 |
|
|
Natural Skin Care Changes in the Beauty Industry So who’s policing the industry? Itself. The main testing/enforcement arm of the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association—a manufacturers’ group—is the industry-funded Cosmetic Ingredient Review panel. And while the industry is hyper-intent on creating products that do no harm—imagine the backlash if people started breaking out in welts from eye shadow or hair gel—self-regulated industries have a long track record of coming to grief. Until recently, the FDA hasn’t been much help, as it has little sway over personal care products. But that’s changing. The FDA recently told the cosmetics industry that it intends to enforce a law requiring companies to inform consumers if a personal care product lacks safety data. The result could be a warning label on cosmetics stating that their safety hasn’t been determined. “The FDA is threatening to change the way the entire industry operates,” says EWG spokesperson Lauren Sucher. “We think it’s great.” The beauty biz is also feeling the heat abroad. In the fall of 2004, the European Union (EU) banned the sale of all cosmetics containing hundreds of chemicals known or strongly believed to cause cancer, mutations and birth defects (the Skin Deep report lists 450 ingredients). The FDA has banned only nine. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of health and environmental groups, has challenged American cosmetics companies to conform to the EU standards within three years. Already, 88 companies have signed the group’s Compact for Safe Cosmetics. Not surprisingly, all of them are natural products firms, including Aubrey, Terressentials, Elixir Body Care and Garden of Eve. But in a positive move, some mega-companies—L’Oréal, Revlon and Unilever—have agreed to remove two of the most worrisome phthalates, which are particularly troubling chemicals banned by the EU (see below). To learn which companies have signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics, visit safecosmetics.org. More pressure is coming from two proposed bills in California. One forbids the use of the phthalates known as DBP and DEHP. The other requires manufacturers to inform the California Department of Health Services of any studies linking a product or ingredient to cancer or birth defects. Turning Green Some forward-thinking companies have already reformulated their products to be safer. Avalon, working with the Breast Cancer Fund, has revised more than 40 of its Avalon Organic products to remove several worrisome chemicals. Jason Natural Cosmetics uses all-vegan ingredients in its personal care items. Firms like these are showing the way by investing in “green chemistry.” The term may not be that pretty, but the results are. Article by Carol Kahn from Vegetarian Times, July/August 2005. Copyright© Vegetarian Times. Reprinted with permission. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||