Jane Shulman

Stacy Malkan is an activist, author and co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (CSC), a coalition of U.S. and international groups demanding that personal care product manufacturers stop using cancer-causing, hormone- and endocrine-disrupting chemicals in their products. She chronicles the history of the movement and the founding of the CSC, which has instigated vital industry changes, in her book Not Just A Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry. Malkan will be the featured speaker at BCAM’s 5th annual Lanie Melamed Memorial Lecture in April.

The path to CSC’s creation began in 2002 with women’s and environmental groups concerned with the hazardous effects of phthalates. There was established scientific evidence that phthalates, commonly used to make thousands of plastic products softer or more flexible, were acting as endocrine disruptors in humans.

Women of child-bearing age were showing particularly high levels. Malkan explains that while researchers knew that exposure to phthalates was common, used in everything from shower curtains to car seats, it was unclear why women in their 20s and 30s had a higher body burden. The theory was that cosmetics, used by almost everyone, but particularly by women of child-bearing age, were possibly to blame.

Over the next couple of years, scientists tested an array of personal care products like shampoos, moisturizers, lipsticks, soaps and deodorants and found that 72 percent of the products they examined contained phthalates, even though they were not listed on the labels. The group released a report in 2004 about widespread toxic exposure through the use of beauty products. There was a great deal of interest in the story, and the CSC was born.

The Environmental Working Group, a CSC member, found it difficult for consumers to learn which products had phthalates, so they began collecting product information and building an online database called Skin Deep. Activists wondered what other hazardous chemicals linked to cancer, reproductive abnormalities and organ damage were being used.

“It was immediately noticeable that we had huge public interest, from the media and from consumers, and the companies were surprised,” remembers Malkan. “We had big victories in the first couple of years. The use of phthalates, which was very common, was significantly reduced. There was also the removal of the ‘toxic trio’ — dibutyl phthalate, formaldehyde and toluene — from nail polish.”

The CSC, now fifty groups strong, sent a letter to hundreds of cosmetics companies asking them to sign the ‘Compact for Safe Cosmetics’, a pledge to meet health standards — including the elimination of known carcinogens, endocrine and hormone disruptors — from their products. The CSC used the banning of 1,100 chemicals by the European Union in 2003, and the growing number of people who were behind the idea of safer cosmetics, as leverage.

“Big companies were taking this stuff out in Europe anyway,” says Malkan, “so we asked them to do the same worldwide.” Some large companies, including L’Oreal, Unilever, Revlon and Avon, ignored the CSC, but many were glad to sign on.

“Many companies were happy to see a consumer advocacy group on the scene to help regulate their [self-regulated] industry,” she notes. “Now we have 1,000 companies signed on. We meet with them twice a year and work with them on an ongoing basis to help them figure out how to meet the challenge.”

Malkan says we’re close to the tipping point, when marketing safer products will be the norm, but the industry needs the push of government regulation for this to happen. “It’s a huge opportunity for businesses,” she says. “As they realize that, it will be a race to the top, to see who will be first, who will be best, and who will set the industry standard.”

While she is in Montreal in April, Malkan will speak with groups of high school girls about the way the personal care products industry markets self-image with their products. “It’s so important, especially for young girls, to think about what industry is telling us. They have a hold on our psyches, telling us how we should be,” says Malkan.
“I like personal care products too, but what is this industry telling me about my own self-worth? We need to have a critical filter when looking at the companies we support and the products we buy,” she adds. “Young girls are really interested in these products, so it’s a key organizing community. It gets them interested in science and politics in practice.”

What can consumers do? Here are Stacy Malkan’s top 3 suggestions:

1. Tell friends about the information that’s available. Every single person helps effect change by passing along learning tools like the articles on BCAM’s website (www.bcam.qc.ca), the Skin Deep database www.cosmeticsdatabase.com and the CSC action list www.safecosmetics.org

2. Shop smart — look at labels, and support companies doing the right thing.

3. Recognize that we have to take collective action — get involved politically by signing BCAM’s petition to Canada’s Health Minister demanding safer cosmetics and warning labels.

The 5th annual Lanie Melamed Memorial Lecture with Stacy Malkan
“The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry — and Hopeful Solutions for a Healthier Future”

Lead in lipstick? Carcinogens in baby shampoo? How is this possible? Simple. The $50 billion beauty industry is so powerful they’ve kept themselves unregulated for decades. Consequently, it is common for body care products to contain hazardous chemicals linked to cancer, infertility, birth defects and other health problems that are on the rise. Find out what the latest science and research says about toxic chemicals in personal care products, and discover the secret to safer alternatives, as Stacy Malkan reads from her award-winning book, Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry.

The Lanie Melamed Memorial Lecture is held annually in honour of the respected environmental activist and influential BCAM member who died of breast cancer in 2003. The lecture takes place Thursday, April 16, 2009 at Temple Emanu-El, 4100 Sherbrooke West (corner of Elm), Westmount. The event is free and open to the public.