Toxic Mineral Oil and Petroleum

After reading my last blgo about White Flower analgesic balm (and decongestant), you might have realized that several of the ingredients, like camphor and menthol, are the same as you will find in over the counter products you have used often from your pharmacy. Products such as Campho Phenique and Mentholatum. That's right. And they do work. Maybe they work as well for you, and maybe they don't, but, right now, that's not the point.

The point of this blog is to remind you that mineral oil (in Campho phenique) and pertroleum (in Mentholatum) are each byproducts of the petroleum industry. You know, like the gasoline you pump into your car, and the oil you lubricate the engine with! Mineral oil and petroleum are known CARCINOGENS.

I just took a test to be licensed as a massage therapist for the state of Texas. One of thequestions was "which oil should never be used on the human body?" the correct answer was mineral oil. On page 56, paragraph six, of my mainstay massage book from school, MASSAGE THERAPY by Susan Salvo, reads: " Avoild mineral oi8l because it is a known CARCINOGEN (substance that case cancer). Mineral oil, or liquid petroleum, is not miscible in the body oils and adds no nutritive value to the skin because it does not penetrate the skin. Often, mineral oils serve as the barrier that may clog the pores."

In other words, not only are these products introducing known carcinogen chemicals into your body, but by blocking your pores the active ingredients aren't able to penetrate the skin and work as well. Therefore, there is a good chance that White Flower will work more effectively than either Campho Phenique or Menthalatum.

Ms. Salvo continues in the same paragraph: "Most brands of body lotions and creams contain mineral oil because it is inexpensive and has an ifinite shelf life. Baby oils consist primarily of mineral oil." Great, just what your little baby needs, carcnogens!

Again, when it comes to carcinogens, think 'cumulative effect'. Over a lifetime, how many carcinogens are you absorbing not your body through all great smelling lotions you smear on to the gas you pump. Check for the active ingredients, not just in the stuff you smear on when sick like White Flower versus Campho Phenique or Menthalatum, but all those wonderful smelling lotions used after bathing, or after handwashing. Think about it. A little bit may not be much of a carcinogenic effect. But a lot probably would be. Your skin, remember, is your largest organ. And it absorbs so much, so well.

So just think about it. When you can, when you have the option, if the state of Texas doesn't want their massage therapists to ever use any ingredient with mineral oil or petrolatum because of carcinogens, why would you?