Health Canada has found heavy metals in children's face paints exceeding the government's own proposed impurity limits, but can't take action because the standards aren't in place yet, internal documents show.

The levels of lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium or antimony found in products during routine testing of children's face paints are considered unacceptable in other jurisdictions, according to the department. The Health Canada survey is still ongoing, and so far three products have been flagged for exceeding the proposed limits.

In addition to updating Canada's cosmetics policy to be more "in line" with other jurisdictions, Health Canada reviewed established tolerable levels to set proposed impurity limits.

Women with potential exposure to pesticides at work or at home took longer to get pregnant than women without pesticide connections.

Pregnant women living in a migrant, farmworker community in California participated in the study. Although all women were pregnant, women who worked in agriculture, lived within 200 feet of agriculture fields or used pesticides in their home took significantly longer to conceive than those who did not have these pesticide exposures.

The findings agree with past studies and add more evidence to this sometimes confusing mix of research outcomes. Many studies have found a relationship between pesticides and male fertility, including effects on sperm health and longer time to pregnancy. However, few studies have examined how pesticide exposure might affect women's ability to get pregnant.

In this study, researchers looked at two types of pesticides: those like DDT that were banned in the 1970s and those currently used in agriculture today.

We are excited to announce that MOMS now offers Belli Skincare products through its online store. MOMS and Belli are a perfect combination: Belli skincare is the only skincare line that is LactMed screened and tested for teratogens (birth-defect causing agents).

Because Belli is committed to furthering the MOMS' mission of protecting moms and babies from toxic chemicals, it is helping to support our work through the sale of products from the MOMS store.

Belli Skincare is offering an exlcusive 20% discount for MOMS members who purchase Belli products through the our store.  If you're looking for the perfect gift for a new mom or baby, check out Belli products and support MOMS at the same time.

To receive the exclusive 20% discount, enter coupon code MOMSPROMO at checkout. 

In the first study of its kind, researchers in Taiwan find that phthalates can pass from pregnant women to their unborn babies and affect reproductive development in their daughters.
The paper reports an association between two types of the ubiquitous chemicals and permanent changes to the newborns' genitals that point to hormonal interference.  Overall, the results provide more evidence that human exposure to these endocrine-disrupting chemicals before birth can alter how reproductive systems form.

Phthalates are a class of endocrine disrupting chemicals used extensively in PVC plastics, cosmetics, food packaging and medical devices. The chemicals pollute the environment and are found in the urine of 95 percent of US residents.