L’Oréal is still lagging behind its competitors on ingredient disclosure
In 2018, U.S. PIRG and L’Oréal customers were celebrating a win for public health. After years of advocacy, L’Oréal had committed to disclose more fragrance ingredients to the public. Three years later, however, U.S. PIRG has released a report with disappointing findings: L’Oréal, which has just appointed a new CEO, Nicolas Hieronimus, is lagging behind their industry peers on ingredient disclosure. What happened?
First, let’s start with some context. The cosmetic and personal care industry is a poorly regulated industry, facing no requirement for premarket approval of ingredients* or final products by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or any…
We spoke to Je’May Ward, a clean beauty blogger from North Carolina, about what clean beauty advocacy means for her.
At U.S. PIRG, we aim to shift the personal care product industry toward a toxic-free future. To do this, we’re calling on the big-name beauty and personal care companies to protect their customers through better ingredient disclosure and safer ingredients. We’re also working to win policy changes at the local, state and federal level that provide consumers the right to know about and eliminate toxic ingredients from their cosmetic products. We identify areas for improvement, produce and share research and resources to help people protect themselves and call for change, and make policy recommendations to decision-makers. …
A free Chrome extension and mobile app created by a passionate couple helps customers easily find non-toxic consumer products as they shop online.
Shopping for safe cosmetics is harder than it should be. Labels are full of confusing claims like “natural,” “organic” and “clean” and it’s not always clear what each one means or if it even means anything at all. Ingredient lists are printed in tiny font and full of unrecognizable chemicals and hidden ingredients. We can’t even tell what’s in these products, much less which parts of them are safe or not.
When I first started looking at my cosmetic products to determine if they were safe or not, I was faced with a big problem: There were just too many…
Once again, product testing demonstrates that the risk of asbestos contamination in talc-based cosmetic products is simply too high to accept.
People shouldn’t have to worry that the beauty products they use every day may be contaminated with dangerous chemicals. Unfortunately, this fall, news came out (again) that talc-based makeup was contaminated with asbestos, which is known to cause cancer. This November, our partners at the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that nearly 15 percent of the talc-based makeup products that they sampled contained asbestos. Once again, this shows us that people who have been using these makeup products on their bodies every day could be at risk for developing asbestos-related illnesses such as lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis. …
It’s time we start a conversation about eliminating the many cancer-linked chemicals in our cosmetic and personal care products
Cancer devastates millions of American families every year. While not all cancer cases are preventable, February is National Cancer Prevention Month, and it’s time we start a conversation about eliminating the many cancer-linked chemicals in our cosmetic and personal care products.
A recent study has found that a common ingredient in sunscreen, BP-3, may exacerbate breast cancer development. This discovery, while disturbing, is not the first of its nature. Over and over again, scientists are finding chemicals in our cosmetic and personal care products that are linked to cancer. Asbestos, a known carcinogen, has been found in talc-based baby powder…
A guide to purchasing safer beauty products
No one wants to accidentally give a gift full of toxic chemicals. Here’s how you can avoid doing that.
Beauty products are common holiday gifts. But, unfortunately, beauty products can contain toxic chemicals and contaminants that are harmful for our health. When you’re doing holiday shopping this year, start by avoiding these 5 cosmetic ingredients to keep you and your family safe and healthy.
Talc: Easily contaminated with asbestos, a known carcinogen
What is talc? Talc is a mineral added to cosmetics to help absorb moisture and prevent caking. …
The FDA allows cosmetic companies to hide toxic fragrance ingredients from consumers. But this fall, California passed a landmark bill to change this.
This fall, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a landmark bill, the Cosmetic Fragrance and Flavor Right to Know Act, that will empower consumers to know what they’re putting on their bodies. Implemented in January 2021, the new law will force cosmetic and personal care companies to disclose potentially harmful ingredients to the California public. But what will that actually look like? And what will this mean for customers who don’t live in California?
Under U.S. law, cosmetic and personal care companies are not required to disclose all the ingredients they put in their products. The companies have argued that fragrances…
Wild fires in the West have created some of the worst air quality of anywhere in the world right now.
Our Air Quality Index tip guide can be found here: Making Sense of the Air Quality Index
The fire season this year has been undeniably horrible. In the last few weeks, millions of acres of land and hundreds of homes have burned in the West. As a result, smoke from the fires has spread all the way to the East Coast, and some Western cities currently have the worst air quality of any major metropolises worldwide.
Living in Idaho, I’ve experienced this dangerous issue firsthand. Our air quality index (AQI) has ranged from a cautious “yellow” to an unhealthy “red”…
