this is a story about a world obsessed with stuff it's a story about a system in crisis we're trashing the planet we're trashing each other and we're not even having fun the good thing is that when we start to understand the system we start to see lots of places to step in and turn these problems into Solutions can I tell you I love my Pantene Prov V of the dozen or so personal care products that I use every day it's the one I can't live without says it gives my dull hair the ultimate cool shine
how does it do that I was wondering that while I was lathering it in my hair one day so I read the ingredients right here sodium Lori sulfate tetrasodium EDTA methyl ISO theol lenon what is this stuff I took this list to some scientists who know how to read it turns out my Pantene contains a chemical linked to cancer and lots of other products in my bathroom from sunscreen to lipstick and even baby shampoo also contain chemicals linked to cancer or other problems like learning disabilities asthma and even damaged sperm like most parents I try
to keep my family safe but now I find out my bathroom is a Minefield of toxins what are we supposed to do to find out the answers we have to go back to one of the key Fe features of our materials economy toxics in toxics out if at the factory you pour toxic chemicals into a product like baby shampoo you're going to wind up with toxic baby shampoo and toxics in workers communities and duh babies so let's take a closer look at this toxic outrage where it seeps into our lives every day in the bathroom
the average woman in the US uses about 12 personal care products daily the average man about six each product containing a dozen or more chemicals less than 20% of chemicals in cosmetics have been assessed for safety by the industry's safety panel so we just don't know what they do to us when we use them would you fly on an airline that only inspects 20% of its planes of course not all of these chemicals are dangerous but we know that many are some are carcinogens that means that they can cause cancer others are neurotoxins and reproductive
toxins proven to mess up brain development and reproduction in animals wait a minute we're animalss too it's like a giant experiment we're using all these mystery chemicals and just waiting to see what happens one thing we do know is that they're getting inside us I had my body's toxicity levels tested and I'm loaded with things like Mercury flame retardants trian and Lead we all are even babies are being born preed now I know we can't live in a leadfree world but do we have to put lead in our lipstick I don't know maybe it's my
fault maybe I just bought the wrong thing at the store the choices seem endless I can get lipstick in 49 Shades or shampoo for hair that's too dry oily fine limp or frizzy but what about the choices that really matter like the choice to buy products that are safe it turns out the important decisions don't happen when I choose to take a product off the shelf they happen when companies and governments decide what products should go on the shelves so who are these companies this is Proctor and Gamble they're the ones offering me Herbal Essences
the number two shampoo in the country it contains toxic petrochemicals made from oil since when is oil an herb on Cosmetics labels words like herbal natural even organic have no legal definition that means that anybody can put anything in a bottle and call it natural and they do I mean can you imagine a top seller called Pedro Essen is gross what's even nastier are hair relaxers marketed to 5-year-olds and skin whitening creams these are super toxic both in their ingredients and in the message they send about what beauty is oh here's Estee laer offering me
a chance to help find a cure for breast cancer that's nice but wait they're also using chemicals linked to cancer don't you think the best way for Estee Lauder to fight cancer is to stop using those chemicals in the first place so really I get to choose between meaningless claims on a bottle but these guys get the real choice about what goes into those bottles and that happens back here at the factories where they're formulated why do the makers of these products use all these toxics are they trying to poison us no they're just working
from a 1950s mindset when people were totally swept up in Better Living Through Chemistry in all that excitement they forgot to worry about human health impacts that was years ago and they are still using these same old toxic chemicals today big Cosmetics companies say the doses of poison in their products are small enough to be harmless yeah maybe if you use them once a year I guess they never get out and see that their products are being used and combined with other products every day a little toxic dose under your arms a little more on
your hair on your lips and workers in nail and hair salons get dosed all day long so the industry is used to doing things this way and they can because even now that scientists have linked the chemicals they're using to all sorts of problems there are no laws to get rid of them you're thinking really come on nobody's making sure that the stuff we smear over our bodies is safe nope the FDA doesn't even assess the safety of personal care products or their ingredients since 1938 they've banned just eight out of over 12,000 ingredients used
in cosmetics they don't even require that all of the ingredients be listed on the label now this is an example where we can all agree a little more government action would be helpful this lack of Regulation leaves a huge hole that the Cosmetics industry is all too happy to fill they set up their own committee to self- police their products and compliance with their recommendations is voluntary so the Cosmetics industry is making the rules and then deciding whether or not to follow them so you see it isn't our fault that these toxic products are in
our bathrooms it's a whole broken system that's ignoring the simple rule tox toxics in toxics out but we're not helpless there are resources online that we can use to protect ourselves by identifying the best possible choices in the store but the real action is with people working to change the system because if we really want to solve this problem we got to start here with these guys women parents workers people all over the country are demanding that Congress pass a new law giving FDA the power to make sure that our personal care products are safe
we need Common Sense laws based on the precautionary principle that means that when you're dealing with hazardous chemicals just air on the side of caution let's not debate how much lead should be allowed in lipstick just get the toxic chemicals out of our products smarter laws would force companies to get past that old 50s mindset and figure out how to get us all clean and shiny without toxic chemicals can they totally many responsible Cosmetics companies are already putting safer products on the market green chemists are developing substances that are designed to be safe and nontoxic
in the first place European governments have required the removal of many toxic chemicals and companies have figured out how to comply when Cosmetics are reformulated to be safe and labeled honestly then we can feel comfortable with the choices available at the store we can choose bouncy hair or full hair shiny lipstick or matte we can even choose to feel beautiful without using 20 products but we'll know that whatever we choose the most important choice the choice to be safe and healthy has already been made [Music]
