Information

List is Just a Four-Letter Word

September 2, 2010 · View Comments

If there’s a Truth about safe cosmetics out there, I feel like it should be on a list. Everywhere I look lately people are talking about them. Apparently, safety is all about the lists. For example, the European Union has a list of 1,364 chemicals they’ve banned from use in personal care products. The U.S. list contains only 8 banned chemicals. I’m hearing about this list all the time. People say, “Imagine how dangerous U.S. cosmetics are if our list only has 8 banned chemicals!” Apparently some of us have list envy and want to make a larger list of banned chemicals.... [Read the full story]

Legislation

Small Businesses Share Impact Of HR 5786, If Passed As Written [Audio]

August 26, 2010 · View Comments

My guests on yesterday’s Indie Business Podcast were Ann Wooledge, Valerie Reed and Vanessa Nixon Klein, each of whom owns a small cosmetics company and is a former signer of the Compact For Safe Cosmetics. On the show, they shared their entrepreneurial stories and offered practical insights on how HR 5786, as drafted, would impact their businesses without providing consumers with additional safety benefits. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to click the play arrow and enjoy the audio. If that link does not appear, click the blue arrow here at our FaceBook Page to listen to the show.... [Read the full story]

Regulations

The Bunny Effect of The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010

August 25, 2010 · View Comments

I am all about creating safe cosmetics that are natural, green and do no harm to our environment and no unnecessary harm to animals. At Essential Wholesale, we use a volunteer human panel to test all of the new products that come out of our Research and Development Lab. Our products are designed for human topical use and I see no purpose to needlessly torture animals. I get it and understand why some ingredients must be tested on animals, but I was alarmed when Anne-Marie of Brambleberry uncovered how the EU Initiative increased the number of animal tests, rather than what I believe the... [Read the full story]

Science

Do Chemicals in Cosmetics Accumulate in Your Body?

August 31, 2010 · View Comments

I have spent a lot of time over the last week looking at the coverage of the Story of Cosmetics video in the blogosphere, and sometimes challenging stuff written there. I have to say it wasn’t a particularly productive thing to do. For a start, not many of the things I posted ever appeared. It seems that a lot of them are happy to criticise without having any kind of debate about it. I also noticed that the same things get said time and again, almost as if there is only a small group of people actually writing this stuff. However not all my posts vanished without a trace.... [Read the full story]

Personal Care News

Statement by Kathleen Dezio, Spokeswoman On “The Story of Cosmetics”

July 22, 2010 · View Comments

July 21, 2010 “The content in this harsh and unscientific ‘shockumentary – genre’ video bears no relationship to the ‘real’ story of cosmetics. Our industry employs hundreds of men and women who have devoted their careers to substantiating the safety of cosmetic products. This video is an unfortunate attempt to generate fear about an alleged public health risk from cosmetics that is unwarranted. It is repugnant to suggest that cosmetic companies would manufacture, and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) would allow them to market, products that are dangerous... [Read the full story]

Ingredients

Squalane and Squalene

August 27, 2010 · View Comments

I got into a bit of trouble talking to a young woman in an internet chat room the other day. Actually its not as bad as that makes it sound. She was a very earnest person who had been thoroughly researching her personal care purchases and had lots of points and opinions. Unwisely, I decided to correct one minor error I thought I had spotted. She had said that cosmetic companies had not been able to tell her that they categorically did not use squalane derived from sharks livers. This took my mind back to my first job in formulation back in the early Eighties. I had been shown... [Read the full story]

Legislation

Small Businesses Share Impact Of HR 5786, If Passed As Written [Audio]

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6 Mom-Owned Small Businesses That Closed Due To CPSIA

I am a wife, a mother and a business owner. I also serve a lot of mom-owned businesses through the Indie Beauty Network, and I know how important it is to stand up with and for my members to oppose unfair legislation that would destroy their jobs without any consumer benefit. It would not be the first time it happened. On...

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The Safe Cosmetics Act 2010

The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 (SCA 2010), now before the House of Representatives, is an inappropriate and seriously flawed attempt to make cosmetics safer. You can read the full text here. The thinking behind it is identical to a bill that was proposed (and defeated on March 1st this year) in Colorado (see Tunnel...

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Campaign For Safe Cosmetics Treats Compact Signers Unfairly

Yesterday on Indie Business Radio, I interviewed Lauren Sheahan of LaurEss Cosmetics in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Lauren is a wife, mother and Indie Beauty Network member who started her business in 2003. She rents a manufacturing facility in Green Bay and between her, her husband and one woman, she has three employees....

[Continue reading: Campaign For Safe Cosmetics Treats Compact Signers Unfairly]

5 Ways The “Safe Cosmetics Act” Will Harm Consumers

First, let me explain what the “Safe Cosmetics Act” is. It’s a bill that has been introduced into the house by representatives Schakowsky (D-IL), Markey (D-MA) and Baldwin (D-WI). This bill’s stated purpose is to make the cosmetic industry safer through further regulation. While it sounds great on the surface,...

[Continue reading: 5 Ways The “Safe Cosmetics Act” Will Harm Consumers]

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