Tuesday links

Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database, put together by the environmental working group, is a breath of fresh air and reason to make you gasp.
Type in a cosmetics product, company or ingredient and it'll give you the scoop on the potential dangers of the things you put on your body every day.
I grabbed a nearby container, Clinique's Superdefense triple action moisturizer SPF 25, and typed in the first active ingredient: octinoxate.
A yellow dot lets me know it's a moderate hazard and details the potential problems (from developmental/reproductive toxicity to allergic reactions) citing the scientific studies that support the hazard rating for each concern.
It displays the products uses, other products its used in and other names for the chemical.
In this case, the product is a sunscreen so I even got a chart of how effective it is against various rays.
Overall, Clinique as a company uses ingredients ranging from a 2 (low hazard) to a 7 (high hazard). By contrast, the soap we've been actively switching to, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, ranks a 1-2 (low hazard).
I suspected Dr. Bronner' was offering the real thing: an actual natural, safe soap. The proof is in the database.