California Assembly Bill 2762: The Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act
California law on cosmetic safety mirrors the inadequate federal law. It does not give state regulators enough authority to ensure that cosmetics sold to Californians are safe. What authority the law does provide to regulators is rarely used. When state agencies investigate harmful cosmetics, the results are limited and the products often remain on the market.
AB 2762, the Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act, will explicitly prohibit the use of the 12 of the most harmful chemicals and contaminants in cosmetics today. These “Toxic Twelve” ingredients include mercury, three types of formaldehyde, some of the most toxic parabens and phthalates, and the fluorinated compounds known as PFAS.
Keep Up With All of EWG's Latest Cosmetics News and Analysis
Low levels of chemical preservatives widely used in cosmetics, shampoos, skin lotions and other personal care products may be linked to breast cancer, according to a new study from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.
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EWG’s Skin Deep®, launched in 2004, transformed the way you shop for personal care and cosmetics items. Two years ago, we introduced the Skin Deep® barcode scanning app to make shopping on-the-go even easier.
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From spooky to adorable, face paint can put the finishing touches on a great Halloween costume.
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As my 10-year old daughter handed me her sleeping bag and pillow after the spa party, I noticed that her nails were decorated with multi-colored stickers. She said that she knew I worked in environmental health and wouldn’t want her to get her nails painted.
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Researchers at Duke University and Environmental Working Group have found evidence of a suspected endocrine-disrupting chemical widely used in popular nail polishes in the bodies of more than two-dozen women who participated in a biomonitoring study. The study, published today in Environmental International, found that all women had a metabolite of triphenyl phosphate, or TPHP, in their bodies just 10 to 14 hours after painting their nails.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412015300714
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It’s not surprising that many nail polishes contain potentially toxic chemicals. Now a study conducted by researchers at Duke University and EWG finds that at least one of those chemicals could be ending up in your body.
Read MoreHair straightening sessions are injuring clients and making stylists sick, so why are they still offered in salons across the country?
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Rates of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, are growing. More than ever, you need to shield your skin from harmful ultraviolet rays. One way to do that is to wear sunscreen.
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As the July 4th weekend approaches, EWG has added more than 30 new products to our 2015 Guide to Sunscreens! Twenty-one made our Best Beach & Sport Sunscreens and Best Moisturizers lists because they offer broad spectrum protection from UVA and UVB radiation and don’t contain harmful ingredients such as retinyl palmitate.
Consumers are demanding more information about the sun protection products they are using and the chemicals they are putting on their bodies, as evidenced by the overwhelming response to EWG’s 2015 Guide to Sunscreens.
Read MoreMoving to address a gaping void in the nation’s system of consumer protections, Senators Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) today (April 16) filed a bill – the “Personal Care Products Safety Act” -- that would create a long-needed bipartisan framework for ensuring that cosmetics ingredients are safe.
A bill introduced by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, would help the federal Food and Drug Administration ensure that cosmetics and other personal care products are safer.
Read MoreThe announcement by global cosmetics giant Revlon that it is removing some long-chain parabens and formaldehyde-releasing chemicals from its products is a step in the right direction, EWG Executive Director Heather White said today.
Read MoreNearly 3 million of these tiny plastic particles were found per square mile in parts of Lake Erie. And many of my favorite products were major offenders.
Read MoreLast month (July 28) a committee convened by the National Academy of Sciences confirmed a federal interagency group’s conclusion that styrene, a chemical building block used to produce a wide variety of everyday products, can cause cancer.
Read MoreIt started with a simple question – how many personal care products do people use every day?
Read MoreThe California State Assembly has overwhelmingly adopted a proposal to ban the use of plastic microbeads in cosmetics products because they contaminate oceans, other waterways and seafood.
Read MoreRenee Sharp, research director at the Environmental Working Group said today that the cosmetics industry’s legislative proposal to reform cosmetics law would deprive the federal Food and Drug Administration of the power to keep hazardous substances out of personal care products.
Read MoreEWG’s New Year’s resolution for cosmetic manufacturers: shed bad actor ingredients that disrupt the hormone system, cause allergies and may accelerate skin cancer.
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