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Is the promise of safe cosmetics and personal care products just over the horizon? The answer to that question is, in large part, up to American consumers.
On June 24, the Safe Cosmetics Act (H.R.2359) was introduced into Congress by Reps. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., Ed Markey, D-Mass and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc. This bill is designed to give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to ensure that cosmetics and personal care products are free of toxic ingredients. It will also mandate full disclosure of ingredients on product labels.
This legislation will also level the playing field for businesses that are already making safe products and will help the cosmetics industry by encouraging the development of safer products.
According to The Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act of 1938, which is still in effect, the FDA has no power over the cosmetics industry. To date, the 50 billion dollar, self-regulated industry is not required to conduct safety assessments and cannot be forced to recall dangerous products.
Even in the case of the latest news of Brazilian Blowout hair straightening products, which have been proven to contain high levels of formaldehyde, the FDA can only request a voluntary recall.
Although Brazilian Blowout denies unsafe levels of formaldehyde in its products, Michael Roosevelt, acting director in the FDA’s Office of Compliance stated in a recent letter to the company, “Brazilian Blowout is an adulterated cosmetic because it bears or contains a deleterious substance that may render it injurious to users under the conditions of use prescribed in your labeling.” He went on to say, “Brazilian Blowout contains the liquid form of formaldehyde, methylene glycol; however, the product label declares that the product contains ‘No Formaldehyde’ or is ‘Formaldehyde Free.” This declaration renders your product misbranded because it is a false and misleading statement.”
This is only the tip of the iceberg. Loopholes in the current, antiquated legislation allow the use of ingredients that are known to or are strongly suspected of causing cancer, endocrine disruption, reproductive disorders, birth defects, immune system toxicity, organ toxicity, neurotoxicity, asthma, skin irritation and a whole host of health problems.
These toxins can be found in commonly used products such as soap, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, deodorant, toothpaste, mouthwash, perfume and cologne, moisturizers, makeup, hair styling products, nail polish, hair dyes and other personal care/cosmetic products.
While congress is trying to do their part, it is just as important that American consumers stand up and demand safe products. This is not wishful thinking, many of the toxic ingredients in our personal care products have already been banned in Europe. These harmful ingredients that have been successfully removed from European products, are still being used in products sold in the United States. “Why?” you ask…because, they can. There are no laws in place to stop them.
According to The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, “New advances in science have exposed the health risks of repeated exposures to low-dose hazardous chemicals – while also enabling green chemists to develop safer, non-toxic formulas. The cosmetics industry as a whole has not kept pace with safety innovations due to a weak regulatory system that encourages ignorance about chemical hazards and allows companies to hide the true toxicity of products.”
We exercise our bodies and watch what we eat. But, when it comes to our skin, we’ll just grab something off the shelves and smear it all over our bodies without even questioning what it contains.
Contact dermatitis, which produces itchiness, redness, swelling, and mild fever, is the most common skin disorder caused by toxins found in even the most popular personal care products. Fragrance can cause an immediate reaction but weaker irritants may take up to ten days to trigger an allergic response. Lips, eyes, ears, neck, and hands are the most common sites for cosmetic allergies.
Synthetic fragrances can trigger asthma, detergents in shampoos can cause damage to eye tissue, and some hair dye chemicals can cause bladder cancer and lymphoma.
It is important to know what is in the products you use every day and the best way to do that is to learn what to look for in a product ingredient label.
You skin is your body’s largest organ. Everything you put on it is absorbed into it. Toxic chemicals can be stored in fatty tissues and organs such as the liver, kidney, breasts, ovaries and brain.
Therefore, it is just as important to use safe cosmetics as it is to eat healthy food. Using toxic products is even more dangerous than eating foods that have been treated with pesticides. Fruits and vegetables may harbor some pesticide residue, but a large majority of personal care products use harmful chemicals as their main ingredient.
According to recent research, scientists are finding phthalates (a component of plastic) in urine; parabens and antibacterial agents, such as triclosan, in breast tumor tissue and the hormone-disrupting fragrant component, xylene, in human breast milk.
In the recent documentary “The Story of Cosmetics,” by Annie Leonard, Leonard states that the average woman uses 12 personal care products per day, and the average man uses about six. She further states that out of all of the personal care products on the market, only 20% of the ingredients have been tested for safety.
Because many toxic chemicals can be stored in organs and fatty tissue, they are also passed invitro from mother to child. Therefore, babies are born pre-polluted. For more information on this and other very real concerns involving the safety of cosmetic and personal care products, visit http://safecosmetics.org, http://www.ewg.org, or http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com.