EWG News Roundup (Dec. 9): Black Women’s Cosmetics and Climate Denier to Head EPA

This week was another busy one for folks at EWG. 

We released a report documenting some troubling facts about cosmetics products marketed to Black women.

And we weighed in on President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to have an ardent anti-environmentalist and climate change denier oversee public health and environmental protection for the next four years.  

You can read all about those events and more below.

Trump Transition:

The New York Times: Trump Picks Scott Pruitt, Climate Change Denialist, to Lead E.P.A.

“During the campaign, Mr. Trump regularly threatened to dismantle the E.P.A. and roll back many of the gains made to reduce Americans’ exposures to industrial pollution, and with Pruitt, the president-elect would make good on those threats,” said Ken Cook, head of the Environmental Working Group, a Washington research and advocacy organization. “It’s a safe assumption that Pruitt could be the most hostile E.P.A. administrator toward clean air and safe drinking water in history,” he added. Reprinted by Buffalo News, the OC Register and Times of India.

Los Angeles Times: Trump names climate change skeptic and oil industry ally to lead the EPA

“Pruitt could be the most hostile EPA administrator toward clean air and safe drinking water in history,” said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group. 

The Huffington Post UK: Who Is Scott Pruitt? Donald Trump’s EPA Nominee Is Climate Change Sceptic

Ken Cook, head of the Environmental Working Group, a Washington research and advocacy organisation, said Pruitt could be the “most hostile EPA administrator toward clean air and safe drinking water in history,” the New York Times reports.

Teen Vogue: Scott Pruitt: 7 Things to Know About Donald Trump's Pick for EPA Administrator

Ken Cook, the founder and president of the Environmental Working Group is equally concerned. “The reason we have the clean air [and] clean water we have now — not that it’s perfect — is because there are people running the EPA who really [think] their job [is] to protect the environment, like the agency name indicates,” he tells Teen Vogue. “But I’m afraid this appointment is going to be one of the few in the history of environmental protection in this country where you have someone coming in who doesn’t believe in the agency mission [and] doesn’t believe that they’re operating within the law, that they’re breaking the law by cracking down on solutions. And that’s going to have a serious impact on our air and our water.”

Christian Science Monitor: How much can Scott Pruitt really change the EPA?

“It's a safe assumption that Pruitt could be the most hostile E.P.A. administrator toward clean air and safe drinking water in history,” Ken Cook, head of the Environmental Working Group, a Washington research and advocacy organization, told The New York Times.

Democracy Now: The End of the EPA? Trump Taps Climate Change Denier & Fossil Fuel Ally Scott Pruitt to Head Agency

Environmental Working Group President Ken Cook said, quote, “It’s a safe assumption that Pruitt could be the most hostile EPA administrator toward clean air and safe drinking water in history.”

DTN: The Progressive Farmer: Trump Taps Pruitt to Head EPA

Environmental Working Group President Ken Cook said in a statement Wednesday that a Pruitt-led EPA would set back environmental progress in rural areas. “Many of the counties and regions that voted for Mr. Trump have some of the dirtiest air and water in the country, and with Mr. Pruitt as head of the EPA, it will get even worse for those communities,” Cook said.  

Black Women’s Cosmetics:

BuzzFeed: Black Beauty Products Are More Likely to Contain Risky Chemicals, Study Says

Cosmetics targeting black women are more likely to contain potentially harmful ingredients than those marketed to the general public, according to a study published Tuesday by the non-profit Environmental Working Group.

CNN: Could African-American beauty products pose health risks?

One in 12 beauty and personal care products marketed to African-American women in the US contains highly hazardous ingredients, according to research released Tuesday by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental organization in the US specializing in research and advocacy. Reprinted 63 times.

FOX News: Study: African-Americans have fewer healthy beauty product options

Researchers with the Environmental Working Group say one in 12 personal care products marketed to African-Americans in the U.S. contains highly hazardous ingredients. Reprinted 9 Times.

McClatchy: More beauty products marketed to black women are toxic, study finds

An analysis of more than 1,000 hair and beauty products found that black women have much fewer options for safe products than those marketed to the general public. According to Environmental Working Group, black women seem to buy and use more personal care products than the public at large, so even though they only make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 22 percent of the $42 billion spent each year on health and beauty items.

Mother Jones: Beauty Products for Black Women Are Full of Dodgy Ingredients

The Environmental Working Group reviewed more than 1,000 products for black women, including body washes, lipsticks, and hair treatment products. Of these, about 1 in 12 was ranked highly hazardous by the EWG's scoring system.

TIME: Beauty Products Marketed to Black Women May Contain More Hazardous Chemicals: Report

Researchers at the Environmental Working Group (EWG) analyzed 1,177 beauty and personal care products marketed to black women and compared the ingredients to a scoring system used for the EWG’s Skin Deep database of over 64,000 personal care products. The database ranks the safety of cosmetics and similar products on a scale of one to 10 (highest hazard), based on a methodology that is outlined here.

VICE News – Broadly: One in 12 Beauty Products Aimed at Black Women Deemed 'Highly Hazardous'

Black women are ingesting potentially lethal chemicals through their everyday cosmetics, a new investigation finds. Researchers from the non-profit Environmental Working Group examined 1,777 beauty products marketed specifically towards African-American women. It found that one in 12 products were rated "highly hazardous" in terms of chemical composition, with ingredients linked to cancer, hormone disruption, allergies, and reproductive damage.

Yahoo! Beauty: Black Women May Be Exposed to More Harmful Cosmetic Chemicals

A new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) suggests that women of color are using more beauty products containing potentially hazardous chemicals than other consumers.

Destiny Connect: Products for black women may have more harmful chemicals

A study conducted by research organisation Environmental Working Group has looked at 1 177 products that are targeted at black people, and the results are alarming.

HAPPI – Household and Personal Products Industry: EWG Adds Black Cosmetics To Skin Deep

According to the Environmental Working Group, there is a growing market for Black cosmetics, however Black women have limited choices for products that score low in potentially harmful ingredients.

Madame Noire: Report Finds Beauty Products For Black Women May Be More Hazardous

After analyzing 1,177 beauty and personal care products marketed toward Black women, researchers at the Environmental Working Group (EWG) say that what’s meant to help us practice TLC could actually be more harmful than we thought. According to their new report, products that are marketed to Black women are more likely to contain some potentially harmful chemicals and ingredients.

New Beauty: Investigation Shows That Beauty Products Marketed Towards African Americans Pose More Health Risks

According to research released by the Environmental Working Group, ingredients found in one of every 12 beauty products marketed to African American women were deemed “highly hazardous” and may be harmful to their health. The organization examined more than 1,100 beauty products marketed to black women and found that one in 12 contained ingredients linked to potential health risks like reproductive issues, hormone disruption, allergies and cancer.

SheKnows: Beauty products marketed to black women may contain more toxic chemicals

Apparently, 1 in 12 beauty and personal care products marketed to black women in the U.S. contains highly hazardous ingredients according to research released

Toxic Clothes and Troubling Detergents:

Mind Body Green: The Definitive Eco-Friendly Laundry Guide

According to Samara Geller, a database and research analyst at the Environmental Working Group, 1,4-Dioxane is one of the most dangerous of these compounds. "You won't find the probable carcinogen 1,4-Dioxane if you're scanning the label, but it may be lurking as an impurity," she tells mindbodygreen. 

 Vogue: Are Your Clothes Making You Sick?

“It’s hard to know exactly what’s going on,” says David Andrews, Ph.D., a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit that researches the risks consumer products pose to human health. “Clothing has labeling for the materials, and yet it may be treated with numerous chemicals,” including not only dyes but also compounds “to make it nonstick or stain-repellent or wrinkle-free.” 

Daily Hive: Gift guide: Presents for pets and pet lovers that give back

The Environmental Working Group gave this line of non-toxic cleaning products and colour-coded microfiber cloths straight A’s in their Guide to Healthy Living. Scented with lavender, bergamot and grapefruit essential oils, they smell fantastic and work well for pet odours and messes.

Eco-Business: Pineapples: Tasty fruit, effective cleaning agent?

“Since it is nearly impossible to remove quats, I destroyed my old clothes,” he adds. The chemicals have been given a “high concern” rating for their effect on human health and the environment by the Environmental Working Group, an American non-profit environmental research.

BPA in Food:

Eat This, Not That: 42 Best and Worst Health News Stories of 2016

In June, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released a database of 16,000 foods that may be packaged with BPA. Buy a reusable, stainless steel water bottle, or stop drinking out of water bottles labeled with "7" or "PC." Limit your intake of canned goods, or just consider ditching these foods with BPA we found in the EWG's searchable database. Reprinted by MSN.

CAFOs:

Alternet: 12 Reasons Why You Should Be Extremely Concerned About Tyson Foods

Earlier this year Waterkeeper Alliance and Environmental Working Group (EWG) released a map revealing the (many hidden) locations of more than 6,500 cattle, pig and chicken CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations), across the state of North.

Children’s Health:

The Huffington Post (Blog): EWG and Healthy Child Healthy World - Making the World Toxin Free

For the past ten years I’ve been a big fan of Ken Cook and the Environmental Working Group, so when they asked me to co-host EWG’s Healthy Child Healthy World Annual Gala a celebration of the group’s 24 years of achievement in promoting children’s environmental health and reversing its negative effects, I did not have to think twice.  

Drinking Water:

FOX43 (Carlisle, PA): Carlisle Borough lifts mandatory water restriction

The Environmental Working Group reported that dangerous levels of chromium-6 contaminate tap water consumed by millions of Americans. This is the carcinogenic chemical featured in the true story turned Hollywood movie “Erin Brockovich.”

Your Ohio Valley: Special Report: What's in Your Water?

Like in all counties of the Northern Panhandle, there are amounts of carcinogenic chemical called chromium-6 in the water. That is the chemical made famous by activist Erin Brockovich. There are traces of it in the water supply of more than 200-million Americans according to a September 2016 study by the Environmental Working Group.

Farm Policy:

DTN: The Progressive Farmer: Looking at a New Safety Net

Yet Conner also noted farm critics, such as staff at the Environmental Working Group, will push a tough agenda on issues such as water quality to target farmers and demand tougher restrictions on production. Strong conservation incentives in the farm bill can help offset some of these battles, Conner said. Reprinted by AgFax.

Prairie Business: Next farm bill debate begins

Scott Faber, vice president of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group, a frequent critic of U.S. ag policy, said the next farm bill needs to recognize that “consumers, as well as the farmers, are the customers.”

Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides:

Brit + Co.: 4 Easy Ways to Save Money on Your Smoothie Addiction

The Environmental Working Group regularly tests produce and reports on their conditions, keeping a full list of consumer guides for a quick look that you can even pull up on your phone at the grocery store. The “Dirty Dozen” (produce that has high pesticide residue, so you should consider buying organic) includes strawberries, apples, nectarines, spinach and kale.

Organic Authority: 10 Healthy Apps for Wellness Warriors and Nutrition Nerds

We have our friends at the Environmental Working Group (EWG) to thank for making that question much easier. Every year, the EWG publishes a list of conventional foods with the least and most pesticide residues, tested from 48 fruits and vegetables, assembled into a list called the “Dirty Dozen.”

Santa Maria Times: Should I buy organic?

As a price-conscious consumer, the Environmental Working Group has created a list of the 12 foods with the highest pesticide residue and the 15 foods with the least. If faced with the decision on whether to buy organic or not, a consumer can choose to spend the extra money on foods from the "Dirty Dozen" list and have the opportunity to save on conventional foods from the "Clean 15" list.

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