The launch of the Story of Cosmetics, and a chance for real regulatory action- what a day!

Sometimes everything just comes together, you know?  The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has been around since 2004, but it is safe to say that today is the most exciting day our coalition has known.

Today the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is launching The Story of Cosmetics, a 7-minute film we created with our friends at Annie Leonard’s The Story of Stuff Project and Free Range Studios. The new video is hard-hitting, honest and fun: It explains the problems with our current system, which allows toxic chemicals in cosmetics (and therefore in our bodies, our kids, our waterways), and then it outlines clear solutions.

Please watch The Story of Cosmetics, get fired up, and share it widely (send an e-card, Tweet it, Facebook it, talk about it in the elevator and at dinner…)- we need everyone to pass it on it order for it to be the huge success we know it can be!

Which leads to the second huge thing happening today: today Congress introduced game-changing legislation called the Safe Cosmetics Act! Thanks to the work of the Campaign’s coalition members (like MomsRising) and supporters (like you), members of Congress now agree that we need to finally update our 70-year-old cosmetics legislation and close loopholes that allow the cosmetics industry to put unsafe chemicals (and chemicals that have never been assessed for safety) into personal care products like lipstick and baby shampoo.

We need to turn the volume up so that more people learn about this issue, and tell their Members of Congress to support the Safe Cosmetics Act for the health of our families.

If all of MomsRising blog readers watch the video, share it, and send a message to Congress asking them to support this new common sense legislation, that would really start us off on the right foot!  Check it out here!

Consumers spawned a market for safe cosmetic products- and now, citizens demand safe cosmetics legislation.

The mainstream cosmetics industry has spent millions to keep itself virtually unregulated, but the writing is on the wall.

American consumers are demanding nontoxic personal care products, especially when they find out that companies marketing the same products in Europe and Japan have stripped out some of the offending chemicals (check out our new Myths and facts sheet to learn more).

Is it any wonder that green and clean personal care products are the fastest growing segment of the cosmetics industry? Brands like Badger, California Baby, Weleda, Marie Veronique Organics and hundreds of others have been able to demonstrate that we can have safe and effective products (and profits). Voting with our dollars and keeping our families safer with nontoxic cosmetics is a great start, but we can’t simply shop out way out of this problem: We need the Safe Cosmetics Act passed in order to truly protect all of us from unnecessary exposures to toxins in cosmetics.  A mom who doesn’t see this video or read this blog shouldn’t have to worry about toxic bubble bath or body lotion.

Quick tips

We know that it is going to take a lot of strong voices to counter the banter from some in the mainstream cosmetics industry. So please chime in!

And while we wait for Congress to protect us from unnecessary exposures, here are some ways we can lessen exposure to harmful chemicals in personal care products:

*Use fewer cosmetics less often, avoid “fragrance,” and choose products with shorter ingredient lists and fewer hazardous synthetic chemicals

*Read labels: There are great resources online to help consumers make sense of confusing product labels. One of the best is Campaign for Safe

*Cosmetics partner Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database, which ranks products for toxicity on a scale of 1-10.

*Click here for more tips on avoiding toxic chemicals in every day consumer products.

Thanks for helping to make this a historic day by watching The Story of Cosmetics, and thanks for all you do to keep families and the environment free of cosmetics toxins!