Why I Oppose H.R. 5786 Safe Costmetics Act of 2010

The Compact for Safe Cosmetics (CFSC) is co-founded by Stacy Malkan, author of Not Just a Pretty Face, her blog which promotes her book by the same name. Stacy Malkan is the
public voice and spokesperson for CFSC, who are fomenting fear that
could push the evolution of sensible personal care product manufacturing
into the legislative dark ages. Under the guise of protecting
Americans from cancer and other unknown maladies contracted from using
personal care products and cosmetics (currently one of the safest
industries), the CFSC exhibits ignorance and short-sightedness to
achieve a legislative agenda that if passed will undoubtedly result in
grave unintended consequences for small, emerging personal care products
companies.

Stacy Malkan may have started out a well-meaning advocate with a sad personal experience, but she and CFSC are throwing the baby out with the
bathwater. This has been pointed out to her by those actively engaged
in the personal care products industry; those who are aggressively
promoting safety and efficacy while moving into the 21st century with
sustainable, green ideas for the future. Admitting that she is not a
chemist, nor educated at all in cosmetic ingredient safety or
formulation, Stacy Malkan is attracting a host of celebrities and others
to the cause, perhaps also well meaning, who have absolutely no depth
of scientific knowledge to support what they are advocating. They
primarily depend on the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database.
This database has been challenged as insufficient, erroneous, out of
date and lacking clearly identified peer review by chemists, scientists
and formulators in the industry, as reported here.
EWG will call foul (not their scientists, but their lobbyists) that the
people who challenge the veracity of their database are employed in the
industry. Wouldn’t we expect that those of us in the industry would be
educated experts in our respective positions? Likewise, in Stacy
Malkan’s “Petroleum in Cosmetics” article on Huffington Post, she references a “new CFSC report” which has been thoroughly debunked by respected fragrance chemist Tony Burfield.
In that same article, she uses a totally unrelated NY Times article
about cancer causing food ingredients to support her Chicken Little
agenda regarding products applied topically. It now behooves Huffington
Post to allow a comprehensive rebuttal. And, although I am a great fan
of Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now and allowing that she did host a debate
on the issue between Stacy Malkan and John Bailey the chief scientist
at the Personal Care Products Council, her coverage was not equally
represented from both sides of the issue. I am hoping she will revisit
with some of the colleagues I mention here.

Stacy Malkan and the CFSC are relentlessly bent on pushing for cumbersome and ineffective federal regulation that will surely thwart
the emergence of eco-conscious entrepreneurs rising up with progressive
ideas for sustainability, safety and efficacy in the personal care
products industry. These are the very people who are already at the
forefront of innovation and research to eliminate harsh synthetic
chemicals, but who are also realistic about using good science in the
process. Some of these entrepreneurs are unsuspecting company signers
on the CFSC who do not know that the CFSC agenda is acting against their
own interests because they have not been consulted as partners by those
at CFSC, as they should be, especially in the current pursuit that
could so gravely affect them. They are being used as pawns in a deadly
game, much to their possible detriment. CFSC has been parroting the
same tired old rhetoric that has failed to move the FDA Globalization
act of 2008 out of committee, and more sensible minds prevailed. Their
attempt to influence similar legislation at the state level in Colorado.
failed as well. You can see my blog post
at the time and links to other sensible personal care products
companies who rallied to help defeat the Colorado bill. CFSC is
relentlessly at it again in an attempt to achieve their goal of
establishing into law the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010, recently introduced into the House by Reps. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc.

Among those who will be adversely affected are myriad handmade soap makers, most of whom make soap like your grandmother did. The
requirements to register and identify all ingredients (whether
potentially toxic or not) would place an undue reporting burden on these
small businesses (sometimes one or two-person operations), Even though
they would be exempt from registration fees unless their business
grossed $1M in annual sales under this new legislation, the cost of
research and reporting could be too costly and force them to close their
doors. Who wants to see this in our current economy? This smaller
segment of the indie personal care products industry now supports an
active Handcrafted Soap Makers Guild, whose president had this to offer
regarding the proposed SCA bill.

Colleagues Kristin Fraser Cotte and Lisa M. Rodgers founded the Personal Care Truth website which contains myriad articles and information attesting to the
diligence and integrity of companies in the personal care products
industry with regard to product safety and scientific clarity and
veracity. You’ll also find lively conversation between at least one lobbyist from EWG and some of my colleagues. The lobbyist is clearly factually outgunned.

You can go to Open Congress to register your support or nonsupport of the current federal bill, as
well as read and rate the linked blogposts related to the bill.

Samara Botane is one of many aromatherapy companies who are passionate about safety and efficacy. Our own website is growing with
factual scientific information about essential oils and related personal
care product ingredients, and we make ourselves available to anyone who
wishes to learn more. In addition to this blog, which is primarily
aimed at our customers, we host and contribute to aromaconnection.org,
a group blog which has more scholarly information relative to the
worldwide aromatics industry. I see the same ethical passion among my
indie peers engaged in the small indie personal care products industry.
CFSC has, perhaps inadvertently, created an adversarial relationship,
positioning themselves as experts when they are not and refusing to form
cooperative relationships with the true experts in the industry and far
more shameful, exploiting the companies who support them by not
informing them of the surely damaging consequences of their agenda.
Shame on them.