True Roots by Ronnie Citron-Fink

Author:Ronnie Citron-Fink
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Island Press
Published: 2019-07-17T16:00:00+00:00

What could this mean for hair products and potential health offenders such as PPD? It could change coal tar’s protected status. As mentioned, coal tar is a carcinogen, but current law prevents the FDA from restricting it so long as products include a warning label.

A number of large cosmetics companies, including L’Oréal, as well as health and consumer advocacy groups, support the bill. Some companies are opposed because they predict the stringency of the proposed legislation would unfairly penalize smaller independent cosmetic companies.

This bill is a big step in the right direction, and I applaud the bipartisan efforts of Senators Feinstein and Collins and Representative Pallone as well as the companies willing to support safe policies over their bottom line, making our health a priority. The Personal Care Products Safety Act would give the FDA the power to review controversial chemicals and determine whether those ingredients are safe or unsafe.

And, as I’ve learned through years of advocacy work with Moms Clean Air Force, there is much we can do to help our elected officials do the right thing. Arming consumers with sound science, like applying the lessons of the tobacco advocates, gives citizens the power to demand that our country’s legislators not sit idle while the beauty industry is allowed to put coal tar, hormone-disrupting phthalates, cancer-linked parabens, and just about any chemical in our everyday products. We can also boycott products to pressure companies to disclose their ingredients. As my father used to say, “We can raise a stink.”

So, for now, we’re left self-regulating. This has us sleuthing around, reading labels, asking more questions, and figuring out answers. It leaves us floundering in the land of “Let the buyer beware.” There’s virtue in being a savvy consumer, but in the era of archaic laws, industry panels, deregulation, and a powerful chemical lobby, self-regulation goes only so far. We need reasonable regulation and also more scientific research to learn about health risks. Unfortunately, a financial bump to the FDA’s budget doesn’t seem forthcoming. So we’re left second-guessing our choices, wondering if that cocktail of chemicals we applied for decades may have left an invisible mark—the kind of stain cancer could prey on.

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