What's the straight dope on petroleum lip balms?

Factual Questions
1

Hi y’all, I am using a fantastic lip balm (actually a cracked nipple cream, natch) and it was given to me by the mama-to-be because it contained petroleum and she didn’t want to use it where the baby would ingest it. There seems to be a general consensus among alternative medicine types that body products containing petroleum products are ‘bad’. It seems to me like a good use for an inevitable by-product of the oil industry, and it’s FDA approved.

What’s the Straight Dope folks? Is it any better or worse than the other waxy standbys like beeswax or carnauba? I know it is better than earwax!

2

As far as I know, petroletum is harmless. The inventor of Vaseline, Robert Chesebrough, ate a spoonful of it every day and lived to be 96.

Basically, it’s inert and just passes through the system. Cat hairball remedies are made up of it and cats aren’t harmed by it.

3

Because of peak oil, we will stop using petroleum for frivolous purposes like lip balm in less than a century.

Take advantage of it now while you can.

4

I use petroleum jelly on my lips almost every single day in winter (it’s very dry here). I haven’t noticed any health problems from it.

ETA: I also stick it up my nose when I have a bad cold and my nose is raw from blowing so much. It feels soooo good.