The United States may have succeeded in getting the lead out of our gasoline but, in addition to your kids' toys, lunchboxes, and sippy cups, your red lipstick may also be the fully-leaded variety.

In a report last year, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of consumer advocacy groups, said it tested 33 lipsticks from a variety of brands and that one-third of those contained lead levels higher than 0.1 parts per million.

Before you panic and trash all of your lipsticks and/or start kissing only bare-lipped ladies, consider the fact that 0.1 parts per million is the "safe" federal limit for lead in candy. Even so, you may want to consider limiting your intake of L'Oreal Colour Riche True Red which clocked in at a whopping 0.65 ppm.

As we very well know, lead is a proven neurotoxin that can cause learning, language and behavioral disabilities. This may partially explain Miss Teen South Carolina's mental meltdown during the 2007 Miss Teen USA competition (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WALIARHHLII&NR=1)

Trivia Bits:

According to a news blurb in Playboy Magazine, an average a woman will ingest about four pounds of lipstick in her lifetime - YUM!

In ancient Egypt, ferrous oxide was used to color lipstick which smelled like rust - More YUM!

The first recorded evidence of lipstick use dates back to the Sumerian city of Ur around 2000 B.C.

The first modern lipstick with a metal "bullet" case was produced in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1915 by the Scovil Manufacturing company.