Every single day, you probably apply lip products without a second thought. But what if the ingredients in your favorite lip gloss, lip balm or lip mask were never tested for what happens when they go into your body? And what if those same products contain microplastics?
In this episode, attorney and consumer safety advocate Whitney Di Bona sits down with Laura DiGirolamo — California attorney, beauty industry insider and founder of YOM Beauty and the Lip Service Alliance — who spent over 20 years launching innovations in the beauty industry before uncovering what she calls one of the biggest blind spots in beauty history. Lip products are classified as cosmetics, meaning they are regulated as external-use-only products. Yet we ingest and absorb them in ways that no regulation in the world fully accounts for. When Laura could no longer ignore it, she built the science, commissioned peer-reviewed research papers, founded a nonprofit and created the world's first independently certified microplastic-free, food-grade lip product to prove it could be done.
Topics covered in this episode:
The regulatory blind spot hiding in plain sight — why lip products classified as cosmetics are held to zero food-grade standards despite being applied directly to the mouth
Two exposure pathways regulations ignore: ingestion and absorption through lip vermilion, which behaves more like a sponge than a skin barrier
Why 80 to 90% of lip products contain microplastics, and what regulations EU law has coming by 2031
The titanium dioxide paradox: why the EU banned it from food in 2022 due to genotoxicity concerns, yet it remains a common coloring ingredient in lip products
How flavoring lip products like food — vanilla frosting, strawberry shortcake, Skittles — subconsciously encourages ingestion, especially in children
Why "clean beauty" doesn't solve the problem — and why the label has no legal definition
What the Lip Service Alliance is doing to close the regulatory and science gap, and how to get involved
What to look for on your lip product label right now, and which ingredients to avoid
Note: Always consult with health and legal professionals for personalized advice. The information provided reflects current research and advocacy efforts. Nothing in this podcast constitutes legal or medical advice. The opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect those of Drugwatch.
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