Colorants
The majority of the FDA-approved coloring
agents for foods and personal care products are
synthetic. These synthetic colors are primarily
derived from coal tar, with some coming from
mineral sources and a few from plants or animals.
The coal tar and mineral-based colors are created
in energy-intensive, environmentally UN-friendly
industrial manufacturing processes. Over the
years, many synthetic colorings were shown to be
toxic to humans and, as problems
(carcinogenicity, for example) were discovered,
they were banned from the market. Colorings found
in cosmetic products known as iron oxides
originated as minerals, but are often reacted
with chemicals at high temperature to isolate and
refine the material. While some commonly used
iron oxide colorings, although synthetic, may be
inert, one natural coloring, the mineral titanium
dioxide (also used as a sunscreen), has been
found in recent studies to be
photo-reactive--unstable in the presence of
sunlight--and in its degradation it can create
free radicals.
Many "natural" colorings that are
permitted in non-organic foods are extracted from
fruits and vegetables using toxic chemical
solvents such as hexane or acetone. Recently, a
class-action lawsuit involved two so-called
"natural" colorings, canthaxanthin and
astaxanthin, which were being added to
farm-raised fish to give the flesh an orange
color, but were not being identified on the
labels. These synthetic colorings are highly
controversial because they have been associated
with retinal damage in the human eye. The
European Union has restricted the use of these
chemicals because of the lack of safety data for
them. Fortunately, only fruit and vegetable
colors such as annatto, beet powder, caramel,
saffron or turmeric that are not
chemically-treated may be used in organic foods.
The FDA has not approved any botanically-based
colorings to be used in cosmetics except annatto,
henna (hair coloring only, not body paint) and
caramel (from sugar).
Carmine, a red coloring permitted for use in
foods and cosmetics, is extracted from the bodies
of female scale insects using chemical solvents.
Oddly, bar soaps only, not liquid soaps, are not
considered to be cosmetics and therefore are not
required to adhere to the FDA cosmetic coloring
guidelines. Although many companies do use the
FD&C or DC colorings for bar soaps, they are
also free to use other botanical colorings.
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