Making Cosmetics Safe
As a founding member and sponsor of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, the Breast Cancer Fund has been working hard to get toxic chemicals out of personal care products.
The reason: the cosmetics industry uses thousands of synthetic chemicals as ingredients, even those linked to cancer, infertility and birth defects.
Carcinogens have no place in cosmetics and personal care products. Yet the United States government does not systematically assess the safety of personal care products. In fact, we lag behind other countries in cosmetic safety, allowing hazardous chemicals that are banned in Canada, Japan and Europe.
CLEAR SCIENCE
Which chemicals in cosmetics are linked to breast cancer?
Check our list against your products >That's why U.S Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 (H.R.2359) on June 24, 2011.
Why is the Safe Cosmetics Act so groundbreaking? For starters, it will strengthen FDA oversight and regulation of the $50 billion cosmetics industry. Doing so will ensure that cosmetics do not contain ingredients or contaminants linked to adverse health effects and close loopholes that prevent consumers from knowing what's in their products.
Bottom line: the Safe Cosmetics Act gives us a real chance to pass national legislation that would eliminate harmful chemicals from the products women, men and children put on their bodies every day.
In order to make this happen, Congress needs to hear from us! Ask your U.S. Representative to co-sponsor the Safe Cosmetics Act.
Related Blog Posts
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11.30.11
Campaign gets companies to make safer cosmetics (Associated Press, 11/30/2011)
More than 400 cosmetics companies have removed chemicals linked to disease from their products under the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics' seven-year effort to shift the market toward safer products, reports the Associated Press.
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11.30.11
Market shift: hundreds of cosmetics companies fulfill safe-products pledge
Good news! The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics , a project of the Breast Cancer Fund, announced today that 321 cosmetics companies have met the goals of the Compact for Safe Cosmetics...
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11.17.11
Johnson & Johnson, amid activists' push, steadily removing toxic chemicals from baby products (Associated Press, 11/16/2011)
Iconic baby shampoo maker J&J has committed to removing formaldehyde-releasing preservatives from its baby products worldwide, under pressure from the Breast Cancer Fund's Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.
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11.01.11
Groups push J&J on baby shampoo chemicals (Associated Press, 11/1/2011)
A new report from the Breast Cancer Fund's Campaign for Safe Cosmetics reveals that Johnson's Baby Shampoo sold in some countries contains a formaldeyhde-releasing preservative, while formulations of the product sold in other countries use safer alternatives.
