Campaign for Safe Cosmetics Video – Real Issues or Just Hype?
August 17th, 2010. By AbiK
Ok, it’s now big enough and viral enough that Cosmetics Design has even reported on it…
The Story of Stuff’s latest video on youtube.com, “The Story of Cosmetics” (above, and yes, it’s eight minutes long), has already gotten over 203,000 views. It’s not only timely because it was released on July 21st, but also because it basically rides on the coattails of the recently introduced in Congress Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010. The Act states that it will give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority to ensure that personal care products are free of harmful ingredients.
A long time coming, yes. Heck, no one wants to put questionable ingredients or suspected carcinogens on their faces or the skin of their loved ones (I’m talking infants here, not massage lotions).
But while cosmetics industry groups—such as the Personal Care Products Council (PCPC)—have also called for more stringent controls on cosmetic ingredients, the PCPC has dubbed “The Story of Cosmetics” a “shockumentary”.
What do you make of it?
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I think it's important to remember that not only did this all begin based on the 1950s mindset, as is stated at the 4 min 47 second mark, but so too are the test methods we use to evaluate these chemicals.
The larger problem we are facing is that we have "tested" and deemed "safe" tens of thousands of chemicals on animals only to find that the many results are not accurate in humans. It's time to use human-relevant non-animal testing practices as outlined by the National Academy of Sciences report, "Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy in 2007."
The potential for chemical reform is quite exciting, but it should be done in a way that doesn’t sacrifice millions of animals (for toxicity testing) in the name of better protection for human health and the environment. We need Congress to mandate and create market incentives to use nonanimal methods and tests.
Every single food that you eat, including fruits and vegetables, contains benzo[a]pyrene, possibly the best-known of all the carcinogens in cigarette smoke. It's present in very low parts per billion, and is not considered to present any risk at all. It is similarly found in vegetable oils, which would be therefore banned by this new legislation. The simple fact is, once you start looking closely at natural complex substances (foods, fruit extracts, vegetable oils, essential oils, herb extracts…) you will find tiny amounts of chemicals that, in substantial amounts, are toxic in one way or another. It's pretty much a fact of life in this universe. I don't think lead should be put in lipstick either, but implying that is misleading – lead is naturally present in low parts per million in the iron oxides used to make all red lipsticks red. Frankly, it's naive to take a zero-tolerance, precautionary approach to cosmetics safety. If you do, then say goodbye to red lipstick, olive oil, rose oil, and, well, just about everything else. Can't be bothered to work out safe exposure levels? No problem, just don't use personal care products.