It's a fact: Adolescent girls love beauty products. They love hair sprays, gels, mousses, eye shadow, mascara, nail polish, and any product that will make them smell like a perfumery. Unfortunately, these glamorous products wrapped in chic labels are often created from unregulated and toxic chemicals to which the maturing bodies of adolescent girls may be especially vulnerable.

Women and girls use an average of 12 personal care products daily-each one containing a plethora of chemicals and compounds. Amazingly, the Food and Drug Administration does not require companies to do safety testing of cosmetic products before marketing. Shampoos, antiperspirants, and lotions are all easily absorbed through the skin, and many of these products contain parabens and phthalates-harmful chemicals that can manipulate estrogen levels and may increase breast cancer risk.

To help educate and inform the public to the health risks of common personal care products-as well as cleaning products, metals, and plastics that are often used every day-the scientists at Vassar College have compiled research from nearly 200 scientific sources and synthesized it into a user-friendly multimedia CD-ROM, "Environmental Risks and Breast Cancer." The disc explores potential risks of these items and lists alternatives to the most dangerous.

Vassar College professor of neuroscience and behavior Janet M. Gray, PhD, directed the project. She has researched the effects of the breast cancer drug tamoxifen on brain metabolic activity for almost 25 years. "More and more we are learning that what we eat and what we do to our bodies or put on or in our bodies may make a difference to our health in the future. As a teen (or the parent of a teen), you and your friends can make a big change," says Gray.

A useful element of the CD-ROM is a printable brochure, "Staying Healthy: Suggestions." It lists steps people can take immediately-from helping adolescent daughters select safer products, to suggestions such as using skin lotions only when necessary rather than every day, to choosing "green" cleaning products for the home.

Individuals are encouraged to read labels on all personal care products and avoid anything that lists parabens (methylparaben, propylparaben, isoparaben, and butylparaben) or phthalates (di-n-butyl phthaltate-DBP, commonly found in nail polish) and di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP, found in perfumes). A list of 18 companies that make paraben-free products is also included, such as Honeybee Gardens, Living Nature Products, and Suki's Naturals. Companies that make phthalate-free products are Aveda, The Body Shop, and Neways.

Choosing safer products is easy. By reading the labels on sunscreens, for example, you can avoid the five parabens used in Clinique's Sun-Care UV-Response Face Cream, and instead choose Hot Spots Certified Organic Formula Sunscreen, made by Gardiner-based Kiss My Face. Both products have an SPF 30 rating, and there are zero parabens in the one made by Kiss My Face.

"By learning about chemicals in cosmetics, by understanding about how you safely use plastics, by thinking about ways to minimize the use of pesticides at home and in your schools-you can make a difference, for yourself and for your friends in the future," says Gray. "It might mean we could really see decreases in horrible diseases like breast cancer."

The "Environmental Risks and Breast Cancer" CD is free and available upon request through the Vassar College website, erbc.vassar.edu. To find out the ingredients and safety ratings of health and beauty aids in your cabinet, go to www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep and type in your products.