Skin Deep

If you find yourself wondering what questionable ingredients might be lurking in your lip balm or moisturizer, there are websites you can use to get quick answers.
The site I use most often is Skin Deep, a sub-site of the Environmental Working Group's information hub.
Based in Washington, DC, EWG is a non-profit organization, founded in 1993 by Ken Cook and Richard Wiles whose mission is "to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment". They seem pretty above board and their site is very comprehensive - you can even see pics of the staff and access their Annual Report. I've subscribed to their e-newsletter for a few years now and don't think I've ever received spam or junk mail as a result. The EWG site also has information about children's products, pesticides and pollution.

The Skin Deep site is incredibly user-friendly. You simply enter your query, which could be a trade name (Skin So Soft), brand (Avon), category (bug spray) or ingredient (oxybenzone) and let the database get to work. (the Avon Skin-S-Soft Bug Guard Plus Insect Repellent Moisturizing Sunblock Lotion, SFP 30 has a High Hazard rating of 7 our of 10, with 0 being a low hazard). You'll quickly get a hazard score which you can then click and follow as far as you like. The analysis is quite complete, and often quite frightening. The good part is that you can check-out the products you use most often and, if they are a concern, see which in the same category you should switch to. Approximately half our everyday products had a risk level I was uncomfortable with and we switched to alternatives.

The EWC also sell a kit to check the arsenic levels in your soil, on your deck etc., which I haven't tried yet but, given the state of my pressure-treated deck, I'll be trying in the Spring.