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Forum Post: We do not see enough of this type of action = Remove causes of cancer from our marketplace.

Posted 10 years ago on Oct. 24, 2013, 12:58 p.m. EST by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

1st consider - how many people use cosmetics?


October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but one company flashing the pink ribbon is actually part of the problem.

Revlon--one of the biggest cosmetics manufacturers in the country--is running ads promoting their support for breast cancer awareness while selling products to women that actually contain cancer-causing chemicals! Revlon uses cancer-causing chemicals like BHA, carbon black, and formaldehyde-releasers, plus chemicals like parabens, octinoxate, and others linked to hormone disruption and thyroid problems in their hair care products, makeup, and facial/hand creams.1

Revlon's major competitors--including brands like Cover Girl, Neutrogena, and Clean & Clear--are removing toxic chemicals from their products, thanks to the efforts of our partners at the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the Breast Cancer Fund.2 If tens of thousands of us call on Revlon to join them and put women's health ahead of marketing, we can convince Revlon to take these hazardous ingredients out of their cosmetics, too. Can you sign the petition?

Tell Revlon: get toxic chemicals out of our cosmetics!

While Revlon stubbornly holds out, the rest of the cosmetics industry is moving ahead. In just the past two years, Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble (makers of leading brands like Aveeno, Johnson's baby products, Ivory, Herbal Essences, and Pantene) agreed to re-formulate their products to remove certain toxic chemicals.3 Walmart and Target followed by taking steps to help keep dangerous chemicals off their shelves.4 Together, these four companies took positive steps to ensure our safety.

Corporations aren't the only ones taking action. Congress and the European Union all but banned phthalates in children's toys years ago.5 Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) was banned by the EU and is listed as a carcinogen by the Department of Health and Human Services and State of California, since it causes cancers of the endocrine system, asthma, and reproductive diseases.6 The list goes on. These chemicals don't belong on our skin and hair.

Yet Revlon refuses to join them, all while marketing themselves as a corporation doing all they can to fight breast cancer. But when 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, we know awareness and pink ribbons only get us so far--we need socially responsible corporations to step up and prevent cancer and other serious health conditions.7 Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an opportunity for Revlon to join the rest of the industry and help eliminate breast cancer. Will they take it?

Join UltraViolet, the Breast Cancer Fund and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics to tell Revlon: be part of the solution. Put the health of women and their families first. Remove toxic chemicals from your cosmetics.

Thanks for all you do,

Nita, Shaunna, Kat, Karin, Malinda, Adam, and Gabriela, the UltraViolet team

Sources:

  1. Ingredients Used by Revlon Consumer Products Corporation , Environmental Working Group, October 17, 2013.

Women's consumer advocates take on cosmetics industry, San Jose Mercury News, October 8, 2013.

  1. Johnson & Johnson to Remove Formaldehyde From Products , New York Times, August 15, 2012.

Procter & Gamble adjusting product ingredients amid concerns , WCPO Cincinnati, September 7, 2013.

  1. Ibid.

  2. Walmart To Ban Toxic Chemicals From Some Products , The Huffington Post, September 12, 2013.

Target and Walmart take big steps towards cleaning up chemicals in products , WSYR Syracuse, October 8, 2013.

  1. Ban of phthalates in childcare articles and toys , European Union, November 10, 1999.

Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008.

  1. Buylated Hydroxyanisole, National Toxicology Program, 2011.

Current Proposition 65 List , California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, September 27th, 2013.

  1. Breast Cancer Risk in American Women , National Cancer Institute, October 17, 2013.

I added:

We need to remove all carcinogens from the marketplace. This alone would keep millions of people from contracting one form or another of cancer. This would be the biggest Public Health Boost other than to end the use of fossil fuel.


I also sent this reply to UltraViolet:

Thank you for taking time to point out a cause of cancer. This is where all cancer groups should be focusing - IF - they want to make an immediate change in the number of people contracting one form of cancer or another. Remove the carcinogens from our market place = Food, Pesticides, Cleaning Products, Personal Hygiene products, cosmetics, building materials etc. These actions would greatly reduce the number of people getting cancer. Not to forget the most wide spread cause of cancer = Air Pollution from fossil fuel use.

Again thank you for focusing on removing a cause of cancer.

7 Comments

7 Comments


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[-] 3 points by Nevada1 (5843) 10 years ago

"Radium Girls"-----The world must never forget.

http://www.damninteresting.com/undark-and-the-radium-girls/

[-] 2 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

The world must never forget.

Corp(se)oRATions certainly have not as they continue with the same tactics of lies denial and misrepresentation to this very day.

[-] 1 points by Nevada1 (5843) 10 years ago

The extreme suffering, and the CorpRats tried to pass it all off as syphilis.

[-] 2 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

Thereby distancing themselves while throwing mud on their victims.

[-] 2 points by Nevada1 (5843) 10 years ago

Signed.

[-] 2 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

I figured that if you saw it you would sign it - you are very good that way. {:-]) Thanks all the same.

[-] 2 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

TWEET

DKAtoday ‏@DKAtoday

@Revlon: #CosmeticsNotCancer. Toxic chemicals out of products! Petition: http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/revlon_toxic_chemicals?referring_akid=639.671378.KRTLSa&source=twitter

Remove carcinogens from the marketplace.