VOCs in water, air and land. The agency also regulates certain VOCs in household products.

The California story
The use of VOCs at low levels is sanctioned in California. But if a product emits the pollutant above the legal limit, the state Air Resources Board (ARB) will fine the manufacturer. The board's Enforcement Chief, James Ryden, sums it up like this:

"Consumer products, because of their pervasive use, contribute a growing portion of VOC emissions throughout California. Therefore, it's important that every can and bottle of product be compliant with ARB's standards."

Learn more about...

• ...the fine levied against the maker of AXE on Environment News Service.
• ...teen boys using AXE and other fragrance products in this January NY Times article, Masculinity in a Spray Can.

Last September, EWG released a Cell Phone Radiation Science Review and a first-of-its-kind database showing the radiation levels of thousands of cell phones. The response was huge - not surprising, given how increasingly attached we are to our phones.

The report is chock-full of information, but we know that not everyone has time to sit down and read it all, so we created a cell phone radiation series here on Enviroblog to break it down into more manageable chunks. Here it is, all in one place for easy perusing:

• Part 1: The Science - The basic facts on what cell phone radiation is and what current research says about its effects on your health


• Part 2: 8 Ways to Reduce Your Exposure - We're not telling you to give up your cell phone (like you would). Instead, use these easy tips on how to reduce the amount of radiation coming from your phone.


• Part 3: Who's Protecting You? - Shouldn't products on the market be safe? Learn what the government currently is doing to regulate cell phones, and what they should be doing.


• Part 4: What Phones Emit, Bodies Absorb - The specific absorption rate, or SAR value, measures how much radiation your body absorbs. We break down the factors that influence SAR (how you use the phone, where you use the phone, what kind of phone you have), so you know how to minimize what goes into your body.


• Part 5: Buy smart - One way to reduce your exposure to radiation is by using a phone that has low SAR values to start with. Here's how to find the radiation level of your current phone or one that you're considering buying.

Stay tuned in coming weeks for an update to EWG's cell phone database - we're adding new phones to keep it current. (Hop on our email list to be sure to get the latest news.)

EWG staffers put our heads together to come up with this list of bad news environmental stories of the last decade that people might have missed. But there were plenty of big stories that hardly anyone could have missed, such as climate change. What's on your list of the biggest environmental stories of the last 10 years?

1. Secret Gas Drilling Chemical Almost Kills Colorado Nurse
Doctors ran into a medical mystery -- and a stone wall from industry -- when they tried to find what was in a gas drilling chemical that nearly killed a Colorado nurse. Aren't you glad that Congress exempted these "fracking" chemicals from regulation under the Safe Water Drinking Act?

2. Intersex Fish Turn Up All Over
Are you a boy or are you a girl? That's the question that scientists are asking as they study the organs of supposedly male fish from coast to coast and find eggs in many of them. The chief suspects: endocrine-disrupting pollutants that even in tiny amounts can mimic hormones and affect sexual development.

3. Prescription Drugs in Your Drinking Water
Take a swallow and call me in the morning. Antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones - they've all turned up in tests of drinking water around the country. Could there be health risks from decades of drinking water laced with combinations of potent drugs?

4. And Rocket Fuel, Too
Perchlorate -- the stuff is used in rocket fuel and explosives and turns up not just in water but also in milk, lettuce, other foods - and in our bodies. It's been linked to thyroid problems in pregnant women, newborns and infants. The EPA is reconsidering its earlier decision not to regulate it in water. Stand by.

5. Ethanol -- Not Just Bad Energy Policy
There are a lot of reasons to question the drive for biofuels, especially corn-based ethanol, but there has been much less attention paid to what it means for air pollution and health. For people who like to breathe clean air, the balance doesn't look promising.

6. Non-stick, No-Stain and No-Good
They were the miracle products that were supposed to make life easier - keeping spills from staining our couches and making it easy to clean our pots without scrubbing -- until it all went sour. Chemicals in the original Teflon and now off-the-market Scotchgard were linked to cancer and developmental problems. They have a way of polluting everything and they refuse to go away.

7. Monsanto Owns Corn (and also soybeans)
80% of the corn and 95% percent of the soybeans grown in America contain genes inserted by Monsanto scientists, and the company writes tough - and secret - licensing agreements to maintain control and lock out competitors. Now the Justice Department and some states are thinking these practices might violate anti-trust laws. Turnips, anyone?

8. Occupational Hazard: Microwave Popcorn
This fun food turned to be no fun for people who make it. A strange lung malady that sickened workers in plants that make microwave popcorn was traced to a widely used butter flavoring. And one popcorn-crazy consumer was felled, too. It took a while, but OSHA finally took a look, and the stuff is being phased out.

9. Dead (Zone) on Arrival
In the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere, vast expanses of ocean have been turned into biological deserts as fertilizer runoff from farms washes downstream and nourish runaway algae growth, which deplete most of the oxygen when the tiny organisms die and decompose. The Gulf dead zone has more than doubled in size since the 1980s - accelerated by the boom in crops grown to make biofuels. In 2009, it was smaller than predicted, but more intense, in 2009.

10. The (Not So) Great Pacific Trash Gyre
It's hard to spot from the water or even from space, but an estimated 3.5 million tons of mostly plastic trash from all over the world floats just below the surface of the Pacific, swirling slowly around in an area of circular currents twice the size of Texas. It's devastating to birds and sea creatures that think the plastic bits are food. It's time to stop adding to the mess - and then see if there's any way to clean it up.

What stories top your list of the decade's biggest environmental news??

"More public information can only be positive." So says Renee Sharp, director of EWG's California office, in response to news that San Francisco might become the first U.S. city to require retailers to label cell phones with information on their radiation levels.

It's what we've been saying all along, and it's why EWG created a searchable database of cell phone radiation levels. We think consumers have a right to information that will help them choose the phone with the lowest potential radiation emissions.

While the research isn't settled on just how dangerous cell phone radiation is to your health, there's enough troubling evidence that we suggest you take precautions to reduce your exposure.

Radiation emissions vary
A few weeks ago we talked about SAR values - the measure of how much radiation a phone emits. The gist is that how much radiation a phone gives off depends on the design of the phone, what network you're on and how you're using the phone.

Since emitted radiation values vary, you can make easy, daily choices to reduce your exposure - but you can also find a lower-emitting phone to start with.

Curious about your phone's radiation level?
Cell phones certified for use in the US must have SAR values within the limits set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). However, manufacturers have not exactly been eager to disclose these levels to consumers.

If you still have your phone manual, you might find the SAR number there. Or not. You might also find the SAR for your phone on the manufacturer's website. Or not. There is one central repository of SAR values - a database of cell phones that FCC has maintained since 2000.

So then it should be easy - just log on and look up your cell phone to see how much radiation it emits, right?

Not quite. To find your phone's radiation level on the FCC website, you need its FCC ID number, which is conveniently located in the user manual (probably stuffed in that drawer with 6 manuals for your laptop, your iron's warranty and directions for the last 2 cameras you bought) or on the phone itself (generally under the battery, so you might need a small screwdriver and nimble fingers to get at it).

Once you find the ID number, plug it in on the FCC website, and you get links to all of the documentation that the phone manufacturer submitted to the FCC. After picking one of six rounds of submissions, each with 20 links to various documents, I found a 45-page pdf, with sections like "Liquid Test Parameters" and "Output Power Verification," that included the results from five different tests of my phone's SAR levels. (Is your head spinning yet?)

Oh, and don't forget - you can't even go through all of this rigamarole if you don't have the phone's FCC ID number. And since you can only get that from the user manual or the phone itself, you can't use the FCC site to check out a phone's SAR value before you buy it. So consumer friendly!

EWG's database makes it easier
That's where EWG's comprehensive cell phone database comes in. We combed through user manuals & manufacturer websites to create an easy tool that lets you to enter the name of your phone to find out its SAR value.

Go ahead, use our handy widget to search by model, network or manufacturer. We'll tell you the phone's listed SAR value, as well as how it compares to other phones.

Consumers have a right to know
As much as we at EWG like helping you make safe and healthy lifestyle choices, shouldn't it really be the cell phone retailers and manufacturers providing this information directly to consumers? Data on cell phone SAR values should be available at the point of sale, so purchasers (that's you) can use it as one factor in making a decision on which phone to buy.

San Francisco is leading the way to do just this: newly proposed legislation would require retailers to put a phone's SAR values right next to its price. Phone manufacturers object on the grounds that cell phone radiation hasn't been proven harmful. But as the Financial Times notes, if phone manufacturers are so sure about their products' safety, shouldn't they be willing to disclose information on radiation emissions?

What you can do
Tell the FCC and FDA that you want to know about SAR values before you buy! Use EWG's easy form to send them a message asking for mandatory disclosure requirements and more research on cell phone radiation safety.

And don't forget - use EWG's tips to reduce your exposure to radiation, even without buying a new phone. If you're in the market (especially if you're buying a gift for a younger person, who may be more at risk for health effects from radiation), be sure to use the EWG database or widget to find the lowest-emitting phone that satisfies your needs.

If you don't have the time to read Nena Baker's book about the toxic chemicals we're exposed to every day (though we recommend it), here's your chance to get the skinny from the author in less than 15 minutes.

On November 24th, she talked with Grit.tv's Laura Flanders: