After the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics released the 2007 report, "A Poison Kiss: The Problem of Lead in Lipstick," which found lead in popular lipstick brands, the FDA promised to conduct its own analysis of lead in lipstick. It took two years for the FDA to release its information to the public, despite pressure from U.S. Senators and repeated calls from health groups, including letters from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

The FDA published its long-awaited study on lead in lipstick in the July/August 2009 issue of the Journal of Cosmetic Science. The article is available only through the Journal's Web site for a cost of $35, and does not name the brands or shades it tested. The FDA study did, however, find lead in all lipsticks it tested and at higher levels than we found in 2007.

Why the holdup? The FDA said it was waiting for a peer-reviewed journal to publish its study of lead in lipstick. This delay tactic kept a taxpayer-funded study from the public for nearly two years.

In fact, FDA used similar delay tactics to bury information about phthalates in personal care products. In July 2002, an independent analysis by members of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found that 72 percent of personal care products tested contained phthalates, a set of industrial chemicals linked to reproductive harm. FDA conducted its own study of phthalates in personal care products in 2003, but did not release the data to the public despite a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted by Campaign for Safe Cosmetics partner Friends of the Earth. The FDA study was finally published three years later in a scientific journal not available for free to the public.