Carol Secter

On September 16th, about 50 people gathered together to remind the public of the need to remove potentially harmful ingredients from cosmetics. ("Cosmetics" is the term used by Health Canada to designate the array of products we use for personal care, including everything from makeup to soaps and lotions.) In the week leading up to the March, the publicity campaign coordinated by Jane Shulman was getting a lot of attention. Then the tragic events at Dawson College shifted the focus, and we had to decide whether to postpone the event to show our respect. In the end, we decided to proceed.

Carrying placards and banners, we walked along Ste. Catherine, distributing 400 leaflets to people as we passed. Our presence generated so much interest that a few people joined us.

We ended our March at the YWCA, where humourist DeAnne Smith entertained us, and Abby Lippman spoke. (Her amazing talk is also in this issue.)

Plans are being made to capitalize on the lessons learned for next year's march. To all who helped and participated, a big thanks for a job well done.

At the conclusion of the walk, participants were asked to sign petitions to four cosmetic manufacturers (Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, Estée Lauder and Avon Canada) regarding the inclusion of known toxic chemicals in their products and asking why they had not signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics. Later, all BCAM members who receive e-mail were contacted, given the addresses of the four companies, and asked to send their own letters or to sign a copy of a letter that BCAM provided.

An officer from Estée Lauder responded to one letter writer, stating that their products conform to or surpass standards set by government, health agencies and the scientific community, and that talk of hormone-disruptive substances such as parabens only detracts attention from the true dangers to health — obesity, tobacco, stress and poor nutrition!

There was no response from Johnson & Johnson or Avon Canada, either to individual writers or to BCAM.

Unilever's Consumer Information Centre responded to three individual letter writers, essentially stating that their products meet legal standards for health and safety. The responses were accompanied by coupons for Unilever products! BCAM also received a letter from the President & Chief Executive Officer of Unilever (addressed to the president of BCAM), which explained that they have looked at BCAM's website, "but require more time to fully investigate the issue which you have brought to our attention. We take your petition seriously and will get back to you at our earliest opportunity." It will be interesting to see if they do respond and how.