Not So Pretty in Pink: Marketing Toxic Makeup to Young Girls

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

 Although research also links early puberty to low birth weight, obesity, physical inactivity, and other factors that are, to varying extents, within our control, Steingraber says we need to adopt strict policies that eliminate harmful chemicals from skin care and other products. “I believe there is enough evidence to support banning any chemical known in the lab to advance sexual maturation, and to which humans are exposed,” she says.

Learning about the toxic chemicals in her beauty routine inspired Assaf to become an activist. For the past year, she has served as president of Teens for Safe Cosmetics (www.teensforsafecosmetics.org), a group of young people who are organizing nationally to push the beauty industry toward using safer ingredients. The teens have been educating peers, working with companies to improve products, and lobbying the government for policies that eliminate harmful chemicals.

For Assaf, the issue of early puberty comes down to noticing that her 10-year-old sister’s friends already are starting to develop. “We can’t just keep talking about this and keep searching for proof,” she says. “We need to make changes now.”

Stacy Malkan is the author of Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry and a cofounder of the national Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. Excerpted from Natural Solutions(Oct. 2008), a magazine full of resources for vibrant health and balanced living; www.naturalsolutionsmag.com.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print