Toxins Aren't Pretty: Demand Safe Cosmetics

Urge Rep. Janice Schakowsky to continue working to pass the Safe Cosmetics Act.

Goal: 15,000 • Progress: 2,959

Sponsored by: The Breast Cancer Site

Cosmetics are among the least-regulated products on the market. Loopholes in federal law allow use of unlimited amounts of chemicals in products without testing, monitoring of health effects, or adequate labeling. One-third of cosmetic products on the market contain chemicals linked to cancer. Nearly 90% of the 10,000 ingredients in personal care products haven't undergone safety testing.

The average woman is exposed daily to 126 chemical ingredients via personal care products alone. Diseases linked to synthetic chemicals, including breast cancer, are rising. Under current law (unchanged since 1938), the FDA cant require cosmetics companies to conduct safety assessments or mandate product recalls.

The Safe Cosmetics Act (H.R. 2359) will give the FDA authority to ensure that personal care products are free of harmful ingredients.

Sign the petition: Urge Rep. Janice Schakowsky to continue working to pass the Safe Cosmetics Act.

Dear Representative Schakowsky:

I am writing to applaud your championing of the Safe Cosmetics Act, a long-overdue piece of legislation critical to protecting all of us from the dangerous and insidious chemicals we are exposed to every day.

The Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act of 1938 is woefully out-of-date; loopholes in U.S. federal law allow manufacturers to use unlimited amounts of chemicals in their products without requiring testing, monitoring of health effects, or adequate labeling. This is unacceptable, and I am grateful that you recognize the urgent need to regulate an industry with such a far-ranging impact.

The Safe Cosmetics Act (H.R. 2359) you have co-sponsored with your colleagues Rep. Ed Markey and Rep. Tammy Baldwin will give the FDA authority to ensure that personal care products are free of harmful ingredients by phasing out ingredients linked to cancer, birth defects, and developmental harm. It will also create a health-based safety standard system that will protect both consumers and workers in the cosmetic industry, while providing the funding to the FDA it needs to provide effective oversight of a $50 billion industry that is currently self-regulated. Furthermore, not only is this legislation good for consumers and industry workers, it will level the playing field for businesses that are striving to make the safest products.

I commend you for displaying the leadership to sponsor the Safe Cosmetics Act and strongly encourage you to continue efforts to pass this important legislation.