Heavy metals are dense metals that are found naturally in the earth. The major heavy metals of public health concern are lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic which are all included in World Health Organization’s list of 10 chemicals of public health concern. These metals are quite toxic to the human body as there are no known safe levels in humans or other species. This propensity to harm not just humans, but to accumulate in plants, fishes and soil poses great risks to potentially compromise the ecosystem. Despite being harmful, these chemicals have been found to be useful in several ways which include:

• Lead-As an additive in petrol which has been phased out by most countries, use in certain folk medicines, lead based paints and lead solder for canning
• Mercury-use in electrical equipment, thermometers, pharmaceuticals, thimerosal which has been removed from most vaccines, dental amalgam and use in artisan gold mining which has drawn recent attention of the UN
• Arsenic-widespread use as components of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors
• Cadmium-used in batteries and fertilizers

Cigarette smoking is an important source of exposure to some chemicals thus leading to ease of exposure. In addition, poor disposal of these substances either by dumping on land or rivers- especially ones used by communities can result in devastating effects to a population. Take the Minamata disease catastrophe that happened in japan in the 1950s as an example: more than 600 people died (not including the thousands with disabilities) from dumping of mercury wastes in Minamata bay by a chemical factory. It is sad that despite the disasters that have been caused by heavy metal exposures, it is still a largely neglected public health problem. It is worthy to mention that there are dangerous and life threatening levels of these metals in Tasmanian lakes of Australia, Kurang river in Pakistan, Shur river in Iran, Ganges delta in India and Bangladesh and many others.

Some of the oldest diseases of human can be traced to heavy metal poisoning associated with mining, refining and use. They cause disease primarily by inhibiting important enzymes in the body. It can either be acute due to eating or inhalation of high levels of these metals usually leading to death or a chronic accumulation from continuous exposure resulting in disabilities. This leads to neurological problems as in the Minamata disease discussed and other clinical manifestations. Importantly, they are associated with increased carcinogenic and teratogenic risk.

The clinical treatment of giving chelators is obviously not sufficient to address this problem (as clinical solutions are not public health solutions).Even though clinicians have an important role as part of the surveillance system, what is needed is remove the source of exposure just like the great Doctor, John snow. Many organisations like the EPA, WHO, UN and others have to work with governments and health agencies to ensure minimal exposure to these chemical by regulating their use and enforcing proper disposal. There should be continuous research in the use of associated products by the general public to monitor and report any adverse effects.

Whether conscious of it or not, everyone is faced with the important health choice of good or bad diet daily unless you decide not to eat for one reason or the other. Diet is a significant modifiable risk factor in the development of NCDs such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease and high blood pressure which are the leading causes of death in developed nations. According to a study published in the prestigious lancet journal in 2017,11 million deaths (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 10–12) and 255 million (234–274) DALYs were attributable to dietary risk factors:

• High intake of sodium (3 million [1–5] deaths and 70 million [34–118] DALYs)
• Low intake of whole grains (3 million [2–4] deaths and 82 million [59–109] DALYs)
• Low intake of fruits (2 million [1–4] deaths and 65 million [41–92] DALYs)

These figures represented the negative effects of the leading dietary risk factors for deaths and DALYs globally and in many countries. As scary and authoritative as this is, it doesn’t make much public influence due to the widespread use of media by the nutraceutical industry to throw out health claims here and there. This along with constant churning out of facts by pseudoscientists and others with personal interests have somewhat made the public numb to health facts. It is difficult to make a positive health choice when one is overloaded with false information.

In addition to the prevention of NCDs, a healthy diet also protects against protein energy malnutrition. Generally, a healthy diet involves the intake of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, less salt, sugar, and unsaturated fat (found in fish, olive oils). The healthy diet is exemplified in the Mediterranean diet, indigenous to the people of the Mediterranean region (modern day France and Italy) which attracted worldwide attention in the 1960s when high adult life expectancy and low rates of chronic diseases (coronary heart disease, certain cancers and diabetes) were reported across the region. It is the most studied of all diets and have been clearly shown to control diabetes and hypertension. It is not a ‘diet’ in the strict sense as the Mediterranean countries eat very differently but an eating pattern which involves high fruits, vegetables, legumes, monounsaturated rather than saturated fat or trans-fat, moderate ethanol, milk, dairy products and low meat and meat products.

The case with an unhealthy, poor or bad diet is the complete opposite of a healthy diet with increased risk of nutritional deficiencies, NCDs, obesity and cardiac arrest. The prototype bad diet is the western diet which is high in total energy, saturated fats, salt, sugar and low fibre. The most convincing evidence of the association of western diet to NCDs comes from the observation of higher incidence of colorectal cancer in Asian immigrants in the US who adopt western diets. Also, there is increasing frequency of this cancer in Africans- who are also adopting the western style of diet. Worse still, the Africans who less able to handle salt are more predisposed to hypertension and it’s complications.

The list of other types of diet is endless; popular ones include the DASH diet, MIND diet, Nordic diet, Atkins diet, Asian diet, Weight watchers diet, Vegetarian or Vegan diet etc. The diet you adopt must be supplemented where applicable if it is deficient in an important nutrient for example if you adopt the vegan diet, you should receive iron and vitamin B12 supplements as they are lacking in these diet. The point is, irrespective of the diet choice, a good, healthy balanced diet should be the goal.

The choice of diet is not necessarily based on health benefits, other factors like cost, availability, culture, beliefs, geographical and environmental factors affect what individuals choose and eat. The government can promote healthy diet by increasing incentives for healthy products and taxation of unhealthy food products.

Most people have heard about Chantal petitclerc- the exceptional Canadian wheelchair athlete with 21 Olympic medals who went on to become a senator despite her condition. The society does not hesitate to celebrate outstanding and inspiring figures like her, however, there are many more physically challenged individuals without much success stories that are ostracized, abused, infantilized, ridiculed, ignored; name it! The ‘disabled’- a word that in fact should be substituted with a more societally neutral term due to the stigma attached to it, constitute the largest marginalised group of individuals with over 1 billion individuals affected worldwide. Disability is either congenital (born with) or acquired through aging, disease conditions, traumatic injury from wars, natural disasters etc. The fact that 15 out of every 100 individuals are affected should stress the commonality and accommodation of their rights as full-fledged individuals. Unfortunately, the reality is quite different; they are confronted with problems in various social areas ranging from healthcare to education.

Across the globe, it is glaring how the healthcare sector has failed disabled individuals as they are 3 times more likely to be denied healthcare and 4 times more likely to be treated badly in health systems; the situation is even worse in developing countries with out of the pocket system and the US where they often lose their insurance. The perplexing fact is that some of these things are caused by governmental conflict or failure of a system in the society. Consider the thalidomide disaster (a typical example of failure in the drug surveillance system) where many mothers bore babies with limb abnormalities due to the effects of the thalidomide drug taken by these mothers while they were pregnant. Now, shouldn’t the government take a moral stand to take responsibility for its inaction? Another area of health that is often ignored is the sexual health of these physically challenged individuals. With little or no sex education, they are seen as lacking or having less sexual needs which is completely false and wrong. The ‘ideal’ and accepted culture of how people engaging in intercourse should look and how sex should be done has left no room for them.

Consider the situation of a thalidomide baby who due to the failure of the society is born without limbs and has problems with schooling, and consequently becomes poor due to the inability to get a job. Such is the vicious cycle that can arise from not allowing and supporting people with disabilities reach their full potential. Children are faced with psychosocial problems of isolation and exclusion which injures their self-esteem. Also, problem with transportation and communication can make everyday living difficult. The discrimination continues to employment and pay. The most important thing is inclusion in every aspect for everyone including the elderly, women (who suffer double blow gender discrimination and this) and children who are often abused and neglected. Proper integration of these children into the educational system is of prime importance if the SDGs are to be realised. Inclusive legislation like Americans with disabilities act and Canadians with disabilities act which prohibit discrimination based on disability are to be encouraged. The right to receive healthcare and other necessary services just like every other member of the society must be protected. Beyond these legal amendments, there should also be support and enlightenment of the public to correct unfounded beliefs about ‘disability’

It is quite difficult to imagine those times where people had to travel many kilometres in search of scrolls in a public library to access information; something that can now be done from the comfort of one’s bedroom using mobile phones and other electronic devices. The internet and social media have made a revolutionary impact on all aspects of human life particularly information distribution. As such, our lives have become interwoven with the internet; it is impossible to resist the urge of checking for screen popups on mobile devices. Despite immense benefits, the internet brings its own set of problems. Due to the anonymity and freedom of using the internet, anybody and incredible sources can share health information which can be false and disastrous to the society. Such false health news can come inform of an outright lie as exemplified in the Ebola crisis of 2014 in Nigeria where the use salt water bath against the virus was widely disseminated via social media platforms. Of course, this led to a catastrophe with several recorded morbidities and mortalities. Other ones can come inform of a health advice- for example “a combination of banana and coke is suicidal”. In fact, there are so many variations, but they all have one thing in common- they play on the irrational ignorance and fear of the public on health matters.

Not all misinformation regarding health matters are false or fake news, some are actually caused by the way health facts are presented which leads to over- magnification of risks. If you goggle about the statins- a group of drugs mostly used to lower blood LDL cholesterol levels, most websites focus more on the side effects like muscle pain but comment little on their benefits. Consequently, patients may be more likely refuse the medication due to a biased risk benefit assessment from the exaggeration of side effects. Another example of this irrational risk presentation is seen in the issue of vaccine use. With drastic reduction in the prevalence of many of the dreaded diseases like small pox, polio and others, the efficacy of vaccines are an established fact because it is clear that their benefits outweigh any risks. However, the overemphasis on the adverse effects of vaccines continues to increase the fears and doubts of potential patients. Additionally, the benefits of some health products can also be overemphasized as a form of advertisement strategy for the pharmaceuticals. It is not uncommon to find different brands of the same drug in stores- each claiming to have superior effect over the other and people could intoxicate themselves in a bid to combine these drugs for superior effect. Further, herbs are advertised to have magical healing effects for many conditions especially in developing nations. The public tends to agree with these claims mostly because of faith in traditional medicine and that these products are ‘natural’ but then natural doesn’t mean that something cannot cause harm. The public must know that anything can cause harm no matter how natural it is because these products don’t come with doses so there is great risk of intoxication.

Media misinformation can be reduced by proper education of the public through enlightenment and awareness programmes by health organizations or affiliates. People should be encouraged to seek health information from reliable and proper sources. However, it is bound to happen especially in less known diseases and outbreaks. Regular distribution of information-no matter how little, from registered health organizations is a line towards the right direction.

Drugs are one of the miracles of nature and science. It’s really amazing how use of a drug can relieve a woman of something as painful as childbirth or how a simple pill can relieve one of an unbearable headache. And yes, they are effective in almost anything, from deadly diseases to the simple anxiety you have before going up on stage. This ubiquitous value of drugs has made it an integral part of our lives but one should not be ignorant of their potential side effects or dangers.

Most of the attention has been on drugs of abuse like opiods, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine etc. These drugs of abuse littered everywhere with different names have a common feature of acting on the central nervous system to give various sensations leading to problems with dependence and addiction. However, some drugs like viagra can be abused for purely social reasons. The psychosocial effects of these drugs are so devastating and can even result in death directly from overdose or from risky behaviour induced by them. It would have been great if drugs of abuse were the only problem but nothing could be farther from the truth.

The father of toxicology, Paraclesus once said that any substance is a poison but the dose makes the difference, and drugs are no exception to this. Indeed, drugs (with no exception) are much more toxic than we think. For example, only 7g of the pain medication, acetaminophen (one of the most common drugs in suicide attempts and accidental overdose) can lead to serious liver damage. Drugs use is inevitable; however, they must be used only for the right purpose, at the right time and in the right quantity. Sadly, over the counter drugs which have the potential to be more toxic than the tightly restricted drugs of abuse are overused by individuals especially the elderly. The older age group tend to abuse drugs more because of fear of diseases and ignorance of drug toxicity, chronic conditions and for pain relief. Overuse is not solely from the part of the user but also from the health care giver. It can be due to over-prescription or prescribing to feel like one is doing something. Finally, overdose is an effect of the widespread availability of drugs.

Since all drugs are toxic, why are some drugs, especially the drugs of abuse, firmly regulated? Perhaps, because of their predisposition for addiction and dependence… Okay but what of the legalization of cannabis (marijuana) in Canada, and what does this mean for other leisure drugs? These questions are all connected to the problem of availability and distribution of drugs. After the exclusive use of prohibition control, governments may be slowly tending towards controlled restriction of drugs. The same ideology is behind the provision of safe injection sites for intravenous drug users. It is not to encourage drug use but to control the negative public health impacts of inappropriate use. This form of control provides drugs adequately through registered pharmacies and eliminates illicit drug use which can circulate fare, more harmful drugs. Irrespective of the preceding paragraphs, drugs remain miracles of nature and science… hence; the governments and health professionals must ensure that every individual has proper drug coverage and knowledge respectively.

The war against infectious diseases has stretched the health care systems beyond their limits and ushered in the widespread use of antibiotics and vaccines. It is a fact that infectious diseases kill very swiftly as evidenced by the fact that deaths due to tuberculosis exceed those from both world wars combined. However, most infectious agents are destroyed by antimicrobial drugs or vaccines. On the other hand, NCDs have no antibiotics or vaccine thus leaving preventive medicine and palliative care as the only solutions, at least for now. These diseases collectively known as NCDs not only account for 71% of all global mortality but also contribute to significant morbidity resulting in reduced health adjusted life years. There are many diseases under this umbrella but four of them are most common and significant due to the high prevalence and mortality rate associated with them. They include: Cardiovascular disease, Cancer, Respiratory disease and Diabetes.

NCDs are caused by an interplay of genome and exposome, the exposome is a more ethical and realistic target of control. As a result, these major NCDs share four common risk factors including alcohol abuse, tobacco use, physical inactivity and unhealthy diets. These modifiable risk factors are all lifestyle habits that when addressed can greatly reduce the burden of these diseases. The natural question now follows, how can these risk factors be modified to address the NCD epidemic? Apart from general public health education on the negative impacts of unhealthy lifestyle habits listed above, there needs to be policies to guide and promote individuals towards healthy living such as restricting the availability of alcohol, tobacco and unhealthy diets such as salty and sugary foods. These could involve increased taxation, clear stipulation of negative health warnings and gradual reduction in activities that negatively impact health. One might wonder: why beat about the problem, why not ban every harmful product? Well, things are never that simple or easy. Most governments, very influential individuals and companies invest in, and even own these some of these health deteriorating products. More so, straight prohibitions are not only ineffective to maintain but also gives room for illegal routes of entry which would further increase financial costs on the system. Physical inactivity and unhealthy diet as risk factors for NCDs have resulted in the recent obesity epidemic. Again, policies like building safe and long walk areas to steer the population towards more activity as well as increased accessibility to healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables will go a long way to address the problem.

The chronic nature of these diseases coupled with little hopes of definite treatment has caused serious problems with hospitalization. How do we weigh the scales… the chances of disease complication and then living one’s entire life in the hospital? It seems homecare; self-care and increased utilization of paramedics and preventive measures may help address the problem.

The World Health Organization defines mental health as the condition of well-being in which individuals realize their full potential, deal effectively with normal levels of life stresses, work productively, and contribute to their community. Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being which affects our thoughts, feelings and actions. It also determines how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. As a consequence, mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood, mental health is influenced by Biological factors such as genes or brain chemistry, Life experiences such as trauma or abuse and Family history of mental health problems. Mental health problems can affect anyone, irrespective of age, gender or social class.

Mental health involves the general mental wellbeing of an individual, not just the absence of mental illness diagnoses. Considering this, its scope involves:

• Chronic disabling physical conditions
• Psychosomatic conditions
• Mental illnesses like depression, schizophrenia, Anxiety eating and sleep disorders
• Neurodegenerative disorders

There are several disturbing issues around mental health problems that require attention such as distribution and poor health coverage, labelling, stigmatization and institutionalization. Firstly, the distribution is quite disproportionate as is evidenced by the fact that people with poor socioeconomic conditions such as low income earners and minority groups tend to have more cases of mental health problems. A lot of psychiatry is about diagnoses but little about treatment with individuals being labelled to a particular group and stigmatized. It is not uncommon for employers to get rid of mentally ill workers; worse still, they find it difficult to get a job even after treatment and may end up abused and neglected.. Most primary health centres are unequipped and unprepared to tackle mental health problems and resolve to institutionalization which worsens the situation. Mental health problems are perhaps the oldest significant public health burden with relatively ineffective solutions that are devised due to the ideologies of time- religion for the old times, institutionalization for the late 19th and 20th centuries, 21st century medicalization of diseases and current holistic approaches.

Generally, good lifestyle habits such as eating healthy diet, physical activity, not only translate into good mental well-being but also give individuals a sense of control over their health. Support groups and other forms of psychotherapy are great ways of dealing with some problems. Also, there is increasing involvement of alternative approaches like musical therapy, expressive arts, yoga and other forms of physical therapy in mental health treatment. Indeed, even little things like taking a walk or meditation in this globalized, busy and fast paced 21st century world punctuated with activities can benefit ones mental well-being.

With the increase in the knowledge and importance of oral health to overall wellbeing, two vital questions come to mind: First, why was oral health omitted from the UN SDGs to improve global health care on September 27, 2018 at Brussels? And, by direct extension, why was dental health omitted from the public health insurance schemes of many developed countries?

Dental Health, according to WHO is freedom from chronic mouth and facial pain, oral and throat cancer, oral infection and sores, periodontal (gum) disease, tooth decay, tooth loss, and other diseases and disorders that hinders or limits one’s capacity to bite, chew, smile and speak. Poor dental health which hinders psychological wellbeing, is an increasingly neglected public health menace that mostly affects low socioeconomic individuals who cannot afford out of pocket visits to the dentist; dependent population including children, seniors and people living with disability; and of course people ignorant of the need for good dental health. There are several benefits of good dental health such as prevention of common dental problems including tooth ache, dental caries, tooth decay, halitosis etc which cause significant discomfort and morbidity. There is also serious correlation between poor dental health and heart disease as well as depression. Further, systemic diseases such as AIDS, diabetes and genetic conditions like oro-facial clefts can impact oral health providing clinicians with diagnostic mirrors. Aside these medical issues, good dental health improves psychosocial wellbeing as your regular teenager with good dental health would laugh more comfortably than one without.

It is important to address some of the issues that affect dental health such as lifestyle practices including sugar and alcohol intake, tobacco chewing, smoking, vaping, use of dental amalgam, dental fluorosis and poor dental coverage.

Excessive consumption of sugary foods has long been known to predispose one to dental caries, decay, infections and abscess if untreated.

Alcohol and tobacco are serious risk factors for oral carcinoma which is the third most prevalent cancer in Asia.

Vaping has been suggested as an alternative to smoking tobacco due to the well-known negative health impacts of smoking; however, there is inconclusive research about whether it is better for oral health.

There have been concerns over the use of the mercury containing dental amalgam to fill cavities due to negative effects of mercury on health- the 2013 Mina Mata convention and phase down on dental amalgam was part of the move from restorative to preventive oral care.

Despite widespread evidence of the reduction of dental caries by fluoridation, there is increasing challenge to this due to fluorosis and other negative health impacts like increased hip fractures.

Finally, and most worrisome is poor dental coverage reflected by the omission of oral health in public health insurance. Can we expect to tackle the oral health problem without coverage? Of course not… The first step to addressing oral health problems is coverage with specific attention to the high risk groups and individuals with conditions like diabetes, pregnancy etc. The government can help to slowly modify lifestyle habits by setting public health policies geared towards good oral health like increased taxation of sugary foods and reduced availability to school canteens, gradual reduction in amount of tobacco in cigarettes. More so, the general public should be educated in regular ways to achieve good oral health such as brushing twice or thrice daily, regular flossing and annual dental check-ups.

The term, Alternative medicine is used to describe a wide range of medical systems or processes, diverse therapeutic practices and health care systems that fall outside the boundaries of conventional biomedicine because they lack biological plausibility (proof). Alternative medicine can also be called complementary medicine, pseudo-medicine, unorthodox medicine, unconventional medicine, holistic medicine or new age medicine.

Alternative medicine has been around for hundreds of centuries with its rise in the west attributed to the counterculture movement of the 1960s. By mid-1970, the expression “alternative medicine” had become a household name and was seen as natural, effective treatments or substitutes to science based medicine. Alternative medicine has since gained popularity and some studies and research agree to its efficacy. Today, a lot of practices, products and therapies which are integral to health can be classified as Alternative or Complementary medicine. They are also beneficial to public health, and include: acupuncture, acupressure, naturopathy, homeopathy, reiki, color therapy, shamanism, reflexo-therapy, Chiropathy, music therapy, regular massages, hot yoga etc. Individuals whose primary profession involves one or more complementary or alternative therapy are known as complementary therapists.

Some alternative treatments such as folk medicine and herbal products have been used for millennia to combat a whole range of ailments. Examples include the use of herbs such as cilantro as folk medicine anticonvulsant; Exercise is used as a fundamental treatment and intervention method within psychiatric patients as it helps them manage and reduce their anger, depression and other symptoms. Studies have shown that compounds from elder berries can directly inhibit viral infection in human cells and help strengthen a person’s immune response to viruses, thus can be used in cases of flu. The American heart association once studied the effect of hot yoga on blood pressure and found out that after 3 months, individuals being studied had lower blood pressure. These examples seem to approve the use of alternative medicine as a substitute to conventional medicine; however, caution should be applied as alternative medicine could also cause harm given its important characteristic of lacking scientific validation, compared to conventional medicine. Significant drug interactions caused by alternative therapies may negatively affect functional treatments by making prescription drugs less effective. In addition, it is difficult to test the efficacy of alternative therapies using clinical trials.

Due to the popularity of alternative medicine, its practices and products should be adequately regulated as it is always painted positive given that many patients are willing to choose the friendly colorful images of herbs and herbal treatments over the more threatening presentation of drugs. Another reason for this preference over conventional medicine is the ease of accessibility in the developing countries where one- third of the population lack access to the essentials of medicine and this becomes the only way. About 80 percent of people consider alternative medicine better than conventional medicine because it is perceived to have less risks and side effects associated with drugs and therapies used in managing diseases. A survey of Americans found out that 88 percent of the population thought that “there are good forms of treatments that medical science did not recognize”. As a consequence, agencies like the FDA Should help create more policies to regulate the practices of alternative medicine and educate the general public on their facts, theories and limitations.

Cosmetics and beauty care products are one of the most consumed products in the world. There are many types and forms of these products found in constant distribution throughout the globe. According to an Article by the European Union, cosmetic is a general term that refers to any substance or mixture intended to be placed in contact with the external part of the human body such as the epidermis, hair, nails, lips and external genital organs. They can also be applied on the teeth and the mucous membranes of the oral cavity with the aim of exclusively or mainly cleaning them, changing their appearance, protecting them , keeping them in good condition or correcting odors.  Cosmetics are generally divided into leave on and rinse off products. A leave on product is a one that needs to remain on the surface to which it is applied for an extended period of time in order to effectively achieve it’s function, examples include perfumes, body and face creams, oils and ointments, leave=n conditioners, powders, lotions, antiperspirant etc. on the other hand, the rinse off cosmetics are those products intended to be washed off after a short stay on the skin or mucous membranes examples include shampoo, soaps , toothpaste and some conditioners .

Given their functions and significance in everyday use, cosmetics are made with the general intention of beautification and correction. However, many of these products contain numerous substances and chemicals that can be toxic to both human health and environment. Sometimes, the concept of going natural doesn’t ensure safety as some products still contain heavy metals that can still can still cause harm. Common toxic ingredients used in some cosmetics include Parabens- found in lotions and soaps; Asbestos- associated with talc found in baby powders; Parfum- in perfumes; Toluene- in nail polish and hair dyes, Polyethylene glycol- in shampoos an d sunscreen; Formaldehyde  and many others . These substances can potentially cause several health complications including endocrine disruption, allergies, irritation, , birth defects, respiratory problems , reproductive problems and cancer. For example, studies have shown that 99% of all cancerous breast tumor samples contained parabens. In addition to the health effects of cosmetics, they also pose some threat to the environment because they constitute chemicals that do not undergo decomposition or metabolic transformation after getting into the environment from body surfaces through bathing and washing. Chemicals from cosmetics are found in large quantities in comparison to other chemicals, and they are constantly released into the aquatic and terrestrial environment thus leading to pollution and intoxication.

With knowledge of the large quantities of cosmetics produced, circulated and used, one would expect or even assume that enough measures and regulations are taken towards ensuring their safety. Unfortunately, this is actually far from the truth… Health advocates say that the lack of strong regulation is a major problem as there are few laws that keep cosmetic companies and manufacturers in check and these laws are hardly reviewed allowing this problem to continue. Furthermore, some countries have no laws that require manufacturers to test the safety of the cosmetic ingredients and products before they go into the market. Needless to say, the governments, in association with global, public and international health organizations have to take measures regarding this issue. Health workers may also help with tackling this issue by moving motions for the quick review of the rules and laws covering the production of cosmetics. People should be informed about the dangers that these products could cause and seek advice on personal care products… we have the right to know!