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Thesis Statement: The government should regulate the multi-billion dollar

industry of cosmetics because most products contain harmful chemicals and consumers

are not aware of what they are absorbing into their bodies or the effects of those

chemicals.

Introduction: When you open up a magazine, it will not take long for your eyes

to find an advertisement—and another, and another. Recent product marketing trends

focus on buzzwords like safe, natural, organic, pure, herbal and ageless. The urgency to

not only look and feel younger but live a “green” lifestyle is growing and corporations

know it. The fact is this: these buzz words have no legal standards when used in regards

to cosmetic products. The industry is unregulated which means cosmetics are not

required to be tested for safety before released to the public. This means that companies

can market their products as natural, organic or sensitive when in reality the product

contains skin irritants, toxins and possibly even carcinogens. The government should

regulate the multi-billion dollar industry of cosmetics because most products

contain harmful chemicals and many consumers are not aware of what they are

absorbing into their bodies or the effects of those chemicals.

(Look at audience).

I. The cosmetic industry is not properly regulated.

a. The The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require

companies to provide safety about its products (O’Connor & Spunt, 2010).

i. The FDA has a few rules in place, although they are not well

enforced, thus the cosmetic industry is almost entirely self-regulated (O’Connor & Spunt,

2010).
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ii. There are no protocols or definitions for what it means to

“substantiate safety” as a requirement for cosmetic companies from the FDA (Malkan,

2007).

b. The only testing done on products is by the cosmetic companies

themselves and they only test for short-term adverse effects such as rashes or swelling

(O’Connor & Spunt, 2010).

c. The Cosmetic Ingredient Review (2008) is a panel that reviews and

assesses the safety of certain ingredients on the cosmetic industry’s behalf.

i. Results and recommendations are forwarded to the Personal

Care Product Council (PCPC) (O’Connor & Spint, 2010).

II. Personal care products contain dozens of harmful chemicals and byproducts.

a. According to a product survey conducted by the Environmental

Working Group (2010), each day the average woman uses about 12 personal care

products which adds up to somewhere near 160 chemicals.

b. Due to trade-secret laws, companies are not required to tell you what is

in the “fragrance” (O’Connor & Spunt, 2010).

i. These fragrances can contain dozens or even hundreds of

synthetic chemicals some of which can be linked to asthma, allergies or neurological

problems (Malkan, 2007).

(Highlight visual aid).

c. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in 2005, one-

third of ingredients in personal care products have been linked to cancer (as cited in

Malkan, 2007).
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i. According to the EWG, 60% of personal care products contain

chemicals that may be harmful to the reproductive system or a growing baby’s

development (as cited in Malkan, 2007).

ii. According to the EWG, 87% of ingredients in personal care

products have not been assessed for safety by the CIR (as cited in Malkan, 2007).

III. Consumers are not aware of what they are absorbing into their bodies or the

effects of those chemicals.

a. Certain words used on labels such as “dermatologist-tested,” “allergy-

tested,” “hypoallergenic,” “gentle,” “herbal,” “botanical,” and “natural” as well as claims

to make you look and feel younger are not regulated and thus confuse consumers

(O’Connor & Spunt, 2010).

b. According to the EWG, up to 80% of products may contain one or

more hidden hazard or byproduct that is not even listed on the label (as cited in Malkan,

2007).

c. According to Janet Nudelman from the Breast Cancer Fund, multiple,

low-level chemical exposures add up and are a cause for concern in terms of cancer risk

(as cited in Malkan, 2007).

(Look at audience).

Conclusion: So what does this all mean? It means that we are ingesting,

inhaling, and absorbing chemicals into our bodies, albeit sometimes minute in quantities,

everyday. It means that the cosmetic industry is free to put nearly whatever chemicals

they choose into the products that we put on our face, in our hair, on our nails. After

careful consideration, consider this: manufacturers of personal care products are not just
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getting into your bloodstream, they are getting into your head. So do yourself a favor and

ignore the claims, just look at the label.

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Scripted Audience Questions

Question: Why hasn’t anything been done about this issue?

Answer: That’s a great question. There have been several attempts of lobbying

to change the laws, or should I say lack of laws, in recent history. One notable example

of this is when in 1973 Thomas Eagleton, a Democratic senator from Missouri, proposed

a bill that, if passed, would have required the FDA to conduct research and clearance of

cosmetic products before they are released to the public. The bill also called for full

ingredient disclosure and a streamlined complaint system among other things. The

cosmetic industry trade organization, you know, the one’s so concerned about our safety,

fought hard against it and won. A senator from Oregon proposed a similar bill in 1988

(O’Connor & Spunt, 2010). Obviously if that had passed, I wouldn’t be standing here

today.

Question: Why can’t someone just prove that these ingredients are harmful?

Answer: It’s a difficult task, let me explain why. Let’s say a few mice are patch-

tested with a chemical. Aside from a few rashes, there are no other visible side-effects.

However, when the mice are injected with larger doses of the chemical, it causes kidney

damage. Conclusions would then be made about the maximum dosage allowable as an

ingredient. The flaw in this experiment is this question: what would happen if the mice

were patch-tested every day for twenty years? What about the effects of

bioaccumulation, the build up of chemicals in the body over time (O’Connor & Spunt,

2010)? There are many long-term factors that simply cannot be tested – let alone funded

– for every suspicious ingredient.

Question: What do I do now?

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Answer: If you walk away with anything from this presentation, I hope you are

simply more aware of what you put onto and into your body. Protect yourself. One in

two men and one in three women are diagnosed with cancer each year (Malkan, 2007).

Sure, your moisturizer you use every day may not be the reason you are diagnosed with

cancer in fifteen years, but it might.

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References

Cosmetic Ingredient Review. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.cir-

safety.org/info.shtml.

Malkan, S. (2007). Not just a pretty face. British Columbia, Canada: New Society

Publishers.

O’Connor, S., & Spunt, A. (2010) No more dirty looks: The truth about your beauty

products and the ultimate guide to safe and clean cosmetics. Cambridge, MA: Da

Capo Press.

Evironmental Working Group. (2011). Skin deep: Cosmetic safety database. Retrieved

from http://cosmeticdatabase.com.
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Visual Aid Presenter’s Script

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Visual Aid Description