Tag: beautycounter

From September 15 through October 15 (and beyond), we at Beautycounter celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by honoring the diversity of the Hispanic and Latinx communities. And part of honoring this community means uplifting through action. 

Our mission has always been to get safer products into the hands of everyone. The Latinx/Hispanic community among other BIPOC suffer from exposure to a disproportionally higher toxic load as it relates to beauty and personal-care products. Here are some ways we are taking action. 

With the help of our Science Advisory Council (our in-house team of academic researchers and scientists), we make sure we are considering vulnerable groups—including communities of color—when making decisions related to the safety of our products.  

• A recent study¹ that included 100 Latina teenagers, conducted by UC Berkeley’s Dr. Kim Harley (also a member of our Science Advisory Council), showed that when this group switched to cleaner cosmetics (without phthalates, parabens, triclosan, or oxybenzone) for just three days, they had a 25-45% drop in the levels of these four chemicals in their bodies.   
• We helped pass the Cleaning Products Right to Know Act and the Safer Salon Bill, which protect salon professionals, hotel workers, and maintenance staff by providing them with information to make safer choices.   

• We held two high-profile Congressional briefings, sponsored by the Congressional Hispanic and Black Caucuses, calling attention to the disparate effects of harmful ingredients on people of color.  
• Beautycounter helped pass two bills in California that remove some of the most dangerous ingredients from personal-care products, and promote more transparency for fragrance ingredients, which can be linked to cancer and hormone disruption.   
• Currently, Beautycounter is supporting federal legislation that requires the FDA to examine the effects of ingredients with a lens towards impact on vulnerable populations.   

DIVERSIFYING OUR COMMUNITY OF LEADERS IN CLEAN 

For us, education is fundamental for our #betterbeauty movement to succeed, and that’s why we prioritize Consultant programs that help raise awareness within their network and communities.   

We recognize that we have an opportunity to further diversify the 50,000+ strong Consultant base that supports us in our mission to get safer products into the hands of everyone. Through Mi Comunidad: Legacy Circle, one of our Consultant programs, we help develop leaders to be agents of change for the beauty industry. These programs include trainings, community webinars, newsletters and events held in English and Spanish, and the opportunity to engage on social media using our hashtag #Somosbeautycounter.   

“To be a Latina, for me, is to be passionate and resilient. To be loud about my values. To feel free to speak Spanish without hesitation. To bring Puerto Rican culture everywhere I go. My culture represents hard work and I celebrate it every day. I’m proud to have partnered with Beautycounter, because they are setting the bar in the beauty industry—of going beyond clean—and that means creating a safer future for all.”—Dhlama M., Sr. Manager Consultant 

EMPOWERING OUR HQ ASSOCIATES 

Over at HQ, our commitment to inclusivity goes beyond Hispanic Heritage Month. Last year we were excited to announce our partnership with Hispanic Association for Corporate Responsibility (HACR) Leadership Pipeline Program (LPP). This partnership was a two-day virtual experience for Hispanic/Latinx managers who aspire to accelerate into executive roles. We are always looking for opportunities to elevate and support our Associates.  

“As a proud Latina and lead of Voces, our Latinx/Hispanic Associate Resource Group, I love that Beautycounter is invested in DE&I (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and the future Leadership development of our Associates. It’s important that we continue to stay committed to this very important work and ever-evolving DE&I journey.” —Jenny A., Senior Director of DE&I 

¹ https://cerch.berkeley.edu/research-programs/hermosa-study 

Today, an important Senate committee voted on a piece of legislation that would comprehensively update the FDA’s regulation of cosmetic and personal-care products for the first time since 1938. It’s an important step in the right direction—and we’re proposing some changes we believe need to happen before it becomes a law. Read Beautycounter Founder Gregg Renfrew’s letter in full below:

 
June 6, 2022 

Dear Chair Murray and Ranking Member Burr,  

Beautycounter, the industry-leading clean beauty brand, and our tens of thousands of consultants across the country commend the Chair and Ranking Member for your bipartisan leadership seeking to modernize Food and Drug Administration regulations in the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Landmark Advancements Act (FDASLA) of 2022.  

We appreciate your recognition of this urgent need; however, there are several areas in which we hope you will strengthen the bill to protect consumers, raise standards in the beauty industry, and recognize the rights of states to guard their citizens’ health and safety.  

Beautycounter is a skincare and cosmetics company leading a movement to a future where all beauty is clean beauty. Since the company’s founding in 2011, Beautycounter’s mission has been to get safer personal care products into the hands of everyone. We go above and beyond to screen and assess every ingredient we use against our strict safety standards, which includes 1,800 questionable ingredients we never use in our formulations. Beautycounter is also a Certified B Corporation, a business dedicated to using its profits for positive change, leading the charge in the beauty industry through advocacy work. 

Beautycounter recommends the FDASLA be strengthened to bring us closer to ensuring that all cosmetics and personal care products are free from harmful chemicals. We urge the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions to make changes to the FDASLA that address the scope of federal preemption, create a more robust safety standard, and ban the use of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAs) in cosmetics. Below, we outline these recommendations in detail.  

Beautycounter specifically recommends the following modifications to the FDASLA language: 

1. Address the scope of federal preemption to ensure that states can legislate to strengthen personal care product safety (Sec. 614). Beautycounter urges the committee to protect states’ ability to enact their own laws and regulations that protect the health and wellness of their residents by not preempting any state cosmetic safety legislation. Dozens of states across the country have passed state-level protections that limit exposure to harmful chemicals. FDASLA must ensure that states can continue to legislate to strengthen personal care product safety.  

2. Create a more robust safety standard based on a “reasonable certainty of no harm” (Sec. 608). Beautycounter also urges the committee to include language that requires companies to consider the long-term health effects of ingredient use, including links to cancer, reproductive and developmental harm, and other health conditions. This would push companies beyond only considering acute reactions.  

3. Ban the use of PFAs in cosmetics (Sec. 806). Beautycounter urges the committee to replace the proposed “assessment” of PFAs in cosmetics with  a ban on the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from raw materials and packaging used in personal care products. Current peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown that exposure to certain levels of PFAS may lead to a host of adverse health effects, including increased risk of cancers, interference with the body’s natural hormones, and developmental effects or delay in children. Curbing the use of these “forever chemicals” has attracted broad bipartisan interest and Congressional and state-level action in recent years. Existing bipartisan legislation in the House and Senate (H.R. 3990 and S.2047, the No PFAS in Cosmetics Act) would require the issuance of a rule to ban the use of intentionally added PFAS in cosmetics.

The use of harmful chemicals in personal-care products affects the daily lives of all Americans, who deserve to have access to safe products. A regulatory framework that prioritizes the safety and transparency of cosmetic products will ultimately protect consumers and make the American cosmetics industry more competitive, both domestically and internationally.  

We appreciate your consideration of these requested changes. We look forward to continuing to work with you as this legislation moves forward.  
Sincerely,

CC: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee members

While this summer may still look different than years past, lawmakers across North America have begun focusing on legislation beyond pandemic relief. Public health remains a focus, and Beautycounter has been working to ensure cosmetic reform is part of the policy agenda.

Beautycounter Takes Action on Cosmetic Reform and Protecting Vulnerable Populations

Last year, Beautycounter helped pass the Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act, which bans certain per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from personal-care products sold in the U.S. Used for its waterproof, long-lasting, non-stick, and stain-repellent properties, PFAS is found in cosmetics, non-stick pans, food packaging, and waterproof clothing, among many other household products. Unfortunately, PFAS chemicals can take decades to break down in the human body and the environment, and research has linked these chemicals to certain cancers, endocrine disruption, and fertility problems. We believe PFAS should not be used in the products (including raw materials and packaging) we use every day and have been working with federal policymakers on bipartisan legislation to ban these harmful ingredients in consumer products.

Introduced by Reps. Dingell (D-MI), Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Kuster (D-NH), and Katko (R-NY), the No PFAS in Cosmetics Act bans the intentional use of these “forever” chemicals in personal-care products. Similarly, we also support the bipartisan PFAS Action Act introduced by Reps. Dingell (D-MI) and Upton (R-MI), which is comprehensive legislation to prevent PFAS ingredients from contaminating drinking water, limits industrial discharge, and allows the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to clean up sites contaminated by PFAS across the country.

Additionally, Beautycounter supports five key cosmetic bills that were introduced this July which aim to address gaps in the regulation of personal-care products. They include:

• Cosmetic Fragrance and Flavor Right to Know Act of 2021 – Similar to the CA Safer Fragrance bill, this federal bill requires disclosure of certain fragrance ingredients such as fragrance allergens that are harmful to human health and the environment.
• Toxic-Free Beauty Act – This bill is similar to the CA Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act, which bans 24 of the worst offender ingredients from personal-care products sold in the U.S., including PFAS ingredients.
• Cosmetic Safety for Communities of Color and Professional Salon Workers Act –Salon workers are continuously exposed to potentially harmful ingredients, and this bill provides transparency for workers to make more informed decisions. The bill also creates funding for the FDA to consult with community stakeholders on ingredient review and research grants to identify chemicals of concerns for communities of color. 
• Cosmetic Supply Chain Transparency Act – Requires upstream suppliers like fragrance houses, contract manufacturers, and suppliers of ingredients to provide brands with ingredient disclosure and safety data.
• Personal Care Products Safety Act – This comprehensive cosmetic reform bill introduced in the Senate requires the FDA to regularly review ingredients for safety, gives the FDA the authority to recall products that harm consumers, and creates higher standards for manufacturing practices.

This summer, the FDA also announced that it would consider people of color as deserving additional consideration when assessing cosmetic ingredients for safety. Taking into account the risk of vulnerable populations was one of Beautycounter’s key asks of the FDA as part of our participation in the joint FDA/National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) protocol development committee, where we advised the agency in developing cosmetic ingredient risk assessment protocols. This marks a significant first step towards closing the risk gap for people of color and their exposures to harmful ingredients in personal-care products.

Canada Makes Strides Towards Closing the Fragrance Loophole

When Beautycounter held our inaugural lobby day on Parliament in 2019, one of our key asks was for Health Canada to close the “fragrance loophole” which currently allows companies to hide potentially harmful ingredients under the term “fragrance.” This summer, Health Canada began the rulemaking process to take a significant step towards closing the fragrance loophole when it announced a proposal to amend the Cosmetic Regulations. Specifically, the FDA is considering requirements for brands to disclose fragrance allergens and allow consumers to access the disclosures. As a company built on transparency, Beautycounter has always listed every fragrance ingredient in our products, including fragrance allergens. We support the Canadian government’s efforts to provide consumers with the information needed to make healthier choices.

As cosmetic reform continues to gain momentum with lawmakers, our movement will continue to grow with your engagement. Use your voice to advance cosmetic safety in North America: text BETTERBEAUTY to 52886 in the U.S. and 18888867542 in Canada.