Fwd: [SoFlaVegans] Is Your Lipstick Safe?

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Is Your Lipstick Safe?

By Anuja Mendiratta, Ms. Magazine

December 11, 2006

 

http://www.alternet.org/story/45127/

http://www.alternet.org/stories/45127/

 

That lipstick or nail polish you may be wearing -- are

they a danger to your health? How about your

deodorant, toothpaste, body lotion, soap?

 

Seemingly innocuous personal-care products contain a

host of largely unregulated chemicals and toxic

ingredients. Some of those chemicals -- phthalates,

formaldehyde, petroleum, parabens, benzene and lead --

have been variously linked to breast cancer,

endometriosis, reproductive disorders, birth defects

and developmental disabilities in children.

 

Women and girls should be particularly concerned, as

our bodies are uniquely susceptible to certain

environmental chemicals. Women have a greater

percentage of fat in comparison to men, so fat-soluble

chemicals such as parabens and toluene tend to be more

readily absorbed and fatty breast tissue can be a

long-term storage site for some of the more persistent

toxic chemicals. Hormones also play a role: Synthetic

chemicals such as alkylphenols (found in some

detergents) and bisphenol A (found in hard plastics)

can mimic natural estrogens in the body -- and excess

estrogen can play a role in the development of breast

cancer. Childbearing women may also pass toxins to

fetuses in utero or to newborns when breastfeeding.

 

But U.S. consumers are left in the dark about vital

safety information: Cosmetic companies are not

required to label many of their products' ingredients,

and the Food and Drug Administration does not mandate

premarket safety testing of those ingredients.

 

And that's why the California Safe Cosmetics Act is

such a landmark achievement.

 

Signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last

October and taking effect in 2007, it requires

manufacturers to disclose product ingredients found on

state or federal lists of chemicals that cause cancer

or birth defects. The law further authorizes the state

to investigate the health impacts of chemicals in

cosmetics, and requires manufacturers to supply

health-related information about their ingredients.

Finally, the act enables the state to regulate

products in order to assure the safety of salon

workers.

 

California is the first state in the nation to pass

such legislation, thus serving as a model for the

other 49. " This is an important disclosure bill, and

an important victory for women's health, " says Jeanne

Rizzo of the Breast Cancer Fund. " California has set

the stage for states to assert regulatory authority

around toxic chemicals in cosmetics, which the federal

government has thus far refused to lead on. "

 

Adds California state Sen. Carole Migden, who

championed the legislation, " It is beyond belief that

consumers are not being told whether or not they are

putting carcinogens on their skin, in their hair or on

their face. [The law] represents a triumph of

grassroots efforts over money and power. Even in the

face of a multinationally funded lobbying machine,

common sense and the public good prevailed. "

 

While many known toxic components have been banned in

Europe from use in personal care products, similar

ingredients remain legal in products marketed to the

American public. Currently, the FDA does not review

the ingredients in cosmetic and beauty-care products,

but instead relies on self-regulation by the cosmetic

industry's own Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) panel.

According to the watchdog Environmental Working Group,

only 11 percent of the 10,500-plus ingredients that

the FDA has documented in personal-care products have

been assessed for safety by the CIR panel.

 

In response to the lack of government oversight, an

international Campaign for Safe Cosmetics was

initiated in 2002 to pressure the personal-care

industry to phase out known toxic ingredients and

replace them with safer alternatives. Manufacturers

have been encouraged to sign the " Compact for Safe

Cosmetics, " and to date more than 300 have done so,

including The Body Shop, Burt's Bees and Aubrey

Organics.

 

Migden authored the California Safe Cosmetics Act

(S.B. 484) in 2004, with co-sponsorship by Breast

Cancer Action, Breast Cancer Fund and the National

Environmental Trust. They joined with other

public-health, environmental, consumer, Asian Pacific

Islander, teen and faith-based groups in a yearlong

organizing and lobbying campaign -- which met

aggressive opposition from the Cosmetic, Toiletry and

Fragrance Association. The industry group spent more

than $600,000 trying to defeat the bill, even going so

far as to host a website to capture searchers looking

for the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. In contradiction

to a growing body of science, the website claims that

the personal-care products sold in California are the

safest in the world.

 

Julia Liou, of Oakland-based Asian Health Services,

advocated particularly for provisions in the bill

designed to protect the safety of nail-salon and

cosmetology workers. " We realize that Asian nail-salon

workers and owners are not fully aware of the

long-term health risks facing their sector, " says

Liou. Currently, of the more than 83,500 manicurists

in California, 80 percent are of Vietnamese descent,

more than half of whom are of reproductive age.

 

Nail-salon and cosmetology workers handle solvents,

chemical solutions and glues on a daily basis, yet

little research has been conducted on the chronic

health effects of such exposures. There is also a

dearth of culturally and linguistically appropriate

educational materials to build awareness about

environmental exposures and help workers and salon

owners implement safety precautions.

 

Most of the Vietnamese salon workers earn less than

$15,700 a year, speak limited English and lack health

coverage. Their voices went largely unheard in the

safe-cosmetics debate, and some salon owners actually

came out against the bill -- " based on misinformation

and fear about how it might impact small

immigrant-owned businesses, " says Liou. " So it is

important for us to work with salon workers and owners

in a way that empowers them to be leaders and

advocates themselves. " In an effort to do so, the

California Healthy Nail Salons Collaborative was

formed, and now advocates for greater work- place

safety, protective policies, research and community

education.

 

The passage of the California Safe Cosmetics Act sets

the stage for further advocacy around cosmetic safety,

occupational exposures and chemical policy reform.

Those who fought to pass it are now working to ensure

its adequate funding and enforcement, and hope to see

it replicated in other states.

 

For more information, visit: Campaign for Safe

Cosmetics; California Health Nail Salons

Collaborative, jliou (AT) ahschc (DOT) org; Skin Deep, a database

of the Environmental Working Group providing a safety

assessment of personal-care product ingredients. To

access the California Safe Cosmetics Act:

www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html.

 

Anuja Mendiratta is a senior program officer with the

Women's Foundation of California and on the steering

committee of the California Health Nail Salons

Collaborative; she is also a freelance writer.

 

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