Maine Women's Lobby

Personal Care Product Safety

Every morning you turn on the shower and go through the motions - applying shampoo, conditioner, soap, face wash, shaving cream, once you get out of the shower you continue applying personal care products like toothpaste, lotion, makeup, sunscreen, mouthwash, and whatever other products are part of your morning routine.

How many toxic chemicals have you been exposed to before your morning coffee?

The scary truth is that we don't really know - estimates are around 100!

One third of personal care products contain at least one chemical linked to cancer. These products also include chemicals that are linked to birth defects and reproductive health problems.

It is time we take action to regulate the cosmetic industry!

Some of the scariest chemicals:

Lead Acetate, Phthalates and Fragrance.

In light of the new Maine Law, the Kids Safe Products Bill, The Department of Environmental Protection is working on putting together a list of priority chemicals. This list will be used to force manufactures to disclose when they add any of these chemicals to their products and authorizes the state to require safer alternatives whenever they are available. This is a really important opportunity to bring their attention to the issue of personal care products and toxic chemicals and make sure that some of the worst offenders in our shampoo, lotion, and deodorant are on that list.

Email Commissioner Littell from the DEP here with our form letter to ask him to include Lead, Phthalates and Fragrance to the list.

Join our facebook causes page for updates on our campaign or to donate to our efforts!

Visit : http://web.colby.edu/cleanmakeup/ to learn more!