Conscious Choice Seattle: Concern for Cosmetics

June 2005 | Living Green

Concern for Cosmetics

By Co-op America

Dear Co-op America,
I’ve been hearing about toxins in cosmetics, and I’m concerned. How can I find the safest products?
— Jenny in Chicago

You wouldn’t think that the makeup, lotions and soaps we use every day contain harmful chemicals. Fact is, many do. The federal government doesn’t require health studies or pre-market testing on cosmetics—a far-reaching category used by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to include everything from makeup and deodorant to lotions and mouthwashes. Manufacturers are free to put just about anything they want into their products. The safety of these products is looked into almost exclusively by an industry-controlled committee called the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) panel.

Consequently, many ingredients in cosmetics are not safety tested at all. According to an analysis by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG), “89 percent of 10,500 ingredients used in personal care products have not been evaluated for safety by the CIR, the FDA, or any other publicly accountable institution.”

For example, EWG found that “one of every 13 women and one of every 23 men are exposed to ingredients that are known or probable human carcinogens every day through personal care products.”

Fortunately, there are responsible cosmetics companies out there focusing on the safety of their products. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (CSC), a coalition of consumer, environmental and social-justice groups working to clean up the cosmetics industry, is pressuring U.S. cosmetics companies to phase out 450 possible carcinogens, mutagens, and reproductive toxins from their products.

There are thousands of questionable chemicals in personal care products, but banning 450 is much better than the nine that the FDA currently restricts. To date, more than 50 companies have signed the campaign’s “Compact for Safe Cosmetics,” pledging to do so; the vast majority of them are organic and natural products companies. In addition, cosmetics giants L’Oreal and Revlon say their cosmetics do not include the 450 chemicals, though they haven’t officially signed. You can find a list of the companies that have signed at www.safecosmetics.org/companies/signers.cfm.

Your best option is to find an organic cosmetics company that has signed the CSC’s compact. Organic products alone don’t guarantee your safety; some organic products still contain potentially problematic synthetic chemicals as preservatives.

Besides checking for companies that have signed the Safe Cosmetics compact, you can also scrutinize the ingredients of the products you use. The EWG recently launched its Skin Deep online database, detailing the safety of hundreds of personal care products ( www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep ).

If your product of choice isn’t yet listed on Skin Deep, you can enter suspicious-looking ingredients into Environmental Defense’s chemical database, Scorecard.org. Scorecard lets you know about known and suspected health effects caused by thousands of chemicals.

Dear Co-op America,
I recently moved, and I have a bunch of cardboard boxes that I can’t seem to give away. Any ideas?
—Concerned in San Francisco

Of course! Look up your local “Freecycle” listserv at www.freecycle.org. Freecycle is a nationwide online networking service that’s all about offering things for free; no barter or selling allowed.

Living Green is brought to you by Co-op America, a national nonprofit that provides green living, purchasing and investing tips and resources. To join Co-op America and get a free copy of the National Green Pages™ directory of green businesses, call 800-58-GREEN or visit www.coopamerica.org.

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