Last week my boyfriend’s mom tipped me off: Doctor Oz was finally rerunning his “Dangerous Beauty” segment. I’d heard about this episode back in February, and had frantically searched for it online to no avail—it didn’t seem to be making waves. The Oz had posted some pretty damning stuff on his website back then—calling out the FDA’s lack of regulation and the industry’s tricky labeling practices—but the focus seemed very product-specific. Regardless, I set my DVR, and yesterday hunkered down to watch.

Um, have any of you seen this? I don’t think my mouth closed for the first five minutes. It starts off with a newly recorded intro from the doctor, about how that day—June 2^nd—might be a game changing day for all the women watching… He goes on to say:

“What if I told you your makeup could be hazardous to your health? That it could even hurt your beauty in the long run? Take a look at this…”

It gets even crazier. Here’s what he says in the intro voiceover, folks. Since I still can’t find it online, you’ll have to imagine both his soothing voice and the super dramatic, anxiety-inducing music:

“…that lotion you put on your face every day to fight wrinkles hasn’t been approved by the government at all. The FDA oversees this multibillion dollar industry, but it does not approve products before they hit store shelves. [The music starts getting crazy here.] Even more alarming? Cosmetics companies are only required to list intended ingredients on their products. These companies are in no way really obligated to list harmful byproducts that may occur during manufacturing. Think you’re safer buying ‘natural,’ ‘organic’ or ‘hypoallergenic’ products? Think again. There are no guidelines for those terms in the cosmetic world—they simply mean whatever the company wants them to…”

When the show begins, he talks directly with women about the most dangerous items in their cosmetics bags.

I have two things to say: 1. You’re a badass, Dr. Oz. And more important, 2. Why is nobody talking about this? Dr. Oz is the most famous doctor in America. If he can’t create a media maelstrom over this, who can?

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