Unless you’re made of steel or are a robot, we all have to be incredibly careful about what we use on our skin and put on our bodies. Going into Sephora, you might find yourself going for the organic or “green” brand, but when you walk into a kids store you shouldn’t have to worry about what’s in those products because they’re for kids! Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for the tween girls’ store, Justice.
An investigation done by a North Carolina news station, WTVD, revealed the presence of asbestos in a highlighter that Justice sold. Sean Fitzgerald, the Director of Research and Analytical Services at the Scientific Analytical Institute in Greensboro, tested the Just Shine Shimmer Powder saying, “I would treat it like a deadly poison, because it is.” He told WTVD, “What we have here is a talc that was contaminated with asbestos that was used to manufacture a product unfortunately aimed at young children. Talc is a mineral, but it also forms in the earth with other minerals and some of those minerals are asbestos.”
Asbestos is known to cause lung cancer and mesothelioma which is why the FDA prohibits the use of talc that may have been contaminated by asbestos. Fitzgerald went on to say “In this powder designed for children, they could die an untimely death in their thirties or forties because of the exposure to asbestos in this product. Children should not be allowed to breathe it. If a 10-year-old inhaled this fiber today, when he’s 50 years old, it’s still there.” Not only was there deadly asbestos in the highlighter, toxic barium, chromium, selenium and lead were found in the product as well.
Justice has since stopped selling the highlighter and released this statement on their Facebook page.
Checking the ingredients in products is essential and could be potentially life saving as a consumer. Be safe collegiettes!