Lawsuit Over Lead in Lipstick Advances

A lawsuit over a Dior lipstick containing lead can proceed now that a Chicago U.S. district court judge has turned down an appeal to throw out the case.

The class action lawsuit is directed at LVMH, maker of the Christian Dior Addict lipstick, and charges that the company sold lipstick, specifically the “positive red” shade, containing dangerous levels of lead.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics released an analysis of lead content in lipstick last October, and the lawsuit was filed shortly after, although the Campaign is not involved in the lawsuit.

The group took 33 lipsticks, some duplicates, and had them tested for lead content. Thirteen had no detectable levels, nine had detectable levels less than .1 parts per million (ppm), and 11 had detectable levels over .1 ppm, with the highest at .65 ppm.

“We would like to see the companies get lead out of lipstick completely and we think it can be done,” said Stacy Malkan, communications director for the Campaign. However, she said the Campaign would rather see the issue sorted out in labs and not the courts. Companies are already making lipstick without detectable levels of lead, she said, but due to FDA policies, companies don’t need to know how much lead is in their products.

Dior’s Addict “positive red” had .21 ppm. Other lipsticks from the company were found to have no detectable levels and less than .1 ppm. The highest levels were found in lipsticks by L’Oreal and Cover Girl, whose products ranged from .65 ppm to .28 ppm.

The Campaign chose to compare the lead content in relation to .1 ppm because that is the level the U.S. FDA set for allowable levels of lead in candy. The FDA has not set lead levels for lipstick, and cosmetics are not subject to FDA approval before being made available to consumers. The FDA does, though, set levels for lead in color additives, which are used in lipstick. The limits range from 10-20 ppm.

Aside from through color additives, lead can be introduced into lipstick as a byproduct of other ingredients and raw materials.

After the report came out last year, the FDA stated it did not consider comparing lead levels in lipstick to allowable levels for candy as valid due to the fact that candy is made to be eaten and lipstick is intended for topical use. The Campaign defends the comparison by saying that lipstick is still ingested in various ways and that lead-containing products are concerns especially for pregnant women and children.