For those of you who could not attend but were interested, I wanted to provide a summary from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics event held in Los Angeles on Sept. 11th. It was amazing!
The first speaker was from the Environmental Working Group and he gave a presentation called “10 Americans.” After it was shown how 287 chemicals were found in the blood of 10 special people, it was revealed that they were all newborn babies! Proving that we what we put into our environment is also carried in our bodies.
Some other strong points: finding Polychloride Biphenyl or PCB (a probable human carcinogen and toxic environmental pollutant
a probable human carcinogen and toxic environmental pollutant ) in
meat poultry shows that these poisons are still in our environment and our food supply. Another example is DBT, which was used on old cotton fields. It remains in the soil and as a result gets absorbed back into the environment.
These findings could be linked to the 40% increase in childhood brain cancer and the fact that 1 in 150 children have autism. Plus the fact that 1 in 7 women now develop breast cancer, the 20% increase in infertility and that the risk of cancer is higher in the US than anywhere else. In fact, when people migrate here, they see an increase in cancer rates within just one generation.
This increase in disease is speculated to be linked to the interaction of these toxic chemicals in our bodies - all chemicals have a half-life (the rate at which a chemical degrades - the half-life is the amount of time it takes for half of the material to be converted into something else), some are long, - lead, mercury, pesticides can stay in the body for months, even years (teflon stays in the body for
3 years.) It’s very important to know how the body processes chemicals. The most harmful toxins like lead, CMT, PCB’s, DBT can still show up in the blood at 10,000 parts per billion.
We need to push for the development of
green chemistry (the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or creation of hazardous substances. Green chemistry applies across the life cycle, including the design, manufacture, and use of a chemical product). We need chemicals that DON’T build up in our bodies. Women’s Health, Planetary Health, Children’s Heath need to be our concern moving forward, a shift to greener, safer, alternatives. BUT the government also needs to help by requiring better testing of our products. Currently there are no safely studies required for new chemicals and 80% are approved in 2 weeks, plus the fact that 62,000 ingredients (chemicals) where grandfathered in.
So what can you do?
Eat low mercury fish
Filter water
Avoid fragrances
Buy natural brands
Next, Stacey Malkan, author of
Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry , read an excerpt from her book about toxic chemicals in personal care products and the importance of limiting our exposure to chemicals through the use of natural, safer alternatives. We generated a lot of interest at the Raw Beauty table!
Christopher Gavigan, author of Healthy Child Healthy World and Executive Director of the non-profit of the same name, closed the presentation by encouraging people (especially moms) to be personal advocates for change by hosting small group events to discuss these issues. The organization will even provide a video to show during the ‘party’.
