Q. Dear Umbra,

I have a large collection of CDs from the ’90s and early ’00s. The CDs are stored in a wallet, but I’m not sure what to do with all my CD cases. I guess recycle the plastic and paper separately?

Justin J.
Elmhurst, Ill.

Photo by Vanessa Lynn.

A. Dearest Justin,

Your conundrum is as vexing and pervasive as a Third Eye Blind hit. I’ve given some suggestions for recycling CD cases before, but this time around I have some new material.

First of all, the paper inserts should be easy enough to recycle with your other paper goods, if that’s really the route you want to go. I know many people get sentimentally attached to the liners for the art, lyrics, and what have you. But yes, they’re generally recyclable.

If you wish to recycle the plastic cases, you might have a bit of a tougher go. These are #6 plastic (polystyrene), which may be recyclable where you live — be sure to check with your local authorities. Since #6 is not as wildly popular as, say, Maroon 5 in its heyday, a better bet might be one of several outfits around the country that will recycle these items for you; generally your costs are just for shipping. Check out GreenDisk, which takes all manner of “technotrash,” from iPods to X-rays; CD Recycling Center of America, which has several locations around the country; and CD Recycling Central, based in California, which recycles other e-waste items too.

What happens to your CD cases when you send them off this way? According to Earth 911, they are simply recycled into new plastic items, which we hope will be useful to someone — and then eventually recycled again.

You could also contact your local library to ask whether they need any replacement cases — I see from many discussions online that library patrons are wild and reckless, and CD cases often come back smashed. Many people also recommend posting the cases on a site such as Craigslist or Freecycle. One man’s trash, and all that.

So those are some avenues for you to pursue, Jason. But I have higher aims for you. Because it turns out your fellow music-lovers across the country have devised some very crafty ideas for reusing these relics of our modern music era. [Ed. Note: Fore more on these projects, check out our pretty pictures on Pinterest!] They include:

• photo-related projects such as wall murals, calendars, and towel hook identifiers

• little houses for plants and birds (though the jury’s out on whether birds could or should live in a jewel-toned plastic abode)

• handy desk items such as a notebook or pen and pencil holder

• a simple candle holder or, for the more ambitious, a night light or lamp (one designer even made a CD-case chandelier)

• kid-friendly craft projects like a terrarium, mosaic, or mini-maze

Creative! And we haven’t even gotten into things you can do with the CDs themselves. Boomerang! Shower curtain rods! The mind reels.

Dearest readers, let me know if you give any of these projects a try, or if you have other ideas. Rumors are swirling that 2012 will be the year the music industry gives up on the CD, after 30 years (the first CD, produced in 1982, was ABBA’s The Visitors) and more than 200 billion sold. Whether or not that’s the case, we have certainly bebopped our way into a waste-disposal mess. Let’s be on the lookout for fun ways to reduce this impact and quirkify our habitats.

Semi-charmedly,
Umbra

Q. Hi Umbra,

Can you recommend any books full of eco-friendly tips? I have Adria Vasil’s book, but I’m looking for something that might consolidate all of the information in your column.

Ashley
Calgary, Canada

Photo by Florin Gorgan.

A. Dearest Ashley,

Before I answer your question, a wee prologue. Dearest readers, please consider allocating a bit of your budget to Grist — tomorrow is the final day of our fundraising campaign, and we need 3,000 gifts of any size to earn a bonus $25,000. We could sure use your help.

Now back to our regularly scheduled advice column. You people still read books? This is very heartening. I do have recommendations for you, and I hope your fellow dearest readers will also weigh in with comments below.

First of all, check out Grist’s very own Wake Up and Smell the Planet: The Non-Pompous, Non-Preachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day. You say you want something that consolidates the advice in this column; roughly half of that book is drawn directly from my sage advice, and the rest comes from my wise peers, so I hope you will find it useful indeed.

Funny thing, actually: Around the time our book was published, a glutty glut of eco-guides hit the scene. This was back in 2008-2009, when green was fetching enough to be on the cover of Vanity Fair and other magazines, and book publishers were frothing at the mouth to cover every angle they could. As a result, you will find many breathless titles along the lines of 142 Green Tips to Save the Planet and Save Money and Look Good Doing It! Or my personal favorite, and this one is completely real, Eco-Horsekeeping: Over 100 Budget-Friendly Ways You and Your Horse Can Save the Planet.

It can be overwhelming. But the positive outcome of that weird frenzy is that you can find books geared very specifically for your interest area: weddings, beauty, travel, parenting, and so forth. So I think your best bet is to look for information on your topic of interest, from a source you trust, while avoiding the sort of breathy titles that promise to turn you into a chic, sexy person — especially since I’m sure you are already chic and sexy up there in Calgary. For instance, if you seek information on being green about the house, my standby is Annie Berthold Bond’s Better Basics for the Home: Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living. For years I didn’t go anywhere without my copy of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, and I’m excited to see that they have recently released a follow-up called Cooler Smarter: Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living. One of my other favorites is National Geographic’s Green Guide: The Complete Reference for Consuming Wisely.

By the way, if you get tired of tips and yearn for something a bit more meaty, I encourage you to check out The Post-Carbon Reader: Managing the 21st Century’s Sustainability Crises, in which lots of smartypants people talk about our biggest problems and some of the solutions taking shape, or Thriving Beyond Sustainability: Pathways to a Resilient Society, which documents people and projects around the world intent on building a better life.

Garamondly,
Umbra

P.S. Don’t forget to put down your book and give to Grist — even $5 will help. Thank you.

Q. Dear Umbra,

I am sure I am singlehandedly filling up a landfill with all the plastic spray bottles I have purchased in the last 25 years. I make many of my own cleaners, some I have even read about in Ask Umbra. I make my own bug spray, weed killer, linen spray, etc. But I seem to buy at least three plastic bottles for each job, which break and are often not recyclable. I am on a quest to find a spray bottle that would last a long time. Please help me.

Penelope J.
Mariposa, Calif.

Photo by El Finco.

A. Dearest Penelope,

I wish my name were Penelope. I also wish you were not singlehandedly destroying the planet with your penchant for flimsy plastic spray bottles.

I kid, of course. While your bottle habit is not ideal, your DIY habits are admirable. I bet we can find a way to make your vessels match your values.

First, let’s look at your habits. I’m not quite sure why it’s taking three bottles to do each job — nor am I sure what constitutes a job in your very clean world — but you could try to lessen that. Are you spraying too vigorously, thus busting the pump mechanisms? Are you banging the bottles around, denting them and poking holes in them? My role is not to point fingers, merely to encourage a bit of reflection.

Second, you’re right that if you’re going to continue down this merry road of homemade cleaning and garden agents, you need more durable supplies. I should think this would benefit not only the landfill, but also your wallet. So I have a few thoughts:

• Look online for a nice, sturdy glass bottle with a sprayer. You will not find a sprayer that isn’t plastic, but you will still be reducing your plastic waste immensely by investing in this refillable and recyclable item. I must warn you: Shiny aluminum bottles will tempt you when you conduct this search, but these are usually lined with plastic, so they do not accomplish our plastic-reduction goal (aluminum production is also extremely resource intensive). Stainless steel is another option, if you can find a model that’s unlined. (Here’s one.)

• Consider reusing an old glass bottle. Here is a possible use for those perfume bottles people are always asking me about (my, what nice smelling readers I have). I’ve also seen people recommend reusing any glass bottle with a screw cap, such as a vinegar bottle, which can then be fitted with one of your old spray tops.

• If these don’t seem to do the trick, I am going to hesitantly endorse the idea of visiting your local hardware store and buying a durable “industrial sprayer,” fancy talk for a heavy-duty plastic bottle. (This fellow has tried out a few brands.) Yes, they’re still plastic, but these should last longer than your cheap ones, and should be recyclable to boot.

• I’m getting excited about the idea of you buying a stainless steel commercial sprayer like this one, but that might be a bit more than you need. Plus I cannot dive into its innards and find out what’s really in there.

• A final thought: Do you need to spray? Could you simply pour a little of your creations onto a cloth for cleaning? I know spraying is sometimes handy, but I have now developed an image of you leaping about your home and garden, humming snatches of Broadway tunes as you aggressively spritz every surface in sight. See if it’s possible to dab or daub or dribble instead.

By the way, while I’m generally not in the business of shilling, I think this is a pretty brilliant idea: Recyclable plastic spray bottles that have recipes for household cleaning, produce wash, and pest control printed right on them. No more time frittered away scouring a certain advice column for recipes!

Penelope, I hope that helps. Before I leave you, a bit of trivia: The modern plastic spray bottle was popularized in the U.S. during the late 1940s and early 1950s, the onset of the Better Living Through Plastic Era. One of the first mass uses of this astonishing device was a squeezable deodorant called Stopette, which was a sponsor for the game show What’s My Line.

Stopettely,
Umbra

Q. Dear Umbra,

If you assume the Greenland ice shelf falls in the ocean, and ditto in Antarctica, and that the Southwest United States runs out of water, where would be the place to move before doomsday? I am thinking Maine or Vermont, along the coast, but more than 20 feet above sea level. I am looking for a sort of “best places” to retire for survivalists. Your thoughts?

Amy L.
Wichita, Kan.

Photo by Colin Grey

A. Dearest Amy,

Believe it or not, I answered a question similar to yours a few years ago, from a fellow in Belgium. After careful consideration, I advised him that Europe was the place to be. As it happened, I was feeling down on the U.S. after the botched response to Hurricane Katrina. I’m also something of a Europhile. I can’t help it — the countries are so tiny and proximate! The pastries are so good!

But your question is U.S.-focused, as are most of my dearest readers, so I am going to take another crack at this climate conundrum.

You have correctly identified two areas to avoid in our climate-addled future: The coasts, due to sea-level rise, and the Southwest, due to drought. I am assuming you also consider your part of the country one that should be escaped, perhaps because of the insane, climate change-fueled tornadoes, and indeed we must rule out much of the Midwest on that basis. I think the Southeast is out because of insane, climate change-fueled hurricanes, and we want to avoid most of California on account of drought and earthquakes. By the way, here is a colorful, eye-opening map that overlays tornado, hurricane, and earthquake risks across the country.

So that leaves us with four broad options: Alaska, the inland Northwest, the inland Northeast, and the Upper Midwest. Now we turn to a nifty tool: this series of climate-effect maps from the Natural Resources Defense Council. I could spend hours poking around here, coming up for air only to thank the people who put it together (and maybe gulp down some water and a handful of crackers). These are U.S. maps, clickable at the state level, that illustrate extreme heat days, air pollution and allergy threats, drought and flood vulnerability, extreme weather events, and even vulnerability to dengue fever. You can drill down to find out more about each state’s risks, as well as its climate preparedness plans.

So let’s look at our four contenders. According to these maps, interior Alaska is having more extreme heat days than expected, and much of the state is prone to flooding. Plus there are the oil-spill risks, offshore and on land. I’m crossing it off. The inland Northwest seems to be having lots of extreme heat days as well, and is surprisingly vulnerable to drought, but does well on most other counts. The inland Northeast kind of tanks on allergies, flooding, extreme weather, and even dengue fever risk here and there (yikes), although northernmost Maine is an exception. In the Upper Midwest, we lose points on the flooding and extreme rain fronts, but I have identified two magical pockets that might just be our winners: north-central Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota. Of course, you can’t get too close to the shores of the Great Lakes, what with the predicted erosion and all.

So, using the patented Umbra Broad Brush, that leaves us with four areas to consider: Montana, Maine, Minnesota, or … Misconsin. You’ll have to poke around to see what suits your fancy up there. To my mind, a small city like Wausau or Memonomie seems ideal, with a blend of outdoor fun and active downtown-iness, but you might go for the lights of Minneapolis-St. Paul or a rustic cabin north of nowhere. It all depends how survivalist you’re trying to get.

Of course, I welcome alternative ideas and spirited defenses of place from all of you. I also hope you’ll consider being part of Connect the Dots Day on May 5, when people around the world will show that climate is hitting home everywhere, for every one of us.

Eau Clairely,
Umbra

Here’s a sampling of the love and good wishes that have poured in from all corners as the 10th anniversary of my column drew nigh. You all are sweet! But I must say I am still waiting for the chocolate.

10. Congrats! We’re taking time to think about a creative question. –Global Green USA [Dearest Global Green: Thank you! And I’ll be waiting.]

9. Dear Umbra, you have given this Vermonter SO MUCH great advice over the years  — you are my favorite part of Grist! Love, Liz S., Waterbury, Vt. [Dearest Liz: And you are my favorite part of Waterbury! Except maybe the Ben & Jerry’s factory. Thank you for the love.]

8. Dear Umbra, What is the most environmentally sensitive way for an advice columnist to celebrate a 10th anniversary? The traditional gift for the 10th anniversary is tin, but I don’t have to tell you how damaging tin mining is to the planet. Is there any kind of “fake meat” equivalent for tin that I could substitute in this situation? You know, something like … “sei-tin”? –Eric A., Oakland, Calif. [Dearest Eric, If I were giving seitan trophies for the most creative greeting, you would get two, and then we would sit down and eat them together.]

7. Hi Umbra, I’m new to your writing, but love what you do. All the best. –Gonzo Nic, Queensland, Australia [Dearest Gonzo, So glad you found us! Hope to have a question about the eco-impacts of Vegemite from you soon.]

6. Happy birthday! Another year of pink slime, climate disaster, population explosion, herbicide poisoning, pesticide poisoning, animal cruelty, and wondering if free will in humanity is really a product defect. –Amy L., Wichita, Kan. [Dearest Amy, The good thing about product defects is you can usually get a full refund. Fingers crossed.]

5. Not original, but heartfelt: Thanks for being Umbra with the useful and punny advice. Only sorry I didn’t know about and read your column for the full 10! –Sharon M., Hayward, Calif. [Dearest Sharon, Heartfelt right back: I’m so glad to know you’re reading.]

4. Umbra, if you haven’t moved out from under the stairs yet, take a cue from Harry Potter! You deserve a (daylit) corner office and an extra week per year of (eco-)vacation. –David H., Bexley, Ohio [Dearest David, I’ll forward this note to my boss. I’ll have to brush up on my Quidditch though.]

3. Can you really be only ten? Nothing seems beyond your ken. (Speaking of Ken, what is the safest way to dispose of all those vinyl dolls?) Happy birthday, dear Umbra! –Jane B., Conway, Mass. [Dearest Jane, You could keep Ken around, but don’t lick or chew him. Seriously. That is a real tip.]

2. Raise a glass to Umbra! To her encyclopedic knowledge of all things eco, her tireless wit, her ability to not run out of adverbs … Umbra, I am sending you a card. A virtual one, not one made from innocent tree pulp. –Lou B., Boulder, Colo. [Dearest Lou, To mangle the words of the great Tom Lehrer, I read your message eagerly, eagerly, eager L-Y. A glass raised right back.]

1. Dear Umbra, You are awesome! Happy birthday! The end. –Ben T., Mt. Vernon, Iowa

Dearest Ben, it is indeed the end of the list, but it is just the beginning of a fresh new decade. Fasten your lederhosen, dearest readers! Stay tuned for more sage advice, and favorites from the archives, in the coming year (why celebrate an anniversary for just one week when we can drag it out for 52?). And thanks again for the remarkable years of love, support, and fascinating eco-dilemmas.

Ten-derly,
Umbra

Photo by marimoon.

Editor’s note:  This week Grist celebrates the 10th anniversary of our Ask Umbra advice column. Today, we look at the topics that have gotten the most traffic over time, to find out what really gets our readers hot and bothered. Are you a fellow fretter? Seek relief: Ask Umbra.

10. Diapers. Cloth or disposable? Almost as hot a topic as its life-choice opposite, overpopulation, this dilemma causes major angst. Turns out both options kind of … stink. So pick one and go with it, or give diaper-free parenting a shot. (Let us know how that goes.)

9. Power strips. We felt as proud as a parent watching a school play when we saw that home energy use was a consistent area of concern. The moral is: Use a power strip and unplug chargers and other vampire appliances. You’ll save energy, save money, and save us from gently reminding you for the zillionth time.

8. Recycling. Readers regularly wonder if X item is recyclable (condoms! coffee cups! car seats!). Umbra is only too happy to rummage for an answer, before dropping her inevitablest piece of advice: Check with your local authorities to be sure.

7. Personal hygiene. Can I make my own shampoo? Should I use a straight razor? Is my shower curtain killing me? Do these questions make me look fat?

6. Cars. From converting to biodiesel to retrofitting an old muscle car, you frequently put the pedal to the metal, and Umbra has a gas.

5. Toilets. As demonstrated earlier this week, bodily functions are a never-ending source of fascination. In fact, while no such queries made the Top 10, we were pees’d to see that toilet seat covers and pee rags cracked the Top 20, with peeing in the shower not far behind.

4. Cooking. We were chewing over the idea of making a meal based on the most popular food questions you had asked. But then we realized: Green organic bananas plus pink slime plus BPA in canning lids = a recipe for distress.

3. Liquor. OK, we admit it, questions about adult beverages don’t figure anywhere near the Top 10. But in a sense they’ve been the life of the party: Plastic or paper for Jell-O shots? Does it hurt waterways to pour beer down the drain? Is it better to buy beer in cans or bottles? Are there organic liquors? What can I do with my vast collection of wine corks (and what kind of plastic is used for those newfangled bottle-stoppers)? You might be a bunch of lushes, but such a conscientious bunch of lushes there never was.

2. Light bulbs. How many Grist readers does it take to change a light bulb? Come up with the best punchline, and we’ll send you the efficient bulb of your choice. Limited time offer.

1. Plastic. A highly scientific review of the Top 40 Umbra Columns of All Time reveals that a full 20 percent have to do with plastic, mostly plastic bottles. The thousands of words spilled on that topic boil down to this: Don’t buy ’em! We’ll drink to that.

Editor’s note: This week Grist is celebrating the 10th anniversary of our Ask Umbra advice column. Today, we look at a few of the perplexingest questions our readers have ever sent. Losing sleep over a green conundrum? Ask Umbra.

10. How can I recycle my pencil stubs? In which Umbra suggests erase to the finish.

9. Does licking my dinner plate keep waste out of the landfill? If the stew fits.

8. Are condoms recyclable? At last, a tip we can get behind.

7. Can I recycle a beer bottle with a lime wedge in it? Your glass is totally smashed.

6. What’s the greenest method of disposing of a corpse? We’d reference Weekend at Bernie’s, but we don’t want to date ourselves.

5. Do hot air balloons hurt the environment? This one’s a real basket case.

4. Is chewing gum biodegradable? Ease your bubble troubles.

3. What is the half-life of glitter? For all you shiny, happy people.

2. Can a bird really burst into flames? Does a kangaroo have three vaginas? (Hint: You betcha.)

1. What are the average emissions from flatulence? Depends how many plates you lick.

Editor’s note: Grist is celebrating the 10th anniversary of our Ask Umbra advice column. Today, we look behind at some of our favorite potty-related reader queries. Got an urgent question of your own? Go ahead,

10. Is it OK to pee in the shower? Sure, let it all hang out.

9. Should I pee in the ocean or behind the dunes? The answer just might sea-prise you.

8. Should I pee in my yard or next to the road? Advice for those wishing to go al fresco.

7. Is it OK to “let it mellow” in a public restroom? Um, gross.

6. Why is recycled toilet paper so scratchy? One word: fibers.

5. What uses more water, washing “pee rags” or making toilet paper? What is this “pee rag” you speak of?

4. Are feminine products compostable? Bloody well right — with a few caveats.

3. Should I throw my toilet paper away, or flush it? Find out where it all ends up.

2. How can I reduce the water used for flushing my toilet? Dip into this bowlful of tips.

1. Do composting toilets smell bad? No — give it a go.

We have here a momentous occasion: The 10th anniversary of Ask Umbra! Instead of making myself useful by answering a question from one of you today I’ve compiled the 10 most notable moments in Ask Umbra history as I’ve feasted on organic carrot cake. Walk with me for a while — and keep an eye out for further celebrations this week. (We’ll also be dusting off some of our favorite columns from the archives in the coming months — if you have a classic you’d like to see get another moment in the sun, let us know.)

10. My first-ever pearls of wisdom, on fish farming and chemtrails, appeared on April 24, 2002.

9. A year later, I launched a reader contest to come up with the most fitting term for an anti-environmentalist. The winning coinage, pollutocrat, soon became part of the Grist lexicon.

8. In 2005, fed up with our nation’s politics, I moved to Canada. Well, not really, but I announced as much in Grist, and got many a warm welcome from our neighbors to the north. Ultimately I decided I should stay here and fight the good fight. That, and the Mounties kept giving me the stinkeye.

7. Occasionally I took a step back to offer big-picture advice (OK, OK, I got all preachy), as when I delivered my Consumption Manifesto (aka “How to streamline your life and still enjoy the heck out of it”), teased my readers by laying out the perfect eco-day, and compiled an Umbra FAQ in the vain hope that people would stop asking, “Paper or plastic?” You people will never stop asking. I love you for that.

6. In 2007, Grist’s first book hit the shelves, drawing heavily from my sage advice. Wake Up and Smell the Planet: The Non-Pompous, Non-Preachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day did not, however, feature my mug on the cover. That edition will sell like hotcakes.

5. After years of hunkering down in the stacks of Grist’s library (my long-held and deeply cherished title is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcovers and Periodicals Unit, Floors 2B-4B), I emerged to show my face, launching a GristTV series with video advice on commuting by bike. The surrounding hullabaloo earned us a profile in The New York Times — flattering, but frankly I’m still waiting for Popular Mechanics to come knocking.

4. I have fended off many an inquiry about my romantic availability over the years, even receiving a marriage proposal or two along the way. Dearest admirers: I’m touched … and I’m also taken.

3. That said, I am not above embracing perfect strangers, as I proved when I took to Times Square in a fetching bee suit, delivering “bee hugs” to raise awareness about colony collapse disorder.

2. We’re not all about plastic bags and light bulbs here on Floors 2B-4B. We’ve tackled the news as well, from Hurricane Katrina to Western forest fires, from elections to oil spills to the Occupy movement. No matter how dark the day, I believe there is always something we can do to make things better.

1. Dearest readers, I spent so much time thinking about what this No. 1 item should be that I had to go out and procure a second carrot cake. Then suddenly it was obvious: The highlight of the last decade is you. My followers, across the country and around the world, keep me going. Your questions never cease to perplex, amaze, and amuse (stay tuned this week for more examples of my favorites). Your support for me and for Grist means the world. And your thoughtfulness about your choices, along with your concern for the people and places around you, is downright inspiring. Keep wondering, keep worrying, and most of all, keep in touch.

Truly, madly, deeply,
Umbra

Q. Hi Umbra,

I just read an article about the quantity of lead in lipsticks. The obvious question is: Why? We took the lead out of gas and paint, and put it in lipstick. I love my lipstick, but I’m starting to wonder if I should.

Maura D.
Turin, Italy

Photo by PoMo MaMa.

A. Dearest Maura,

Getting all gussied up for the Ask Umbra 10th Anniversary Fiesta next week? You are too sweet, and I can’t wait to exchange virtual air kisses with you. (A special note to my dearest readers in the San Francisco area: Grist is throwing a for-real celebration in your fair city on April 26 — hope you’ll meet me there!)

Bellissima, your question is fair. Why, indeed, is a pollutant that can cause damage to our brains, nerves, and reproductive systems lurking in a product that is supposed to make people feel pretty? The bare-bones answer is this: Lead is everywhere. It’s in our air, our soil, our water. And as it happens, it’s in the mineral colorants often used in lipstick. Lead is a naturally occurring metal, but much of this ubiquity has to do with, as you note, our earlier predilection for adding it to things like gas, paint, pipes, food cans, and so forth. As a society, we leaded ourselves. Now we can’t get rid of the stuff.

Maura, this lipstick issue is just the tip of a bigger truth: The cosmetics industry is full of ugly secrets. Having said that, however, I don’t think evil cosmetics executives are gleefully rubbing their hands together as they pour molten lead into tiny tubes.

Of course, most of them aren’t taking great pains to avoid lead in their products, either. That’s why, when the Food and Drug Administration released an analysis of 400 lipsticks last year, each and every one contained lead (see the entire list of tested brands), ranging from 0.026 parts per million to 7.19 ppm. The agency considers these levels “very low” and says they do not pose a safety concern. The U.S. has no upper limit for lead in cosmetics, but in Canada it’s 10 ppm, and Germany once set it at 20 ppm. (Your country also seems to have strong cosmetics regulations in place, but I’m hampered from learning more by my failure to speak Italian.) So you can see that, while yucky to contemplate, the lead measured by the FDA falls below levels set by countries with generally reasonable approaches to public health.

I am being sanguine, but here is where we get to the really tasty stuff. One of the reasons the FDA remains unruffled is because they say lipstick is topical, not meant for ingestion. Which is why they have strict limits for lead in candy (yes, seriously), but not cosmetics. But others, including our friends at the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics who have led the charge on this topic, point out lipstick does get ingested — and, more to the point, say there is no safe level of lead exposure.

So should you kiss your favorite gloss goodbye? If I were you, I’d do a few things first:

• Check the FDA list to see if your brand is on it, and to get a sense of which brands are the worst offenders (cough, L’Oréal, cough). If you want even more info, make a visit to the Skin Deep database.

• Look for lead-free alternatives. This might require some poking around, but with the recent news frenzy, those companies selling safer lipsticks are eager to boast about it. (Keep in mind that organic and natural products aren’t necessarily lead-free.)

• To be on the safe side, do kick your lipstick to the curb if you’re pregnant, and don’t let kids play with it if you keep it around; pregnant women and children are especially vulnerable to lead.

To be perfectly honest, lipstick might not be the biggest threat in the world — but if it gets men and women thinking about the health risks posed by many of the products we use each day to smell, look, and feel nice, that’s worth a bit of hoopla.

Puckerly,
Umbra