PETROLATUM, MEDICINE?

The other day I was transplanting cactus, when I ran the tip of my finger into one. It felt like a dart jammed me. The needles broke off deep in my skin in three places. Instead of picking at my sore finger with a needle, I decided to go to Walgreens and see if they sold some sort of drawing salve. I was surprised and relieved when the lady behind the pharmaceutical counter said she could help me. Even though a prescription was not needed, they didn’t keep the product on the shelf, where a shopper would have access, but instead they kept it behind the counter. I didn’t question why they kept the product hidden. But when I got home, I was floored to find not only was this medicine brown and greasy, but it smelled like used motor oil!

The product is called, Ichthammol Ointment 20%, distributed by Perrigo. The ointment contains petrolatum (which is used in make up and skin care products, as well as petroleum jellies such as Vaseline), Ichthammol (also known as black drawing salve, and a home remedy used for skin disorders, derived from sulfur-rich oil shale), light mineral oil, and lanolin (wool wax or wool grease).

Coming from a Gulf Coast perspective, I find it somewhat suspicious and outright crazy that medicine would smell like dirty motor oil. So I decided to do a little research.

PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), are common contaminants in petrolatum, also called petroleum jelly. Petrolatum is found in one of every fourteen products on the market, including fifteen percent of all lipstick and forty percent of all baby lotions and oils. Exemplifying lip balm, sun screen and tanning oils; everything you need for a day on a Florida beach.

Studies at Columbia University show that women with breast cancer were two point six times more likely to have elevated levels of PAHs. To further the concerns of using a petrolatum based products is the European Union’s Dangerous Substance Directive (2004) restricting petrolatum use in cosmetics, by targeting it as a probable human carcinogen. And of course, not only is it legal to use the product in cosmetics here in the United States, but the FDA has taken it a step further and approved petrolatum as an indirect food additive as well.

Petrolatum became known as a a medicine in 1859, by the men who worked on the first oil rigs in the United States. These men would use this worthless substance that forms on rigs to heal their cuts and burns. It dose not heal, but instead it seals keeping germs from getting into the wounded area. And that’s how petrolatum got its start as a medicine.

The reason why Petrolatum became so popular among the cosmetic industry is that it’s used as a barrier to lock moisture in the skin and it makes your hair shine. So be sure to check your bath soap, shampoo and hair conditioner, if you find this information concerning, along with all the other products I mentioned.

As always when dealing with corporate America, there are two sides to every story, but the moral seems to stay the same - greed. I think for myself. Common sense tells me, if it smells like dirty motor oil, then it most likely is; medicine it is not.