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  • 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 Pro V.

  • Of the dozen or so personal care products I use everyday, 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 into my hair one day,

  • so I read the ingredients right here:

  • Sodium Laureth Sulfate,

  • Tetrasodium EDTA,

  • Methyl-iso-thiazo-linone...

  • 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 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 U.S. uses about twelve personal care products daily.

  • The average man, about six.

  • Each product contains a dozen or more chemicals.

  • Less than twenty percent of all 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 twenty percent of its planes?

  • Of course, not all of these chemicals are dangerous.

  • But we know that many are.

  • Some are carcinogens -

  • that means 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 animals 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,

  • triclosan and lead!

  • We all are.

  • Even babies are being born pre-polluted.

  • Now I know we can't live in a lead free world, but do they 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 should be put on the shelves.

  • So who are these companies?

  • This is Procter & 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 anybody can put anything in a bottle and call it natural.

  • And they do.

  • I mean, can you imagine a top seller called "petro-essences?"

  • 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.

  • Ooh, here's Estee Lauder 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 all over our bodies is safe?

  • No!

  • 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:

  • 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 gotta start here

  • with these guys.

  • Women, parents, workers, people all over the country

  • are demanding that Congress pass a new law

  • giving the 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 we're dealing with hazardous chemicals,

  • just err on the side of caution.

  • Let's not debate how much lead should be allowed in lipstick...

  • Just get 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 non-toxic 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 twenty products.

  • But we'll know that whatever we choose,

  • the most important choice,

  • the choice to be safe and healthy, has already been made.

This is a story about a world obsessed with stuff.

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