Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Reviewer DG gets credit for my purchasing this product. After reading her review, I just had to find out about this unnamed "cancer-causing" ingredient. Turns out to be cyclopentasiloxane--a lightweight, silky silicone compound that is widely used as an emollient and conditioner in skin and hair products. According to TruthinAging, "You can mostly find [it] in ... foundation, facial moisturizer/lotion, hair dye, shampoo/conditioner, styling gel, anti-frizz treatment, sunscreen, anti-aging treatment and deodorant/antiperspirant." Feeling as if you need to throw out ALL of your personal care products? Not so quick. Cyclosiloxanes are everywhere--"ubiquitous" according to a 2008 report to a CA environmental study panel. You can't avoid them. The real question is, can cyclopentasiloxane ("D5" for short) cause cancer? According to a 2005 Dow Corning study, it can--if you are a female rat that breathes 160 ppm of it constantly for a year or two. But if you are human? Well, not so much. You see, the mechanism by which D5 is thought to cause cancer in rats (attaching to dopamine receptors, which ultimately reduces progesterone levels and leads to uterine tumors) doesn't exist in humans, according to scientific researchers. In fact, I could find no evidence (or even an explanatory theory) that D5 can cause cancer in people. Purists may want to stay away from the stuff here and in a thousand other products (and live in a bubble to avoid exposure via the environment). Others might be interested to know that D5 is also used as an environmentally friendly alternative to toxic dry cleaning chemicals. So, unless you have the biology of a female lab rat . . . Added 3/12/13: This is a hoot. I just checked the ingredients in a lotion given out by our local hospital's cancer support unit to help PREVENT cancer. It contains cyclopentasiloxane. The product itself is a wonderfully smooth, if expensive, indulgence. The picture fascinated me; I was curious to see those pink and white spirals suspended in solution. Minor disappointment here. The merchandise I received wasn't as "pretty" as the picture. (The pink is more of a pale salmon color and an air bubble had mooshed part of the strands so they are not as clean as shown.) I guess for the price I expected perfection. Doesn't affect the quality, so I really couldn't take off a star for that. And the effects are fantastic! For the morbidly curious like me, here is a list of all 44 ingredients--45 if you count yellow and reddish-brown iron oxide pigments as two different things: Water, cyclopentasiloxane, glycerin, neopentyl glycol diheptanoate, pentylene glycol, castor isostearate succinate, butylene glycol, polymethylsilsesquioxane, C30-45 alkyl cetearyl dimethicone crosspolymer, dimethicone crosspolymer, cucumis melo (melon) fruit extract, elaesis guineensis (palm) oil, sodium hyaluronate, magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, soluble collagen, maltooligosyl glucoside, decarboxy carnosine HCl, hexapeptide-9, tripeptide-3, saccharomyces/zinc ferment, cholesterol, tocotrienols, tocopherol, tocopheryl acetate, lecithin, caprylyl glycol, hydrogenated vegetable oil, dimethicone, ethylhexylglycerin, silica dimethyl silylate, hydrogenated starch hydrolysate, ethylhexyl hydroxystearate, hydroxypropyl guar, glyceryl acrylate/acrylic acid copolymer, polysilicone-11, carbomer, triethanolamine, hexylene glycol, denatured alcohol, disodium EDTA, fragrance, phenoxyethanol, iron oxides (ci77491, ci77492), and titanium dioxide (ci77891).