Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is a coalition of public health, educational, religious, labor, women's, environmental and consumer groups with a goal to protect the health of consumers and workers by requiring the health and beauty industry to phase out the use of chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects and other health problems and replace them with safer alternatives.

Founding campaign members include Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, the Breast Cancer Fund, Commonweal, Environmental Working Group, Friends of the Earth, National Black Environmental Justice Network, National Environmental Trust, and Women's Voices for the Earth.

History

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics consumer campaign began in 2002 with the release of a report, "Not Too Pretty: Phthalates, Beauty Products and the FDA".[1] The report documented the presence of phthalates in off-the-shelf cospetics produced by the 72 brands tested. This chemical in beauty products is believed to impair fertility and is harmful to developing humans.[2] The report revealed that there were phthalates in nearly three quarters of the products tested, though the chemicals were not listed on any of the labels. A second report, "Pretty Nasty", documented similar product test results in Europe.

In October 2005, the Environmental Working Group released "Skin Deep: A Safety Assessment of Ingredients in Personal Care Products". This computer investigation into the health and safety assessments on more than 10,000 personal care products found major gaps in the regulatory safety net for these products. Also available is an online rating system that ranks products on their potential health risks and the absence of basic safety evaluations. The core of the analysis compared ingredients in 7,500 personal care products against government, industry, and academic lists of known and suspected chemical health hazards.[1]

The release of the 2002 report and the succeeding studies that supported its findings prompted a coalition of public health, educational, religious, labor, women's, environmental, and consumer groups to call for consumer health protection from authorities and safer cosmetics from manufacturers.[3]

Actions

In February 2003, the European Union (EU) passed a new amendment to their Cosmetics Directive that prohibits the use of known or suspected carcinogens, mutagens and reproductive toxins (CMRs) from cosmetics. This amendment went into force in September 2004.

In the spring of 2004, members of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and more than 50 other organizations signed a letter asking cosmetics companies and personal care product companies to sign the Compact for Safe Cosmetics (Compact for the Global Production of Safer Health and Beauty Products), a pledge to remove toxic chemicals and replace them with safer alternatives in every market they serve. Membership in this compact require cosmetics companies to satisfy six actions:

  1. Comply with the EU Cosmetics Directive.
  2. Disclose all ingredients.
  3. Publish and regularly update product information in EWG's Skin Deep database.
  4. Comply with ingredient prohibitions and restrictions under the Compact for Safe Cosmetics and substitute ingredients of concern with safer alternatives.
  5. Substantiate the safety of all products and ingredients with publicly available data.
  6. Participate in the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.[4]

At least 1,500 cosmetic companies became members of this compact. The initiative, however, had to be closed down due to the amount of information that needed to be processed for each new company and new product introduced to the market.[5] Presently, there is an existing list found on the Safe Cosmetics website that indicates those companies that expressed their willingness to create safer cosmetics.[6]

Recent Initiatives

On February 8, 2007, representatives of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and environmentalist David Steinman held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. regarding the presence of 1,4-dioxane in children's and adult's bath and beauty products. Held with participation from the Environmental Working Group, the conference highlighted a range of products including name-brand baby shampoos and bubble baths that were found in lab tests to contain traces of dioxane, although it was never included in product labeling. The press conference also called for official Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight of the cosmetics and personal care products industry, which is currently subject only to suggestions from the FDA.[7]

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has also promoted a new report that revealed the presence of heavy metals and other toxic chemicals in products for children.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 Houlihan, J., Brody, C., & Schwan, B. (2002, July 8). Not too pretty. Retrieved November 27, 2014, from http://www.safecosmetics.org/downloads/NotTooPretty_report.pdf
  2. ↑ Cohen, Larry; Chavez, Vivian; Chehimi, Sana (2007). Prevention is Primary: Strategies for Community Well Being. San Francisco: John Wiley & sons. p. 239. ISBN 9780787995638.
  3. ↑ Cohen, Chavez & Chehimi, p. 239.
  4. ↑ Button, Kimberly (2012). The Everything Guide to a Healthy Home: All You Need to Protect Yourself and Your Family from Hidden Household Dangers. Avon: Adams Media. p. 182. ISBN 9781440530579.
  5. ↑ Button, p. 182.
  6. ↑ "Campaign for Safe Cosmetics Compact Signers - Safe Cosmetics". Safe Cosmetics. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  7. ↑ Singer, Natasha, “Should You Trust Your Makeup?” The New York Times, 2/15/07. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/15/fashion/15sside.html, accessed 12-12-07.
  8. ↑ "Campaign for Safe Cosmetics-working for safer cosmetics". Safe Cosmetics. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
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