The story of cosmetics: The ugly truth about personal care products

Finally, an up-beat, easy-to-digest, and non-preachy short film about toxic personal care products!



According to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics,

The Story of Cosmetics, released on July 21, 2010 at storyofcosmetics.org, examines the pervasive use of toxic chemicals in our everyday personal care products, from lipstick to baby shampoo. Produced by Free Range Studios and hosted by Annie Leonard, the 7-minute film reveals the implications for consumer and worker health and the environment, and outlines ways we can move the industry away from hazardous chemicals and towards safer alternatives. The film concludes with a call for viewers to support legislation aimed at ensuring the safety of cosmetics and personal care products.

The main messages of this film are:

• many personal care products have chemicals ingredients that are toxic , including those that are linked to cancer or other problems like learning disabilities and asthma.
• less than 20% of all chemicals in cosmetics have been assessed for safety by the industry’s own safety panel.
• claims made on bottles (such as "organic" "natural") are meaningless (unless they are certified by a third party), as is clear when we actually take a look at all the ingredients listed on a product.
• No governmental entity (in this case, the Food and Drug Administration of the US) is making sure that the stuff in our personal care products is safe; the FDA doesn’t assess the safety of personal care products, nor their ingredients. Instead, it is "self-regulated" by the cosmetics companies themselves.
  

This is pretty depressing. But there are things we can do.

• protect ourselves by identifying the best possible choices in the store;
• take action: demand the government to pass laws/regulations to ensure that our personal care products are safe;
• but most important of all, don't fall into the trap that we must use lots of products (the average woman in the U.S. uses about 12 personal care products containing about 180 chemicals daily, while the average man, about 6 products containing about 85 chemicals) to feel beautiful.
  

I did say that the film is easy to understand, right?

Another thing I really appreciated about this film is that it doesn't take ages to download. Here in Jakarta, where the internet connections aren't top-speed, it can be pretty frustrating to try to watch YouTube and trailers of films.

After discovering this film, I have added The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics to my link list titled "Raising healthy children sustainably" on the right-hand side of this blog.