Becky Striepe
Thanks to momentum from concerned consumers, the House of Representatives is now looking at the Safe Cosmetics Act!
Maria wrote just recently about reclaiming your beauty by staying informed, and the Safe Cosmetics Act would make it even easier for consumers to avoid harmful chemicals by eliminating many of them from beauty products. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is encouraging us to email our legislators letting them know we support the act, and they’re making is easy to do with a simple, online form.
What is the Safe Cosmetics Act?
Did you know that the cosmetics industry is largely unregulated? Companies aren’t required to do safety assessments on their products, and the FDA can’t make them recall dangerous products. Because certain ingredients are considered trade secrets, they’re not even required to label everything that goes into cosmetics.
Reps. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc. introduced the Safe Cosmetics Act to the House which would give the FDA the power to regulate chemicals in cosmetics. The act would require that these companies phase out chemicals linked to cancer and birth defects, require complete ingredients lists, and create health and safety standards for cosmetics.
You can learn a bit more about the cosmetics industry here in the U.S. by watching The Story of Cosmetics.
If you support the Safe Cosmetics Act, you can send an email asking your representative to co-sponsor this bill.
Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by sharonpak
