Scents are important. Probably more important than you (or most) think. Especially when it comes to memory, sensations, and even the bonding experience between baby and mother. We are triggered by the past and introduced to the new, but what exactly is at the heart of these olfactory (smell) experiences? Often, toxic chemicals!
On January 8, I joined 24 women in Sacramento to ask members of the California Assembly to support the California Toxic Free Cosmetic’s Act (AB 495). This bill would ban 13 of the most toxic chemicals currently being used in cosmetics in America; all of these chemicals are banned in the EU.
California bill SB 574 would have been the first bill in the world to force companies to publicly disclose the fragrance and flavor chemicals in their beauty and personal care products. Though it did not pass in 2019, a new federal bill, the Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Act of 2019 introduced by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, would require full fragrance and flavor ingredient disclosure on a company’s website and disclosure of a product’s toxic fragrance and flavor ingredients on the product label. One bill after another, we’re stopping at nothing to move the needle toward cosmetics safety, transparency, and full ingredient disclosure.
This is Lucy. Lucy represents thousands of little girls of color in the U.S. who are unjustly exposed to toxic chemicals, like formaldehyde, in their hair products. We know that black women are…
Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced a landmark bill today—the Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act of 2019—the only federal cosmetic safety legislation that would immediately ban more than a dozen of the worst toxic chemicals from cosmetics, fund research into safer alternatives, address the over-exposure of communities of color to toxic chemicals, require full fragrance ingredient disclosure, and ban most animal testing.
When I was invited by BCPP to pledge support for SB574, I expected to be part of a large group where we would collectively pledge our support. Easy. I can show up and do that. After arriving in California’s state capitol, I quickly discovered I would have the opportunity to share my personal story first-hand with legislative staffers. My very personal story shared publicly in ways I never imagined. Flooded with emotion, life since my daughter’s birth flashed before me and it felt like a full circle was completing itself.
