Product Description

Lead in lipstick? 1,4 dioxane in baby soap? Coal tar in shampoo? How is this possible? Simple. The $35 billion cosmetics industry is so powerful they’ve kept themselves unregulated for decades. Not Just a Pretty Face chronicles the quest that led a group of health and environmental activists to the world’s largest cosmetics companies to ask some tough questions:

• Why do companies market themselves as pink ribbon leaders in the fight against breast cancer, yet use hormone-disrupting and carcinogenic chemicals that may contribute to that very disease?
• Why do products used by men and women of childbearing age contain chemicals linked to birth defects and infertility?

As doors slammed in their faces and the beauty myth peeled away, the industry’s toxic secrets began to emerge. This scathing investigation peels away less-than-lovely layers to expose an industry in dire need of an extreme makeover. The good news is that while the major multinational companies fight for their right to use hazardous chemicals, entrepreneurs are developing safer non-toxic technologies and building businesses on the values of health, justice and personal empowerment.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22744 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780865715745
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Stacy Malkan is communications director of Health Care Without Harm, and a media strategist and cofounding member of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a national coalition working to eliminate hazardous chemicals from personal care products. Stacy is a former journalist and newspaper publisher, and a longtime environmental health advocate who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Customer Reviews

Exposes link between chemicals in cosmetics and cancer
Stacy Malkan bravely exposes the link between toxic ingredients in mass produced cosmetics to infertility and breast cancer. It is a call to action for people to join the grassroots movement that has been fighting for change. Malkan questions why the fight against breast cancer is focused on Curing those that have the disease rather than Preventing people from getting cancer in the first place. Numerous medical studies are cited throughout the book. Anyone who wears makeup should educate themselves about what chemicals are in the products they wear, this book gives the resources to do that. It also touts natural alternatives.

Just Another Pretty Face
Now I have a rational reason why I don't like make-up and other cosmetics. I bought this to give my daughters the first time they come to me asking to wear make-up. The teens in this book are so bold - what a great way to learn independence and empowerment - the cause is real, they are the market, and they will change it. I hope by the time my daughters are actually old enough to buy these products, the market will have transformed and they won't need to worry about chemicals in their shampoos, nail polish, and blush. Get this for everyone you know, male, female, young or old to uncover what's behind the cosmetics industry push to be "pretty."

Revealing & Empowering
This book gives users of everyday products information, resources and tools to make informed decisions and motivation for smarter purchasing. It uncovers truths about the lack of regulation for items we apply to our faces, heads, and bodies. Yet it also provides inspiration for making changes at the checkout lines and at the policy level. The book shares the personal stories of consumers affected by undisclosed ingredients, researchers investigating the dangers, and the author herself, who once was a make-up diva, as they are faced with revelations of the beauty industry. It is the book for people wanting to protect their health, make safe choices, and be empowered to do something. It's an easy read and should be in the hands of every teen and adult in America.