About the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is a coalition of women’s, public health, labor, environmental health and consumer-rights groups. Our goal is to protect the health of consumers and workers by requiring the health and beauty industry to phase out the use of chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects and other health problems, and replace them with safer alternatives.
Personal care products like shampoo, conditioner, after shave, lotion and makeup are not regulated by the FDA or any other government agency. It is perfectly legal and very common for companies to use ingredients that are known or suspected to be carcinogens, mutagens or reproductive toxins in the their products. Consumers buy these products at drug stores, grocery stores, online or in salons, usually without questioning the product’s safety.
We are asking cosmetics and personal care products companies to sign the Compact for Safe Cosmetics (also known as the Compact for the Global Production of Safer Health and Beauty Products), a pledge to remove toxic chemicals and replace them with safer alternatives in every market they serve. As of August 2007, 600 companies have signed the Compact -- and that number increases every day!
The Campaign works with endorsing organizations and individuals so that together we can ramp up the pressure on companies that have not signed the Compact and continue to sell us toxic products, including Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, Avon and many others. Our founding organizations also work closely with other allies to reform the chemical policies that allow for toxic ingredients in consumer products in the first place.
History of the Campaign
The Safe Cosmetics Campaign began in 2002 with the release of a report, Not Too Pretty: Phthalates, Beauty Products and the FDA. For the report, environmental and public health groups contracted with a laboratory to test 72 name-brand, off-the-shelf beauty products for the presence of phthalates, a family of industrial chemicals linked to permanent birth defects in the male reproductive system.
The lab found phthalates in nearly three quarters of the products tested, though the chemicals were not listed on any of the labels. A second report, Pretty Nasty, documented similar product test results in Europe.
In February 2003, the European Union passed a new amendment to their Cosmetics Directive that prohibits the use of known or suspected carcinogens, mutagens and reproductive toxins (CMRs) from cosmetics. This amendment went into force in September 2004.
Founding groups of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics include: Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, Breast Cancer Fund, Clean Water Fund, Commonweal, Environmental Working Group, Friends of the Earth, Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, National Black Environmental Justice Network, National Environmental Trust, and Women’s Voices for the Earth. In spring 2004, these groups and more than 50 other organizations signed a letter asking cosmetics companies to take our pledge, the Compact for Safe Cosmetics. Today, 600 companies have signed the Compact. Together we are working for safer products and smarter laws that protect our health and our families from toxic chemicals.
If you'd like to subscribe to our e-mail list for regular updates, or to join our activist network, click here. As always, we respect your privacy.
If your non-profit organization would like to support our efforts, please click here to endorse this campaign!
