The Impact of Long-Term Exposure to Lip Cosmetics on the Fertility of Female Drosophila melanogaster

Are products marketed as safe to use, truly safe to use? Inspired by an article exposing the dangers of Tampax tampons, this study examines potential reproductive risks from consumer lip products marketed as natural and safe18. Drosophila melanogaster, a model organism with genetic and reproductive similarities to humans, was utilized to test the impacts of Rhode and Avène lip cosmetics. Avène’s Cicalfate + Lips Repair Lip Balm is the closest alternative to Rhode’s unscented peptide lip treatment, which was mindfully chosen to test if affordability comes at the expense of safety. Various concentrations of these products will be exposed to two wild-type fly strains, Oregon R and Protamine::GFP (Probe::GFP) over a 7-day period. Hatchability experiments, pupae countings, and t-tests suggest that these products do not have a clear defect on fly fertility and embryo development.