Chris Kupka

On November 15th, members and friends of BCAM were welcomed to the 2008 workshop entitled, “Toxic Chemicals in Cosmetics — Avoiding the Beast When Looking for Beauty.” Approximately 50 registrants took part in a didactic and interactive workshop led by Madeleine Bird, formerly BCAM’s Health and Environment Awareness Project (HEAP) coordinator, and currently the ‘Eco-sante tous ensemble’ project coordinator at McGill University in partnership with the South Asian Women’s Community Centre. Madeleine’s research for HEAP led to her strong interest in the subject of safe cosmetics and personal care products and their role in breast cancer. With the support of BCAM and the McGill Centre for Research & Teaching on Women, HEAP produced a PowerPoint presentation and information packet on safe cosmetics, as well as a popular series of brochures highlighting information that can be viewed, downloaded and printed by clicking on Safe Cosmetics Campaign

The workshop was held in the beautiful Westmount Library, in a private room ideal for a lecture and conducive to mingling before and after. The afternoon began with Madeleine’s overview of breast cancer, the notion of “body burden” and a review of the precautionary principle as it applies to environmental health. She identified problematic ingredients found in personal care products, and discussed the regulation process for cosmetics in Canada, and the need for stricter controls on harmful chemicals.

After a nutrition break, Madeleine began the interactive part of the workshop, using the Skin Deep website (www.cosmeticsdatabase.com). With the aid of a laptop, projector and screen, participants were able to see exactly how to access and navigate the site to find information about specific types or brands of personal care products. This part of the presentation was lively, with a flurry of questions and concerns. Madeleine also demonstrated ways to find information about products not on the database (since the product list is U.S.-oriented). Clearly a highlight of the afternoon, this gave the audience a clearer perspective on harmful ingredients contained in many products used frequently, often daily.

In conclusion, Madeline suggested that our government is not adequately protecting us from problem ingredients and outlined ways that individuals can take action. In addition to making safer choices when purchasing personal care products, we can write or talk (using consumer hot lines) to cosmetic manufacturers, asking questions about their intentions to change their formulae and to demand more transparency about the testing of products. We can also communicate our concerns to Health Canada (using petitions or personal letters), join organizations like BCAM that promote safe choices, insist on the truth in product labeling, and spread the word to others to do the same.

The entire workshop was filmed by a crew working on a documentary regarding safe cosmetics, to be shown, in English and French, on local television sometime in 2009.