The following message arrived by email today. I can see that it has a good intent, but wonder why few people talk about the forest. Seems they always worry about the trees and never acknowledge that we need to worry about the forest. Anyway here is the message: ---- Check the ingredients listed on your shampoo bottle, and see if they have a substance by the name of Sodium Laureth Sulfate, or simply SLS. This substance is found in most shampoos, and the manufacturers use it because it produces a lot of foam and it is cheap. BUT the fact is that SLS is used to scrub garage floors, and it is very strong. It is also proven that it can cause cancer in the long run, and this is no joke. I went home and checked my shampoo (Vidal Sasoon); it doesn't contain it; however, others such as Vo5, Palmolive, Paul Mitchell, the new Hemp Shampoo .. contain this substance. The first ingredient listed (which means it is the single most prevalent ingredient) in Clairol's Herbal Essences is Sodium Laureth Sulfate. So I called one company, and I told them their product contains a substance that will cause people to have cancer. They said, "Yeah, we knew about it but there is nothing we can do about it because we need that substance to produce foam." By the way Colgate toothpaste also contains the same substance to produce the "bubbles". They said they are going to send me some information. Research has shown that in the 1980s, the chance of getting cancer was 1 out of 8000 and now, in the 1990s, the chances of getting cancer is 1 out of 3, which is very serious. So I hope that you will take this seriously and pass this on to all the people you know, and hopefully, we can stop "giving" ourselves the cancer virus. This is serious, after you have read this, pass it on to as many people as possible, this is not a chain letter, but it concerns our health. Michelle Hailey Executive Secretary University of Pennsylvania Health System Office of Legal Affairs (215) 662-2546
