Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 Introduced

Wow! Someone on Capitol Hill has finally realized that the lack of government regulation on personal care products is unacceptable and has decided to do something about it. Thank you to Rep. Jan Schakowsky along with Rep. Edward Markey and Rep. Tammy Baldwin who have introduced the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 (H.R. 5786) which, if passed, would significantly change the structure of cosmetic regulation in the United States, calling for regulation by the FDA of ingredients, testing, and labeling while mandating the reporting of adverse health effects resulting from the use of a cosmetic. This Act will hopefully eliminate harmful chemicals from all body care products, lessening the chemical burden in our bodies and improving the health of our population.

Currently there are no legal standards for ingredients allowed in personal care products nor is there regulation on organic labeling for these products. Manufacturers often use misleading labeling to lure unsuspecting people into purchasing their products with labels saying “natural”, “non-toxic”, “herbal”, “organic”, etc. complemented with pictures of butterflies or fields of grass, with the goal of making consumers think these products are safe, when often that is not the case. Due to intense lobbying by the cosmetic industry, the FDA granted the industry self-regulation over 70 years ago. Those responsible for creating and overseeing any type of standards have certainly done a poor job of it thus far with products ranging from baby care to deodorants, facial care and lotions to shampoo, and everything in between containing carcinogens, neurotoxins and endocrine disruptors regularly showing up on shelves. A visit to the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database provides you with the tools to get safety ratings for the products you currently use through a brand or product name search. They have created the safety ratings after looking at the ingredients and finding those ingredients on more than 50 toxicity and regulatory databases. You’ll probably be shocked and maybe even a bit angry to see what you find.

What can you do to protect yourself and your family until the Act is passed? As always, become an educated consumer. Read labels and look for ingredients you can pronounce and understand. There are independent organizations striving to get standards in place that ensure ingredients are safe and natural when a product is labeled as such. You can learn about the Compact for Safe Cosmetics created by The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and find a list of companies who have signed the compact and are already offering healthier products at SafeCosmetics.org. The Organic Consumers Association has a list of companies endorsing their Coming Clean Campaign which was created to rid the organic personal care industry of false and misleading labeling. You can read the Code of Ethics for the Green Products Alliance and find a list of manufacturers who have joined the alliance and offer natural products while upholding sustainable business practices.

You can read the full text of the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 at the Library of Congress website. Watch a short online film entitled The Story of Cosmetics: The Ugly Truth of “Toxics In, Toxics Out” from the The Story of Stuff Project and Free Range Studios in cooperation with The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. It provides a short eye-opening education on what is in the products we put on our bodies and the consequences of using those products. After watching the film, you can follow the “What You Can Do” link and take action by voicing your support of the Act to your Congress person. If enough of the people speak, the leaders will listen. This is an opportunity for us all to make a real difference in our own health and well-being and the future generations who count on us to do the right thing. Let’s be heard.

Contributed by our Passaic branch representative, Suzie Blodgett.