Cosmetic Labelling Laws: Are we better informed? What’s changed?

We still have toxic chemicals in our cosmetics!

Since November 16, 2006, cosmetic companies are required by law to list ingredients on labels. Despite the new labeling laws, Health Canada continues to allow toxic chemical ingredients in cosmetics, and for most people, the new ingredient labels do not make screening products for toxins any easier. BCAM is asking Health Canada to:

• prohibit the use of any chemicals that are inherently carcinogenic, mutagenic or a reproductive toxin (CMRs) in cosmetics sold in Canada. This is the Precautionary Approach taken within the European Union and as a minimum Canada should pass the same standards.

• mandate that cosmetic companies supply full and complete safety data tests for all chemical ingredients and nanoparticles used in their formulations. Currently ingredients in cosmetics are not reviewed for safety before they are put on the shelves. Companies are only required to send an ingredients list to Health Canada ten days after the product goes on the market.

• mandate that producers must supply full environmental and health data on each chemical used in their formulations to Health Canada. Currently most chemicals lack comprehensive testing information.

In the interim, prior to stronger legislation that would ban CMRs, full disclosure should be required for these chemicals on the product labeling, including the presence of nanoparticles, increasingly used in anti-wrinkle creams and sunscreens.

See the Questions and Answers section of our site

See the list of Canadian companies that have signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics. Check out the U.S. Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, the Skin Deep site, and the Guide to Less Toxic Products from the Environmental Health Association of Nova Scotia (EHANS).

BCAM has a blog. Read and add to it!

Four Pamphlets developed by the HEAP Project:
The Beast of Beauty: Toxic Ingredients in Cosmetics
Breast Cancer Myth Busters
The Dirt on Cleaners: Toxic Ingredients in Cleaning Products
Pollution Gets Personal: Toxic Pollution and Cancer in Canada