Safe Cosmetics Act
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
California's "Safe Cosmetics Act" (S.B. 484) which covers personal care products like toothpaste, antiperspirant and sunscreen, "will become a very dominant issue as we roll into 2007," United Natural Products Alliance Executive Director Loren Israelsen asserted at Expo West March 25. Israelsen warned of greater traffic to 1Skin Deep, the "online, brand-by-brand personal care product safety guide" maintained by the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group. EWG worked with other national non-profits that form the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics coalition to pass S.B 484. "You will see a tremendous education effort begin to invite" women to the database when the bill goes into effect in 2007, Israelsen predicted. Skin Deep ranks more than 14,400 products, searchable by brand name and type, by "relative concern." The ranking is based on a cross-reference of a product's ingredients with sources such as the National Toxicology Program and the Environmental Protection Agency. The Safe Cosmetics Act requires that firms report to the Department of Health the use of any chemicals known in any state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity...